''Women of Twilight'' is a 1951 play by Sylvia Rayman that became a 1952 film directed by Gordon Parry. The latter stars
Freda Jackson
Freda Maud Jackson (29 December 1907 – 20 October 1990) was an English stage actress who also worked in film and television.
Early life and career
Jackson was born in Nottingham in 1907. She made her stage debut on 1 January 1934 at the ...
,
Rene Ray
Irene Lilian Brodrick, Countess of Midleton (née Creese, known as Rene Ray, 22 September 1911 – 28 August 1993) was a British stage and screen actress of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s and also a novelist.
Acting career
Ray made her screen début ...
and
Lois Maxwell
Lois Ruth Maxwell (born Lois Ruth Hooker; 14 February 1927 – 29 September 2007) was a Canadian actress who portrayed Miss Moneypenny in the first fourteen Eon-produced ''James Bond'' films (1962–1985). She was the first actress to play the ...
, with a screenplay by
Anatole de Grunwald
Anatole "Tolly" de Grunwald (25 December 1910 – 13 January 1967) was a Russian British film producer and screenwriter.
Biography
De Grunwald was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the son of a diplomat (Constantin de Grunwald) in the se ...
. It was the first British film to receive the recently introduced
X certificate
An X rating is a rating used in various countries to classify films that have content deemed suitable only for adults. It is used when the violent or sexual content of a film is considered to be potentially disturbing to general audiences.
Aust ...
.
Plot
"The scene throughout is a semi-basement living room in a house near London, a grim and sordid place inhabited for sleeping and eating by a motley group of unmarried young women with babies - already born or about to be hustled into an unfriendly world. The 'proprietress' - a sadistic, unscrupulous woman called Helen Allistair - though a qualified nurse, exploits these unfortunate outcasts from society until one of them - the despairing girl Vivianne, whose gangster lover is hanged and who has nothing to lose - discovers this ghoulish creature's baby-farming activities. Vivianne, whose baby is shortly to be born, faces Mrs Allistair with her accusation, is brutally assaulted and almost loses her life. In the end justice is done, and Mrs Allistair gets her just desserts."
Play
''Women of Twilight'' was the first play written by Sylvia Rayman (1923–86).
According to the play's Broadway programme, "Sylvia Rayman's address, before she arrived in London, was Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. After she finished her schooling she worked in a factory and library and then went to London to become a writer. She supported herself as an usher, a nurse girl and a clerk in a ticket agency." By 1951, when ''Women of Twilight'' was picked up for production, she was working as a part-time waitress at a cafeteria on north London's Finchley Road.
Presented by Jean Shepeard and Evelyn Dysart at the Regent Theatre, Hayes on 30 July, Rayman's debut was advertised as 'an all-women play' and directed by Rona Laurie. Among material ordered cut by the
Lord Chamberlain
The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom while also acting as the main cha ...
's office was dialogue relating to one character having been raped, plus the use of the Girl Guide motto "Be prepared" with an obvious sexual innuendo. The published text contains an introduction by Laurie ("This is a strong, forceful play calling for great sincerity both in production and acting"), plus the following note: "Sylvia Rayman gratefully acknowledges Miss Jean Shepeard's work in adapting the script for stage presentation, for finding its present title, and for first presenting it." The cast on this occasion included future playwright
Ann Jellicoe
Patricia Ann Jellicoe (15 July 1927 – 31 August 2017) was an English playwright, theatre director and actress. Although her work covered many areas of theatre and film, she is best known for "pushing the envelope" of the stage play, devising ...
.
A different production, directed by
Anthony Hawtrey
Anthony John Hawtrey (22 January 1909 – 18 October 1954) was an English actor and stage director. He began his acting career in 1930 and began directing by 1939. As director of the Embassy Theatre in London, his productions sometimes achieved ...
Swiss Cottage
Swiss Cottage is an area of Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden, England. It is centred on the junction of Avenue Road and Finchley Road and includes Swiss Cottage tube station. Swiss Cottage lies north-northwest of Charing Cross. The ...
on 15 October. According to
Oscar Lewenstein
Silvion Oscar Lewenstein (18 January 1917 – 23 February 1997)Robert Murph"Lewenstein, (Silvion) Oscar (1917–1997)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. was a British theatre and film producer, who helped create some of the leadin ...
