Brenda Bruce | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | 7 July 1919 |
Died | 19 February 1996 London, England, UK | (aged 76)
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1938–1996 |
Spouses | |
Children | 3 |
Brenda Bruce OBE (7 July 1919[1][2] – 19 February 1996) was an English actress.[3] She was focused on the theatre, radio, film, and television.
Career
[edit]Bruce was born in Prestwich, Lancashire, in 1919, and started her acting career as a teenager on stage as a chorus girl.[4] She appeared with the Birmingham Repertory Company (1936–39) and was a long-time actress with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).[5] She was the RSC's resident Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, playing the role in 1964, 1968, 1975 and 1995.[6] She appeared as Irma in the RSC's production of Jean Genet's The Balcony in 1971.[7] In the 1950s, she appeared on television in many dramas and in a chat show Rich and Rich with her husband.[4] She starred as Winnie in the 1962 British premiere of Samuel Beckett's Happy Days,[8] and in 1977 as Lucilla Edith Cavell Teatime in Murder Most English.[9]
Bruce played Aunt Dahlia in the 1990s production of Jeeves and Wooster with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.[10] Other roles include Tilda in the Doctor Who story "Paradise Towers",[11] Bea in the rag trade drama Connie[12] and Granny Grogan in The Riff Raff Element.[13] Among her film roles were Peeping Tom, where she played a prostitute murdered in the opening scene, and in 1964, she played Mary Lewis in Nightmare.[14] In 1994, she starred in Honey for Tea, a short-lived sitcom.[15]
Personal life
[edit]She was married and widowed twice, first to television personality Roy Rich, with whom she had two daughters, and second to actor Clement McCallin, with whom she adopted a son.[5] McCallin died in 1977.
Death
[edit]She died in London on 19 February 1996 from undisclosed causes, aged 76.[5]
Awards
[edit]- In 1962, she was given the Society of Film and Television Arts Television Awards 1962.[16]
- She was named Best Actress in 1963 by BAFTA British Academy Television Award for Best Actress.[17]
- She was awarded an OBE in the 1985 New Year Honours.
Theatre
[edit]Stage | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Play | Role | Notes | |
1949 | Love in Albania | Susan Lawn | St James's Theatre | |
1962 | Happy Days | Winnie | Royal Court Theatre | |
Woman in a Dressing Gown | The Vaudeville Theatre | |||
1967 | Little Murders | Aldwych Theatre | ||
1970 | The Balcony | Irma | Aldwych Theatre | |
1980 | Romeo and Juliet | Nurse | Royal Shakespeare Theatre |
Radio
[edit]Radio | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Play | Role | Notes |
1965 | Host Planet Earth | Clare Stewart | BBC Light Programme |
1977 | Cry God for Harry! | Doll Tearsheet | BBC Radio 4 |
1983 | When the Wind Blows | Hilda | BBC Radio 4 |
1983 | A Mad World, My Masters | Courtesan's Mother | BBC Radio 3 |
1986 | Too Long an Autumn | Maisie May | BBC Radio 4 |
1987 | Kiss of Life | Dot | BBC Radio 4 |
1992 | The Boy with the Cart | Mother | BBC Radio 4 |
1993 | A Perfect Spy | Miss Dubber | BBC Radio 4 |
TV and filmography
[edit]Film & Television | |||
---|---|---|---|
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
1938 | Laugh with Me | Rose Dinwiddy | TV movie |
The Wooing of Anne Hathaway | Katharine Hathaway | TV movie | |
1943 | Millions Like Us | Brenda | Uncredited |
1944 | They Came to a City | WAAF Officer | Uncredited |
1945 | I Live in Grosvenor Square | 1st Girl in Guard's Van | |
