Patricia Hilliard (14 March 1916 – 19 May 2001),
born Patricia Maud Penn-Gaskell, was a British
stage and
film actress.
Biography
She was born at
Quetta, then in British India, now in Pakistan, on 14 March 1916. She was the daughter of actress
Ann Codrington
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie.
Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...
(real name Marjorie Doris Codrington, who appeared in films such as ''
The Rossiter Case'') and her first husband, Percy Charles Penn-Gaskell, a military. Hilliard later adopted the last name of her stepfather, actor
Stafford Hilliard
Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in the ...
. In December 1915, her mother, while pregnant with Patricia, and her grandmother, Mrs. Helen Codrington, were aboard the British passenger liner when it was sunk by a German submarine in the Mediterranean. Ann Codrington was one of only 15 surviving women; Helen Codrington did not survive.
Hilliard attended the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where her performance in
Molière's ''Sicilien'' and her striking beauty led to a 2-year contract with
Warner Brothers. After some modelling she appeared as an extra in ''Double Wedding'' (1933). She rapidly progressed, being the female lead in ''
The Girl in the Crowd
''The Girl in the Crowd'' is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Michael Powell starring Barry Clifton, Patricia Hilliard, and Googie Withers.
The film has been declared "Missing, Believed Lost" by the British Film Institute.
Plot
The wife ...
'' (1935) and
René Clair's ''
The Ghost Goes West'' (1935). She also appeared in
Alexander Korda's ''
Things to Come'', based on
H. G. Wells's novel. Her film career tailed off, but she continued to work on stage.
She married actor William Fox in 1938, with whom she had appeared on stage in
William Congreve's ''
Love for Love
''Love for Love'' is a Restoration comedy written by British playwright William Congreve. It premiered on 30 April 1695 at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre. Staged by Thomas Betterton's company the original cast included Betterton as Valentine ...
'' and the first production of
J B Priestley's ''
I Have Been Here Before
''I Have Been Here Before'' is a play by J. B. Priestley, first produced by Lewis Casson at the Royalty Theatre, London, on 22 September 1937.
Plot introduction
At a rural inn on a Yorkshire moor, three people become involved in a strange confr ...
'' (1937). She took a break between 1940 and 1944 following the birth of her first child and while her husband was on active military service in World War II, returning to the stage in 1944. In 1952 she joined the
BBC's repertory company, before retiring in the early 1960s.
[
]
Filmography
References
Bibliography
* Low, Rachael. ''History of the British Film, 1918–1929''. George Allen & Unwin, 1971.
External links
*
1916 births
2001 deaths
British film actresses
British stage actresses
British people in colonial India
{{UK-actor-stub