(later co-founder of the
English Stage Company
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...
), "Jean hepeardwas reluctant to let us have the rights, but eventually I was able to make a deal with her. Tony was enthusiastic and got a strong cast, all women, most of whom had worked at the Embassy before." Having been taken up by impresario
Jack Hylton
Jack Hylton (born John Greenhalgh Hilton; 2 July 1892 – 29 January 1965) was an English pianist, composer, band leader and impresario.
Hylton rose to prominence during the British dance band era, being referred as the "British King of Jazz" a ...
, Hawtrey's production transferred to the
Vaudeville Theatre
The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on the Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each ...
in the West End on 7 November. Billed as 'London's most daring play', it was variously described by reviewers as "a disturbing but undeniably strong all-women drama", "a painful, compelling, horrific and dramatically gripping piece" and "a strong, lurid melodrama not for the squeamish". The production closed on 19 April 1952 after 186 performances.
After a two-month break (during which the show went on tour and the film version was made), Hawtrey's production was revived at the
Victoria Palace
The Victoria Palace () is a government building on the large Victory Square () in Bucharest, housing the Prime Minister of Romania and his cabinet.
The Victory Palace was designed in 1937 to house the Foreign Ministry, and nearly complete in 19 ...
on 18 June, playing twice-nightly until 1 November and achieving another 235 performances. For this run,
Freda Jackson
Freda Maud Jackson (29 December 1907 – 20 October 1990) was an English stage actress who also worked in film and television.
Early life and career
Jackson was born in Nottingham in 1907. She made her stage debut on 1 January 1934 at the ...
, star of the yet to be released film, was added to the cast. Noted ''
The Stage
''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
'' newspaper, "Jack Hylton feels this play has a vast potential audience who will welcome the cheaper seats obtainable at the Victoria Palace. There is no question of the play, which deals with the social problem of the unmarried mother, being sensationalised by its transference to a twice-nightly theatre."
By this time, Hylton and Hawtrey had already taken the play on an ill-fated excursion to New York, where it opened at the
Plymouth Theatre Plymouth Theatre or Plymouth Theater may refer to:
* Plymouth Theatre (Boston)
* Plymouth Theatre (Worcester)
* Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, New York City, formerly the Plymouth Theatre
* H Street Playhouse
The H Street Playhouse was a black box ...
on 3 March, was deemed "repulsive" by local critics and closed on 8 March after only eight performances. This production marked the only Broadway appearance for such British actresses as
Betty Ann Davies
Betty Ann Davies (24 December 1910 – 14 May 1955) was a British stage and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1950s. Davies made her first stage appearance at the Palladium in a revue in 1924. The following year she joined Cochran's Youn ...
,
Miriam Karlin
Miriam Karlin (23 June 19253 June 2011) was an English actress whose career lasted for more than 60 years. She was known for her role as Paddy in ''The Rag Trade'', a 1960s BBC and 1970s LWT sitcom, and in particular for the character's catchp ...
,
Gwen Watford
Gwendoline Watford (10 September 1927 – 6 February 1994), professionally known after the mid-1950s as Gwen Watford, was an English actress.
Watford's talent was spotted by John Gielgud while she was still a schoolgirl, and with his help ...
and
June Whitfield
Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11 November 1925 – 29 December 2018) was an English radio, television, and film actress.
Her big break was a lead in the radio comedy ''Take It from Here'', which aired on the BBC Light Programme in 1953. ...
.
In the UK, the play began a long life on tour even while the Vaudeville production was still running. It was also popular at regional repertory theatres. Freda Jackson, for example, spent much of 1954 guest-starring in the play at various reps, notably Windsor, Richmond and Northampton. Then in 1955, director Rona Laurie and producer Jean Shepeard reclaimed the property for a tour of provincial music halls; Shepeard also acted in this version.
Sylvia Rayman, meanwhile, had two further plays produced, both of them thrillers - ''Time to Speak'' and ''Justice in Heaven'', first staged in April 1957 and March 1958 respectively. Neither repeated the success of ''Women of Twilight''.