1946 | Night Boat to Dublin | Lily Leggett | |
I See a Dark Stranger | American Waitress | Uncredited | |
Piccadilly Incident | Sally Benton | ||
Carnival | Maudie Chapman | ||
1947 | While the Sun Shines | Mabel Crum | |
When the Bough Breaks | Ruby Chapman | ||
1948 | My Brother's Keeper | Winnie Foreman | |
1949 | Marry Me! | Brenda Delamere | |
Don't Ever Leave Me | Miss Smith | ||
1951 | Two on the Tiles | Janet Lawson | |
1953 | The Final Test | Cora | |
The Motorola Television Hour | "Westward the Sun" | ||
1954 | Douglas Fairbanks Presents | Emily | "Man Who Heard Everything" |
1958 | Law and Disorder | Mary Cooper | |
Behind the Mask | Elizabeth Fallon | ||
Mary Britten, M.D. | Mary Britten | 13 episodes | |
1960 | Peeping Tom | Dora | |
1961 | Sunday Night Theatre | May Sommers | "Nearer to Heaven" |
Sunday Night Theatre | Elaine | "The Wrong Side of the Park" | |
1962 | Armchair Theatre | "Girl in a Bird Cage" | |
ITV Play of the Week | Millie Crocker Harris | "A Lily in Little India" | |
Zero One | Sarah Elkinson | "Stoneface" | |
The Winter's Tale | Paulina | TV movie | |
Sunday Night Theatre | Ethel Gibbons | "This Happy Breed" | |
1963 | Armchair Theatre | "The Monkey and the Mohawk" | |
Dr. Finlay's Casebook | Bridie Bell | "The Face Saver" | |
1964 | Nightmare | Mary Lewis | |
1965 | The Uncle | Addie Morton | |
Armchair Theatre | Ellen | "The Lodger" | |
Thirty-Minute Theatre | Pat Pendleton | "Give the Clown His Supper" | |
1966 | The Wednesday Play | Betty Bradshaw | "Way Off Beat" |
ITV Play of the Week | Millie Crocker Harris | "The Browning Version" | |
Knock on Any Door | "The First Day of Spring" | ||
Knock on Any Door | "The Dear Ones" | ||
1967 | The Girl | Miss Cashcart | |
The Wednesday Play | Mollie | "Death of a Teddy Bear" | |
Softly, Softly | Hilda Berry | "An Eye for an Eye" | |
1968 | Sherlock Holmes | Saunders | "The Dancing Men" |
Late Night Horror | Mary Pearl | "William and Mary" | |
The First Lady | Mary Tunnicliffe | "Mrs. Whatever" | |
The Gamblers | Gertie | "Give and Take" | |
1969 | The Virgin Soldiers | Nursing Sister | Uncredited |
The Wednesday Play | Ma | "Happy" | |
1971 | A Family at War | Mrs Thomas | "Happy Returns" |
Budgie | Janey Baib | "Sunset Mansions or Whatever Happened to Janey Baib?" | |
1972 | Country Matters | Mrs Holland | "The Mill" |
Thirty-Minute Theatre | The Wife | "Not Counting the Savages" | |
The Man from Haven | Mary Balfour | ||
1973 | Cheri | Charlotte | 5 episodes |
That'll Be the Day | Doreen | ||
Play for Today | Madge | "Jingle Bells" | |
1974 | Bedtime Stories | Gertie | "Hansel and Gretel" |
Dial M for Murder | Kath | "Recording Angel" | |
Alice Through the Looking Glass | The White Queen | TV movie | |
Swallows and Amazons | Mrs Dixon | ||
1975 | All Creatures Great and Small | Miss Harbottle | TV movie |
1976 | Ubu roi | Ma Ubu | TV movie |
Crown Court | Angela Stacey | "A Matter of Honour" | |
1977 | The Man in the Iron Mask | Queen Anne of Austria | TV movie |
Murder Most English | Lucy Teatime | 4 episodes | |
Centre Play | Auntie Kathleen | "Auntie Kathleen's Old Clothes" | |
1978 | Armchair Thriller | Sister Elizabeth | "Quiet as a Nun" |
The Devil's Crown | Matilda | 2 episodes | |
Play for Today | Mrs Hackett | "A Touch of the Tiny Hacketts" | |
Play of the Month | Lady Bountiful | "The Beaux' Stratagem" | |
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm | Aunt Miranda | ||
1979 | BBC Television Shakespeare | Mistress Quickly | "The First Part of King Henry the Fourth, with the life and death of Henry surnamed Hotspur" |
