Brenda Bruce
Born	7 July 1919 Prestwich,Lancashire, England
Died	19 February 1996(1996-02-19) (aged 76) London, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1938–1996
Spouses	Roy Rich ​ ​ (m. 1946; died 1970)​ Clement McCallin ​ ​ (m. 1970; died 1977)​
Children	3

Brenda BruceOBE (7 July 1919^[1][2] – 19 February 1996) was an English actress.^[3] She was focused on the theatre, radio, film, and television.

Bruce was born inPrestwich,Lancashire, in 1919, and started her acting career as a teenager on stage as a chorus girl.^[4] She appeared with theBirmingham Repertory Company (1936–39) and was a long-time actress with theRoyal Shakespeare Company (RSC).^[5] She was the RSC's resident Mistress Page inThe Merry Wives of Windsor, playing the role in 1964, 1968, 1975 and 1995.^[6] She appeared as Irma in the RSC's production ofJean Genet'sThe Balcony in 1971.^[7] In the 1950s, she appeared on television in many dramas and in a chat showRich and Rich with her husband.^[4] She starred as Winnie in the 1962 British premiere ofSamuel Beckett'sHappy Days,^[8] and in 1977 as Lucilla Edith Cavell Teatime inMurder Most English.^[9]

Bruce playedAunt Dahlia in the 1990s production ofJeeves and Wooster withStephen Fry andHugh Laurie.^[10] Other roles include Tilda in theDoctor Who story "Paradise Towers",^[11] Bea in the rag trade dramaConnie^[12] and Granny Grogan inThe Riff Raff Element.^[13] Among her film roles werePeeping Tom, where she played a prostitute murdered in the opening scene, and in 1964, she played Mary Lewis inNightmare.^[14] In 1994, she starred inHoney for Tea, a short-lived sitcom.^[15]

She was married and widowed twice, first to television personalityRoy Rich, with whom she had two daughters, and second to actorClement McCallin, with whom she adopted a son.^[5] McCallin died in 1977.

She died in London on 19 February 1996 from undisclosed causes, aged 76.^[5]

• In 1962, she was given theSociety of Film and Television Arts Television Awards 1962.^[16]
• She was named Best Actress in 1963 byBAFTABritish Academy Television Award for Best Actress.^[17]
• She was awarded anOBE in the1985 New Year Honours.

• Brenda Bruce atIMDb
• Performances in the Theatre Archive University of Bristol
• Brenda Bruce filmography, timeout.com

• 1919 births
• 1996 deaths
• 20th-century English businesspeople
• 20th-century English actresses
• Actors from Prestwich
• Actresses from Lancashire
• Best Actress BAFTA Award (television) winners
• English film actresses
• English radio actresses
• English stage actresses
• English television actresses
• Officers of the Order of the British Empire
• Royal Shakespeare Company members

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• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from March 2020
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