The first notable revival of ''Women of Twilight'' was directed by
Jonathan Rigby
Jonathan Rigby is an English actor and film historian who has written several books. ''Video Watchdog'' magazine described him as occupying "a proud place in the advance guard of film researchers, writers and critics," and in 2020 he was inducted ...
and opened at London's
White Bear Theatre
The White Bear Theatre is a fringe theatre founded in 1988 at the White Bear pub in Kennington, London, and run by Artistic Director and founder Michael Kingsbury. It is one of London's leading pub theatres, as well as one of the longest establi ...
on 3 October 2013 as part of its Lost Classics Project. The production was itself revived, at the same venue, on 6 January 2014 and again, this time at
Pleasance Islington
Pleasance Islington (also known as Pleasance London or the Pleasance Theatre) is a fringe theatre in Islington, London, opened in 1995. It is run by the Pleasance Theatre Trust and is the sister venue of the original Pleasance Edinburgh.
It h ...
, from 14 April.
Theatre reviews
''
The Stage
''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
'', October 1951: "It is seldom that a play comes along that can grip like this one does. Perhaps it is just as well. The plight of dramatic critics whose emotions were weekly wrung with this sort of thing would be sad indeed. For here is a direct and sincere composition that, without possessing much artistic merit or beauty of line, tells, nevertheless, a story that grips the imagination from the outset and will not let it go. It does not demand much prescience to predict that it will duly gain a larger audience than it will see at Swiss Cottage ... Miss Rayman has etched a clear-cut and disturbing play in which the characters are extraordinarily well defined and endowed with a credibility that carries them unscathed through situations that verge at times perilously close to the melodramatic."
''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'', October 1951: "No one would put this among the Plays Pleasant, but it does seize the mind."
''
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'', October 1951: "Miss Rayman has written her first play around a revolting character who makes a comfortable income by taking unmarried mothers and their infants into her Hampstead home ... Virtue triumphs on the Embassy stage but it does not always triumph outside the theatre, and one is left wondering just what does happen to such girls who have neither friends nor relatives to turn to and who escape the welfare of the State for some reason. The piece is very well acted by Barbara Couper, Vida Hope, Rene Ray and the rest of a company entirely of women."
''
Daily Telegraph
Daily or The Daily may refer to:
Journalism
* Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks
* ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times''
* ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
'', October 1951: "Unrelieved femininity is popularly supposed to breed neurosis, and certainly this is the most hysterical play I have met for many years."
''
The Stage
''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
'', November 1951: "The play well deserves its quick transfer to the West End ... Sylvia Rayman, whose first play this is and whose previous career has run on non-theatrical lines, piles on the agony more than somewhat. This is indeed a remarkable drama to come from an inexperienced pen; it would be praised if offered by an established dramatist ... Barbara Couper, as the baby-farmer and operator of the home, could not send a bigger thrill down our spines if she were appearing in the most horrible of avowed Grand Guignol sketches; and Rene Ray really moves us as poor Vivianne. But the whole company is first-class."
''
Theatre World
''Theatre World'' is an annual American theatre pictorial and statistical print publication. It includes Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway, and regional theatre, national theatrical awards, and obituaries.
Theatre World
"In 1944, three ...
'', January 1952: "This was a first play of highly melodramatic and even Grand Guignol proportions. But the characterisation was entirely convincing, so that, thanks to an exceedingly clever all-woman cast, one quickly lost one's sense that the story was over-coloured ... Improbable though it may seem, there is a considerable amount of humour in the play, thanks to the author's undoubted gift for character drawing, and Anthony Hawtrey's production made the most of every opportunity for light and shade. Mary Purvis's setting was painfully squalid in every detail."
''
The Stage
''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...
'', June 1952: "Twice-nightly performance at a theatre so long associated with the antics of the Crazy Gang is hardly the ideal environment for a bold play about unmarried mothers ... One fears not so much for the play, which, leaving aside the worth of its subject, is no more than a tolerably good one; but rather for the subject itself, which is liable to be taken in the wrong spirit by the prude and prurient ... Anthony Hawtrey's production has made the transfer from the Vaudeville without any obvious hitches ... As the landlady, Freda Jackson conveys an admirably restrained sense of power in the earlier episodes, which she later develops into an impressive climax of malignant passion."
