Susana, Lady Walton (30 August 1926 – 21 March 2010), born Susana Valeria Rosa Maria Gil Passo, was the Argentinian wife of the British composer

Sir William Walton Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade (entertainmen ...

(1902–1983). She was a writer and the creator of the gardens of

La Mortella LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

on the island of

Ischia Ischia ( , , ) is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about from Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures approximately east to west ...

, Italy. Born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

in 1926, Lady Walton was the daughter of a prominent Argentinian lawyer, Dr Enrique Gil. She was educated at a college run by Spanish nuns where she took a diploma in accountancy followed by a degree as a public translator in English. She was working at the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

in Buenos Aires when she met Walton in October 1948. They married two months later in December 1948. The couple settled on the Italian island of

where she created the gardens of

. The residence hosted many celebrities, including

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the U ...

and

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Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as t ...

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Binkie Beaumont Hugh "Binkie" Beaumont (27 March 190822 March 1973) was a British theatre manager and producer, sometimes referred to as the "éminence grise" of the West End theatre. Though he shunned the spotlight so that his name was not known widely among ...

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and

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

. William Walton died at La Mortella on 8 March 1983. Lady Walton appeared alongside her husband in his only acting role; King

Frederick Augustus II of Saxony , image = Friedrich August II of Saxony.jpg , caption = Portrait by Carl Christian Vogel von Vogelstein , image_size = 220px , reign = 6 June 1836 – 9 August 1854 , coronation = , predecessor = Anthony , ...

as the King's wife Maria Anna of Bavaria in the 1983 miniseries ''Wagner'', directed by

Tony Palmer Tony Palmer (born 29 August 1941)IMDb: Tony Palmer
Retrieved 24 September 2011 is a British film direc ...

. She also appeared in Palmer's documentary ''William Walton: At the Haunted End of the Day'' (1981) and in

Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...

's ''Classic Widows'' (1995). Shortly after her marriage she had an abortion at Walton's insistence, as he did not want any children. She wrote two books and founded the William Walton Foundation in 1983. In 2002,

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

visited La Mortella Garden and Lady Walton. Lady Walton was awarded an honorary degree from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

, an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

in 2000 and the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking ...

(''Grande Ufficiale''). In 1990 she made a well-received recording of Walton's ''

Façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

''. She died on 21 March 2010, aged 83, from natural causes.

Books

* Walton, Susana. ''William Walton: Behind the Façade'', Oxford University Press (1988). * Walton, Susana. ''La Mortella: An Italian Garden Paradise'', New Holland Publishers (2002).

References

External links

Official site La Mortella.

Giardini Ravino (Archived copy, formerly at ''www.ravino.it'').

Obituary in Italian.
*. *. {{DEFAULTSORT:Walton, Susana 1926 births 2010 deaths Argentine expatriates in Italy Women horticulturists and gardeners Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Buenos Aires 20th-century Argentine women writers 20th-century Argentine writers 20th-century Italian women writers