Kay Walsh
Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person Kathleen Walsh (15 November 1911 – 16 April 2005) was an English actress, dancer, and screenwriter. Her film career prospered after she met her future husband, film director David Lean, with whom she worked on productions such as In Which We Serve and Oliver Twist.
Early life and careerEdit
Walsh was born on 15 November 1911 in Chelsea, London.<ref name="ODNB"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She was raised in Pimlico by her grandmother.<ref name="Vallance">Template:Cite news</ref> She began her career as a dancer in West End music halls, and at the age of 17 she began going out with Pownoll Pellew (later 9th Viscount Exmouth), and they shared an interest in sports cars.<ref>Dave Cox, Ave Atque Vale, p 15</ref> She made her film debut in How's Chances? (1934) in a small part, and had a larger role in Get Your Man, another 1934 film. She continued to act in "quota quickies" films for several years. Walsh first met David Lean, then a film editor, in 1936, during the filming of Secret of Stamboul. They began a relationship, and Walsh broke her engagement to Pellew. Walsh and Lean married on 23 November 1940. She appeared in the films In Which We Serve (1942) and This Happy Breed (1944), both directed by Lean and written by Noël Coward. Walsh campaigned for Lean to receive co-director credit on In Which We Serve.<ref name="Telegraph">Template:Cite news</ref>
Walsh contributed dialogue to the 1938 film of Pygmalion,<ref name="Telegraph"/> and devised the scenario for the closing sequence of Lean's film adaptation of Great Expectations (1946), receiving a writing credit on the latter film.<ref name = obit>Template:Cite news</ref> She devised the opening sequence of Lean's adaptation of Oliver Twist (1948) and played Nancy. Walsh and Lean divorced in 1949 on grounds of infidelity based on Lean's relationship with actress Ann Todd. Walsh continued to work as a character actress in films through the 1950s, including films with Alfred Hitchcock and Ronald Neame. Her own favourite film role was that of the barmaid Miss D. Coker in Neame's 1958 film of The Horse's Mouth, with Alec Guinness.<ref name="Vallance"/>
Between films, Walsh appeared regularly in plays and farces at the Strand and Aldwych theatres, directed by Basil Dean. She starred with Peter Coke in the 1938 thriller Death on the Table and Ralph Lynn at Aldwych in the 1940 comedy Nap Hand. She was a semi-regular on the 1979 Anglo-Polish TV series Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, and remained active in films until her retirement in 1981. Her last role was in Night Crossing (1982).<ref name = obit />
Second marriage, later life and deathEdit
Walsh's second marriage was to the Canadian psychoanalyst Elliott Jaques, and they adopted daughter Gemma in 1956. This marriage also ended in divorce.
Walsh lived in retirement in London. She died on 16 April 2005 at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, aged 93, from multiple burns, following an accident.<ref name="ODNB">Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
FilmographyEdit
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Template:Tooltip |
---|---|---|---|---|
1934 | The Bedroom Diplomat | Minor Role | uncredited | |
Get Your Man | Mary Vivien | <ref name="Telegraph" /> | ||
1935 | Smith's Wives | Mabel Smith | ||
1936 | If I Were Rich | Chrissie de la Mothe | ||
The Luck of the Irish | Eileen O'Donnel | |||
The Secret of Stamboul | Diana | <ref name="Vallance" /> | ||
1937 | All That Glitters | Eve Payne-Coade | ||
Keep Fit | Joan Allen | <ref name = obit /> | ||
The Last Adventurers | Margaret Arkell | <ref name="Telegraph" /> | ||
1938 | I See Ice | Judy Gaye | <ref name="Telegraph" /> | |
Meet Mr. Penny | Peggy Allgood | |||
1939 | The Mind of Mr. Reeder | Peggy Gillette | ||
The Missing People | ||||
Sons of the Sea | Alison Devar | |||
1940 | All at Sea | Diana | ||
The Chinese Bungalow | Sadie Merivale | |||
The Second Mr. Bush | Angela Windel-Todd | |||
The Middle Watch | Fay Eaton | |||
1942 | In Which We Serve | Freda Lewis | <ref name="Vallance"/> | |
1944 | This Happy Breed | Queenie Gibbons | <ref name="Vallance"/> | |
1947 | The October Man | Molly Newman | ||
1948 | Vice Versa | Florence Verlane | <ref name = obit /> | |
Oliver Twist | Nancy | <ref name = obit /> | ||
1950 | Stage Fright | Nellie Goode | <ref name = obit /> | |
Last Holiday | Mrs Poole | <ref name = obit /> | ||
The Magnet | Mrs Brent | <ref name = obit /> | ||
1951 | The Magic Box | Hotel Receptionist | ||
Encore | Miss Molly Reid | segment: "Winter Cruise" | <ref name="Vallance"/> | |
1952 | Hunted | Mrs. Sykes | ||
Meet Me Tonight | Lily Pepper | segment: "Red Peppers" | ||
1953 | Young Bess | Mrs Ashley | <ref name="Telegraph" /> | |
Gilbert Harding Speaking of Murder | Priscilla | |||
1954 | Calling Scotland Yard: The Missing Passenger | Priscilla | short | |
The Rainbow Jacket | Barbara | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> | |
Lease of Life | Vera Thorne | <ref name = obit /> | ||
1955 | Cast a Dark Shadow | Charlotte Young | <ref name = obit /> | |
1956 | Now and Forever | Miss Muir | ||
1958 | The Horse's Mouth | Dee Coker | <ref name="Telegraph" /> | |
1960 | Tunes of Glory | Mary Titterington | <ref name = obit /> | |
1961 | Greyfriars Bobby: The True Story of a Dog | Mrs Brown | ||
Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Mrs. Morgan | Season 7 Episode 9: "I Spy" | ||
1962 | Reach for Glory | Mrs Curlew | <ref name = obit /> | |
The L-Shaped Room | Prostitute | uncredited | ||
1963 | 80,000 Suspects | Matron | <ref name = obit /> | |
Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow | Mrs Waggett | |||
Lunch Hour | Manageress | |||
1964 | Circus World | Flo Hunt | 1964 TV series Gideon's Way as Martha Smallwood | |
The Beauty Jungle | Mrs. Freeman | <ref name = obit /> | ||
1965 | A Study in Terror | Cathy Eddowes | ||
He Who Rides a Tiger | Mrs Woodley | <ref name = obit /> | ||
Gideon's Way : Episodes “The Housekeeper” and "Morna' | Martha and Mrs Harriet Bright | <ref name = obit /> | ||
1966 | The Witches | Stephanie Bax | <ref name = obit /> | |
1967 | Bikini Paradise | Harriet Pembroke | ||
1969 | Journey to the Unknown | Mrs Joan Walker | TV movie, episode: "The Last Visitor" | |
Taste of Excitement | Miss Barrow | |||
1970 | Connecting Rooms | Mrs Brent | ||
The Virgin and the Gypsy | Aunt Cissie | <ref name = obit /> | ||
Scrooge | Mrs Fezziwig | <ref name = obit /> | ||
1972 | The Ruling Class | Mrs Piggot-Jones | <ref name = obit /> | |
1982 | Night Crossing | Doris's mother | <ref name = obit /> |
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
- Template:Cite book
- Kevin Brownlow, David Lean, Faber & Faber, 1997.
- Silverman, Stephen M., David Lean, Harry N. Abrams, 1989.
External linksEdit
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