Film
Completing production in the second week of June 1952, the film version was made at the
Gate Studios
Gate Studios was one of the many studios known collectively as Elstree Studios in the town of Borehamwood, England. Opened in 1928, the studios were in use until the early 1950s. The studios had previously been known as Whitehall Studios, Consoli ...
,
Borehamwood
Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...
and retained
Rene Ray
Irene Lilian Brodrick, Countess of Midleton (née Creese, known as Rene Ray, 22 September 1911 – 28 August 1993) was a British stage and screen actress of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s and also a novelist.
Acting career
Ray made her screen début ...
,
Vida Hope
Vida Hope (16 December 1910 – 23 December 1963) was a British stage and film actress, who also directed stage productions.
Life and career
Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, to theatrical parents, she travelled widely as a child.Some of the Comp ...
Freda Jackson
Freda Maud Jackson (29 December 1907 – 20 October 1990) was an English stage actress who also worked in film and television.
Early life and career
Jackson was born in Nottingham in 1907. She made her stage debut on 1 January 1934 at the ...
and
Joan Dowling
Joan Dowling (6 January 1928 – 31 March 1954) was a British character actress.
Life and career
Dowling was the illegitimate daughter of Vera Dowling. A piece in ''The Laindon and District Times'', on 23 June 2015, written by her cousin Joh ...
were cast in key roles reminiscent of the parts they had played in the 1945 play ''
No Room at the Inn
''No Room at the Inn'' is a 1945 play by Joan Temple that became a 1948 film directed by Daniel Birt. Both play and film are presented in flashback mode and share the same subject matter – cruelty, neglect and mental and physical abuse meted ...
'' and its 1948 film version.
John and James Woolf
Sir John Woolf (15 March 1913, London – 28 June 1999, London) and his brother James Woolf (2 March 1920, London – 30 May 1966, Beverly Hills, California) were British film producers. John and James founded the production companies Romulus Fil ...
of
Romulus Films
Sir John Woolf (15 March 1913, London – 28 June 1999, London) and his brother James Woolf (2 March 1920, London – 30 May 1966, Beverly Hills, California) were British film producers. John and James founded the production companies Romulus Fil ...
had first enquired about the property even before its presentation at the Embassy Theatre; the leading players they had in mind at this early stage were
Flora Robson
Dame Flora McKenzie Robson (28 March 19027 July 1984) was an English actress and star of the theatrical stage and cinema, particularly renowned for her performances in plays demanding dramatic and emotional intensity. Her range extended from q ...
and
Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino (4 February 1918Recorded in ''Births Mar 1918'' Camberwell Vol. 1d, p. 1019 (Free BMD). Transcribed as "Lupine" in the official births index – 3 August 1995) was an English-American actress, singer, director, writer, and producer. T ...
. Among the changes made to Rayman's play was the introduction of Vivianne's condemned lover Jerry Nolan (called Johnny Stanton in the play), a role assigned to the Woolf contract player
Laurence Harvey
Laurence Harvey (born Zvi Mosheh Skikne; 1 October 192825 November 1973) was a Lithuanian-born British actor and film director. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and emigrated to South Africa at an early age, before later settling in th ...
. In addition, the enigmatic character of Laura became a continental boarder called Lilli. The
British Board of Film Censors
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of fi ...
objected to some of the script's dialogue; to ensure an X certificate, "your rotten little bastards" had to be changed to "your rotten little brats", "you sanctimonious little bitch" to "you sanctimonious little fool" and "I was raped" to "I was taken advantage of." Caution was also advised regarding the climactic scene in which Helen throws the pregnant Vivianne down a flight of stairs.
Trade shown on 4 November 1952, the film opened at the Plaza, Piccadilly Circus on 15 January 1953, with general release following from 23 February. Press responses ranged from "Though grossly overacted by all in sight, the film will draw pity from those who know how harsh the world can be" to "Before virtue triumphs we are treated to a great deal of horror and degradation ... It is not only rapacious boarding-house keepers and baby-farmers who exploit the misfortunes of unmarried mothers. Where would popular playwrights and film producers be without them?"