BBC Television Shakespeare | Mistress Quickly | "The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth, including his death and the coronation of King Henry the Fifth" | |
1983 | The Mad Death | Miss Stonecroft | three-part BBC television serial |
The Home Front | Mrs Place | 6 episodes | |
BBC Television Shakespeare | First Witch | "Macbeth" | |
Farmers Arms | Mrs Casson | TV movie | |
1984 | Weekend Playhouse | Margaret | "Winter Break" |
Crown Court | Angela Stacey | "Oddball" | |
1985 | Connie | Bea | 10 episodes |
Steaming | Mrs Meadows | ||
1986 | Screen Two | June Swift | "Time After Time" |
David Copperfield | Betsey Trotwood | 7 episodes | |
1987 | Doctor Who | Tilda | "Paradise Towers" |
The Secret World of Polly Flint | Granny Porter | 3 episodes | |
London Embassy | Madge Cowrie | "Tomb with a View" | |
1988 | The Tenth Man | Madame Mangeot | |
Little Dorrit | Duchess | ||
Worlds Beyond | "Home" | ||
Menace Unseen | Norma Trisk | 3 episodes | |
The Return of the Antelope | Mrs Henshaw | "Travelling Companions" | |
1990 | Jeeves and Wooster | Aunt Dahlia Travers | "The Hunger Strike", "Brinkley Manor" |
Bergerac | Karen Markham | "In Love and War" | |
Back Home | Lady Beatrice Langley | ||
Theatre Night | Old Woman | "Bingo: Scenes of Money and Death" | |
Screen Two | June Swift | "Circles of Deceit" | |
The Fool | |||
Antonia and Jane | Therapist | ||
1991 | December Bride | Martha Gilmartin | |
Lovejoy | Mrs Jaglom | "Bin Diving" | |
The New Statesman | Beryl | "Keeping Mum" | |
4 Play | Sarah | "Finding Sarah" | |
1992 | Goodbye Cruel World | Marjory | 3 episode |
Growing Rich | Mrs Baker | 2 episode | |
1993 | The Riff Raff Element | Granny Grogan | TV movie |
Splitting Heirs | Mrs Bullock | ||
Riders | Granny Maxwell | TV movie | |
CASUAL+Y | Carrie Springett | "The Final Word" | |
Harnessing Peacocks | Amy Tremayne | TV movie | |
1994 | Men of the World | Mrs Daff | 3 episode |
Honey for Tea | Mary Harris | 2 episodes | |
1995 | Performance | Grandmother | "The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd" |
1996 | The Vet | Kath Paley | "Stormy Weather" (final appearance) |
References
[edit]- ^ Year of birth given as 1919, findmypast.co.uk; accessed 30 January 2016.
- ^ Some sources cite 17 July 1919.
- ^ "Brenda Bruce". BFI. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
- ^ a b "Brenda Bruce movies, photos, movie reviews, filmography, and biography". AllMovie. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
- ^ a b c "Obituary: Brenda Bruce". The Independent. 22 February 1996.
- ^ "Brenda Bruce". theatricalia.com.
- ^ Jean Genet. "Production of The Balcony". theatricalia.com.
- ^ Roberts, Philip (25 November 1999). The Royal Court Theatre and the Modern Stage. Cambridge University Press. p. 91. ISBN 9780521479622.
brenda bruce happy days.
- ^ "DVD Verdict Review — Murder Most English". dvdverdict.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
- ^ "Jeeves And Wooster". comedy.co.uk.
- ^ Campbell, Mark (24 March 2011). Doctor Who. Little, Brown Book. ISBN 9781849018869.
- ^ "Network ON AIR > Connie: The Complete Series". networkonair.com. Archived from the original on 29 June 2015.
- ^ "The Riff Raff Element". BBC. 25 March 1993. p. 104.
- ^ Cotter, Robert Michael "Bobb" (10 January 2014). The Women of Hammer Horror. McFarland. ISBN 9781476602011.
- ^ "Honey for Tea [01/5/94]". BFI. Archived from the original on 3 October 2015.
- ^ "Society of Film and Television Arts Television Awards 1962". Answers.com.
- ^ "BAFTA Awards". bafta.org.
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