Patience Collier (born Irene Marjorie Ritscher; 19 August 1910 – 13 July 1987) was a British actress.
Career
Patience Collier began her theatrical career in Manchester.
In 1956 she played Maria in
and
Pierre Bost's ''The Power and the Glory'' opposite
Brian Wilde
Brian George Wilde (13 June 1927 – 20 March 2008) was an English actor, best known for his roles in television comedy, most notably Mr Barrowclough in '' Porridge'' and Walter "Foggy" Dewhurst in ''Last of the Summer Wine''. His lugubrious ...
,
Roger Delgado and
Paul Scofield
David Paul Scofield (21 January 1922 – 19 March 2008) was a British actor. During a six-decade career, Scofield achieved the US Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award, Emmy, and Tony for his work. He won the three awards in a seve ...
at the
Phoenix Theatre. The same year, she appeared as a "delightful vignette" opposite
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Brit ...
in
Noël Coward's ''
Nude with Violin'', which appeared in Dublin in the September.
From 25 May 1966, she appeared in
Sławomir Mrożek's play ''Tango'' at the
Aldwych Theatre
The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Aldwych in the City of Westminster, central London. It was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200 on three levels.
History
Origins
The theatre was constructed in th ...
alongside
Ursula Mohan,
Mike Pratt,
Peter Jeffrey
Peter Jeffrey (18 April 1929 – 25 December 1999) was an English character actor. Starting his performing career on stage, he would later have many roles in television and film.
Early life
Jeffrey was born in Bristol, the son of Florence ...
and
Dudley Sutton under director
Trevor Nunn
Sir Trevor Robert Nunn (born 14 January 1940) is a British theatre director. He has been the Artistic Director for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal National Theatre, and, currently, the Theatre Royal, Haymarket. He has directed dramas ...
.
On television, she appeared as Katerina Matakis in ''
Who Pays the Ferryman'' and Emma Mullrine in ''
Sapphire & Steel
''Sapphire & Steel'' is a British television supernatural sci-fi/fantasy series starring David McCallum as Steel and Joanna Lumley as Sapphire. Produced by ATV, it ran from 1979 to 1982 on the ITV network. The series was created by Peter J. ...
''.
She played a retiring schoolteacher, in the 1973 episode, 'The Classroom', in
ITV (TV channel)'s 'The Frighteners', with
Clive Swift
Clive Walter Swift (9 February 1936 – 1 February 2019) was an English actor and songwriter. A classically trained actor, his stage work included performances with the Royal Shakespeare Company, but he was best known to television viewers for h ...
.
In film, Collier appeared in ''
The Third Secret'' (1964), ''
Decline and Fall... of a Birdwatcher'' (1968), ''
Baby Love
"Baby Love" is a song by American music group the Supremes from their second studio album, '' Where Did Our Love Go''. It was written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland and was released on September 17, 1964 ...
'' (1969), ''
House of Cards
A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a structu ...
'' (1969), ''
Perfect Friday'' (1970), ''
Every Home Should Have One'' (1970), ''
Fiddler on the Roof'' (1971), ''
Countess Dracula
''Countess Dracula'' is a 1971 British Hammer horror film based on some of the legends surrounding the Countess Elizabeth Báthory.
The film was produced by Alexander Paal and directed by Peter Sasdy, both Hungarian émigrés working in Englan ...
'' (1971), ''
Endless Night'' (1972) and ''
The French Lieutenant's Woman
''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' is a 1969 postmodern historical fiction novel by John Fowles. The plot explores the fraught relationship of gentleman and amateur naturalist Charles Smithson and Sarah Woodruff, the former governess and indep ...
'' (1981), and appeared in TV series such as ''
The Avengers'', in the "
Crescent Moon" episode (1961),
''
David Copperfield
''David Copperfield'' Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work, see is a novel in the bildungsroman genre by Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from inf ...
'' (1974–75), ''
Edward the Seventh
''Edward the Seventh'' is a 1975 British historical drama series, made by ATV in 13 episodes.
Based on the biography of King Edward VII by Philip Magnus, it starred Annette Crosbie as Queen Victoria, Timothy West as the elder Edward VII, w ...
'' (1975), ''
Love in a Cold Climate
''Love in a Cold Climate'' is a novel by Nancy Mitford, first published in 1949. The title is a phrase from George Orwell's novel '' Keep the Aspidistra Flying'' (1936).
''Love in a Cold Climate'' is a companion volume to '' The Pursuit of L ...
'' (1980), and ''
The Pickwick Papers
''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was Charles Dickens's first novel. Because of his success with '' Sketches by Boz'' published in 1836, Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to ...
'' (1985). She portrayed
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...
several times, including in the 1978 TV series ''
Will Shakespeare''.
Personal life
She was married to scientist Henry Oswald Jackson Collier and had three children with him.
Her daughters,
Susan and
Sarah became noted textiles designers, founding the company, Collier Campbell. Her son is
Joe Collier, a clinical pharmacologist.
Filmography
References
External links
*
*
*"The Performer's Tale: The Nine Lives of Patience Collier" book by Vanessa Morto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collier, Patience
1910 births
1987 deaths
20th-century English actresses
English stage actresses
Actresses from London
English film actresses