According to producer
Daniel Angel
Daniel Morris Angel (14 May 1911 – 13 December 1999) was a leading British film producer who was responsible for several notable British films during the 1950s, such as ''Another Man's Poison'' (1952), ''The Sea Shall Not Have Them'' (1954), ''R ...
, his original plan had been to couple the film with another 'social problem' picture (again based on a controversial play), ''
Cosh Boy
''Cosh Boy'' (released in the United States as ''The Slasher'') is a 1953 British film noir directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring James Kenney and Joan Collins. It was made at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.
Plot
Based on an original play ...
'' directed by
Lewis Gilbert
Lewis Gilbert (6 March 1920 – 23 February 2018) was an English film director, producer and screenwriter who directed more than 40 films during six decades; among them such varied titles as '' Reach for the Sky'' (1956), ''Sink the Bismarck!' ...
. "Jimmy Woolf had these two stories," he said, "and we made the films with the idea of showing them in cinemas together on the one programme. They turned out better than we'd expected and we showed them separately."
On 23 February 2010, the films (under their US titles of ''Twilight Women'' and ''The Slasher'') were finally united on a double-feature DVD release from VCI Entertainment. The cover design for this release featured Freda Jackson, not in ''Women of Twilight'', but in her other 'vicious landlady' role, Mrs Voray in ''No Room at the Inn''.
Another screen version of Rayman's play, ''Mulheres do crepúsculo'', was broadcast as part of the Brazilian TV series ''Grande Teatro Tupi'' on 13 January 1963.
Film criticism
''
Monthly Film Bulletin
''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...
'', December 1952: "This sordid story has been dealt with in an unimaginative, self-conscious manner, with the emphasis on the sensational ... The film, which infers that it has performed a social duty in bringing these unpleasant facts before the public, could have done better by dropping the pointless initial Soho nightclub scenes, and introducing a sequence showing what social services there are available for the unmarried mother. But ''Women of Twilight'', the first British film to receive an 'X' certificate from the censor, is perhaps scarcely remarkable for truth to life."
''
Sunday Dispatch
The ''Sunday Dispatch'' was a prominent British newspaper, published between 27 September 1801 and 18 June 1961. It was ultimately discontinued due to its merger with the ''Sunday Express''.
History
The newspaper was first published as the ''Wee ...
'', January 1953: "A study of low life and bad morals in the Russian manner. A houseful of unhappy unmarried mothers will arouse the sympathy of all but the most censorious. Many of the original stage cast repeat their lifelike performances on the screen. If the aim of tragedy is to purge the soul with pity, this is indeed a great tragic film."
''
Daily Telegraph
Daily or The Daily may refer to:
Journalism
* Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks
* ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times''
* ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
'', January 1953: "I missed ''Women of Twilight'' as a play because I chose to; I saw the film because I must. This study of the conditions in which unmarried mothers live and have their children, and not uncommonly watch them die, is powerful, sordid, disturbing and perhaps not so overdrawn as some good easy people think. If it helps to awaken the public conscience and sharpen official vigilance it will be justified."
''
The Star
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', January 1953: "First thing to be said about ''Women of Twilight'' (Plaza) is that it is designed as a shocker - and it shocks ... But if you enjoy watching women snarling, scratching or pulling each other's hair out, in sordid surroundings, this is your picture."
''
Daily Sketch
The ''Daily Sketch'' was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton.
It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers, but in 1925 Rothermere sold it to William and Gomer Berry ...
'', January 1953: "Here is an adult, honest drama which focuses attention on a real-life problem to which none of us should close our eyes. But I warn you; the young actresses - a male face seldom appears in this film - throw themselves wholeheartedly into their sad parts."
''
The Spectator
''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world.
It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'', January 1953: "Miss Jackson is an old hand at the silky sinister, the velvet vile, and as usual is admirably alarming. Her wickedness seeps through her mask of virtue like dampness through a newly painted wall; her every sweetness is threaded with a shiver ... This film has all the ingredients of a Grand Guignol, but being underplayed in the true English fashion, and quietly directed by Mr Gordon Parry, it has turned out to be a seemingly plausible record of man's inhumanity to woman and a woman's attempt to cash in on it."Virginia Graham in ''The Spectator'', 16 January 1953
Cast - Hayes premiere 1951
*Helen Allistair - Beatrix Mackey
*Christine - Delphine Muir
*Jess - Ana Glyn
*Rosie - Ann Purkiss
*Laura -
Ann Jellicoe
Patricia Ann Jellicoe (15 July 1927 – 31 August 2017) was an English playwright, theatre director and actress. Although her work covered many areas of theatre and film, she is best known for "pushing the envelope" of the stage play, devising ...
Olga Lowe
Olga Lowe (14 September 1919 – 2 September 2013) was a British film, stage and television actress. She made her film debut in an uncredited role in the 1949 film ''Trottie True''. Described by ''The Stage'' as "an actress of extraordinary versat ...
*Sal - Lynda King
*Molly - Mary Newlands
*nurse - Evelyn Dysart
Cast - Embassy and Vaudeville Theatres 1951/52
*Helen Allistair -
Barbara Couper
Barbara Couper (1903–1992) was a British stage, film and television actress. She made her stage debut in 1925 and played leading roles at Stratford in the 1930s. Her screen work included several films and much television.
Selected filmography ...
*Christine - Joslin Parlane
*Jess -
Vida Hope
Vida Hope (16 December 1910 – 23 December 1963) was a British stage and film actress, who also directed stage productions.
Life and career
Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, to theatrical parents, she travelled widely as a child.Some of the Comp ...
Maria Charles
Maria Charles (born 22 September 1929) is an English film, television and stage actress, director and comedian. She is probably best known for her TV performance as the overbearing mother Bea Fisher in the ITV sitcom ''Agony''. Charles has also ...
Rene Ray
Irene Lilian Brodrick, Countess of Midleton (née Creese, known as Rene Ray, 22 September 1911 – 28 August 1993) was a British stage and screen actress of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s and also a novelist.
Acting career
Ray made her screen début ...
Miriam Karlin
Miriam Karlin (23 June 19253 June 2011) was an English actress whose career lasted for more than 60 years. She was known for her role as Paddy in ''The Rag Trade'', a 1960s BBC and 1970s LWT sitcom, and in particular for the character's catchp ...
Mary Merrall
Mary Merrall (5 January 1890 – 31 August 1973), born Elsie Lloyd, was an English actress whose career of over 60 years encompassed stage, film and television work.
Stage career
Merrall's stage career started in her teens, making her first stag ...
*Christine -
Gwen Watford
Gwendoline Watford (10 September 1927 – 6 February 1994), professionally known after the mid-1950s as Gwen Watford, was an English actress.
Watford's talent was spotted by John Gielgud while she was still a schoolgirl, and with his help ...
*Jess - Lorraine Clewes
*Rosie -
June Whitfield
Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11 November 1925 – 29 December 2018) was an English radio, television, and film actress.
Her big break was a lead in the radio comedy ''Take It from Here'', which aired on the BBC Light Programme in 1953. ...
*Laura - Gwynne Whitby
*Vivianne -
Betty Ann Davies
Betty Ann Davies (24 December 1910 – 14 May 1955) was a British stage and film actress active from the 1920s to the 1950s. Davies made her first stage appearance at the Palladium in a revue in 1924. The following year she joined Cochran's Youn ...
*Veronica - Mary Matthews
*Olga -
Miriam Karlin
Miriam Karlin (23 June 19253 June 2011) was an English actress whose career lasted for more than 60 years. She was known for her role as Paddy in ''The Rag Trade'', a 1960s BBC and 1970s LWT sitcom, and in particular for the character's catchp ...
*Sal - Lynda Lee ka Lynda King*Molly - Joan Forrest
*nurse - Marjory Hawtrey
Cast - Victoria Palace Theatre 1952
*Helen Allistair -
Freda Jackson
Freda Maud Jackson (29 December 1907 – 20 October 1990) was an English stage actress who also worked in film and television.
Early life and career
Jackson was born in Nottingham in 1907. She made her stage debut on 1 January 1934 at the ...
Maria Charles
Maria Charles (born 22 September 1929) is an English film, television and stage actress, director and comedian. She is probably best known for her TV performance as the overbearing mother Bea Fisher in the ITV sitcom ''Agony''. Charles has also ...
*Laura - Gwynne Whitby
*Vivianne -
Rene Ray
Irene Lilian Brodrick, Countess of Midleton (née Creese, known as Rene Ray, 22 September 1911 – 28 August 1993) was a British stage and screen actress of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s and also a novelist.
Acting career
Ray made her screen début ...
Miriam Karlin
Miriam Karlin (23 June 19253 June 2011) was an English actress whose career lasted for more than 60 years. She was known for her role as Paddy in ''The Rag Trade'', a 1960s BBC and 1970s LWT sitcom, and in particular for the character's catchp ...
*Sal - Lynda King
*Molly - Patricia Lett
*nurse - Betty Henderson
Cast - film version 1952
* Helen Allistair -
Freda Jackson
Freda Maud Jackson (29 December 1907 – 20 October 1990) was an English stage actress who also worked in film and television.
Early life and career
Jackson was born in Nottingham in 1907. She made her stage debut on 1 January 1934 at the ...
* Vivianne Bruce -
Rene Ray
Irene Lilian Brodrick, Countess of Midleton (née Creese, known as Rene Ray, 22 September 1911 – 28 August 1993) was a British stage and screen actress of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s and also a novelist.
Acting career
Ray made her screen début ...
* Christine Ralston -
Lois Maxwell
Lois Ruth Maxwell (born Lois Ruth Hooker; 14 February 1927 – 29 September 2007) was a Canadian actress who portrayed Miss Moneypenny in the first fourteen Eon-produced ''James Bond'' films (1962–1985). She was the first actress to play the ...
* Jerry Nolan -
Laurence Harvey
Laurence Harvey (born Zvi Mosheh Skikne; 1 October 192825 November 1973) was a Lithuanian-born British actor and film director. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and emigrated to South Africa at an early age, before later settling in th ...
* Jess Smithson -
Vida Hope
Vida Hope (16 December 1910 – 23 December 1963) was a British stage and film actress, who also directed stage productions.
Life and career
Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, to theatrical parents, she travelled widely as a child.Some of the Comp ...
* Rosie Gordon -
Joan Dowling
Joan Dowling (6 January 1928 – 31 March 1954) was a British character actress.
Life and career
Dowling was the illegitimate daughter of Vera Dowling. A piece in ''The Laindon and District Times'', on 23 June 2015, written by her cousin Joh ...
* Olga Lambert -
Dora Bryan
Dora May Broadbent, (7 February 1923 – 23 July 2014), known as Dora Bryan, was a British actress of stage, film and television.Dorothy Gordon
* Lilli - Ingeborg Wells
* Veronica -
Mary Germaine
Mary Germaine is an English film actress.
Filmography
References
External links
*
1933 births
English film actresses
People from Westcliff-on-Sea
Living people
Actresses from Essex
20th-century English actresses
{{England-a ...
Arthur Mullard
Arthur Ernest Mullard (né Mullord; 19 September 1910His obituary in ''The Times'' gives his date of birth as 10 November 1910 but conflicts with the birthdate given in his death registration. His year of birth appears as 1908, 1910, 1912 and 1 ...
* uncredited -
Dandy Nichols
Dandy Nichols (born Daisy Sander; 21 May 1907 – 6 February 1986) was an English actress best known for her role as Else Garnett, the long-suffering wife of the character Alf Garnett who was a parody of a working class Tory, in the BBC sit ...
Cast - White Bear and Pleasance Theatres 2013/14
*Helen Allistair -
Sally Mortemore
Sally Mortemore is an English stage, film and television actress. She appeared in ''Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'', where she played Madame Pince, the librarian of Hogwarts.
Career
Mortemore first worked in theatre as an acting as ...
*Christine - Elizabeth Donnelly
*Jess - Vanessa Russell
*Rosie - Ailsa Ilott
*Laura - Emma Spearing
*Vivianne - Claire Louise Amias
*Veronica - Amy Comper
*Olga - Francesca Anderson
*Sal - Emma Reade-Davies
*Molly - Christie Banks
*nurse - Maggie Robson hite Bear Virge Gilchrist leasance