Gwen Watford | |
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 Watford (unknown year) | |
| Born | Gwendoline Watford (1927-09-10)10 September 1927 London, England |
| Died | 6 February 1994(1994-02-06) (aged 66) London, England |
| Spouse | |
Gwendoline Watford (10 September 1927 – 6 February 1994), professionally known after the mid-1950s asGwen Watford,[n 1] was an English actress.
Watford's talent was spotted byJohn Gielgud while she was still a schoolgirl, and with his help she made her professional London debut in 1945. From then until her death she pursued a parallel career on stage and on television. She played a wide range of roles, fromShakespeare andShaw to new works by playwrights includingWillis Hall,David Hare,Hugh Leonard andDavid Mercer. For theBBC andITV she appeared frequently from the mid-1950s onwards, and was dubbed one of British television's two leading ladies. She twice won theSociety of Film and Television Arts's award (now theBAFTA award) for best television actress. Although she appeared in several cinema films, includingCleopatra, she remained chiefly known as a stage and television performer.
In later years Watford appeared in more comedy than in her earlier career, including the television seriesDon't Forget to Write! and in theWest EndNoël Coward'sPresent Laughter, for which she won aSociety of West End Theatre Award in 1981. The last years of her career were curtailed by ill health, and she died aged 66.
Gwendoline Watford was born in London, the third of three children of Percy Charles Watford and his wife Elizabeth,née Cooper. Percy Watford had been anon-commissioned officer in theFirst World War, and then became the landlord of a public house atSt Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex.[2] Gwendoline was educated at the Orchard School in that town. She had ambitions to become a concert pianist, but after being advised by an expert that a career as a soloist was beyond her talents, she turned to drama, with the encouragement of her headmistress.[3]John Gielgud saw her in a school play in November 1943, and was impressed. When she left school he helped her in the early stages of her theatrical career, took a continued interest in her progress and remained a lifelong friend.[4]
Watford made her first professional appearance at theWhite Rock Theatre,Hastings in March 1944, as Florrie in the comedyOnce A Gentleman.[5] Her London debut was the following year: on Gielgud's recommendationAnthony Hawtrey engaged her to play Fenny, the romantic lead, inDodie Smith's comedyDear Octopus at theEmbassy Theatre.[6][7] In theWest End, she appeared at theWinter Garden in May 1946 as Judith Drave in the long-running dramaNo Room at the Inn, and theSt Martin's Theatre in January 1950 as Jennifer inKenneth Horne's comedyA Lady Mislaid.[5] Out of London she played in repertory with a succession of provincial companies, inBuxton,Croydon,Watford,Salisbury,Hornchurch andCoventry. Among the leading parts she played in repertory productions wereShaw'sSaint Joan and Blanche DuBois inTennessee Williams'sA Streetcar Named Desire.[7] While playing in Buxton she met the actorRichard Bebb, whom she married in 1952; they had two sons.[2][3]
In 1955 Watford returned to the West End in a production ofUgo Betti'sThe Queen and the Rebels, transferred from Coventry to theHaymarket Theatre. This was her last stage appearance in London for nearly three years, as television began to dominate her career.[5]
Watford made her film debut playing Lady Usher inThe Fall of the House of Usher (1950), but as her obituarist inThe Times put it, "the cinema was never really her medium", and along with her stage performances it was for her roles on television that she became best known.[7] The first of the latter came in 1956 when she was cast as theVirgin Mary inBBC Television's eight-part dramatisation of the life ofChrist,Jesus of Nazareth.[8][n 2] For the BBC and the commercialITV network, Watford appeared over the next four years in new drama and adaptations of classics. Her roles in the latter included Rosa Dartle inDavid Copperfield, Catherine Winslow inThe Winslow Boy and Mrs Arbuthnot inA Woman of No Importance.[9] Among the new plays in which she starred on television was a 1958 piece byClemence Dane, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the accession ofElizabeth I, of which the reviewer inThe Daily Telegraph wrote:
The Times said of this period that Watford andBillie Whitelaw were the two leading ladies of British television.[7] In Watford's early television career she starred in new works by writers includingWillis Hall,David Hare,Hugh Leonard andDavid Mercer.[3] In 1959 she was voted best television actress in theSociety of Film and Television Arts's awards (now theBAFTA awards).[5] Her sole West End appearance during the late 1950s was at theWestminster Theatre in January 1959, playing Jane Pringle in a thriller,The Woman on the Stair.[5]
Joining theOld Vic company in London for the 1960–61 season, Watford began with the title role inFriedrich Schiller'sMary Stuart, which she had played at theBristol Old Vic earlier in the year.[11][n 3] Her next role with the London company was Titania inA Midsummer Night's Dream to the Oberon ofAlec McCowen;The Times thought her "enchanting", but the cast won higher praise than the production, which was thought prosaic.[7][13] Her third and final role in the Old Vic season was Lady Percy inHenry IV, Part 1.[5] Theatre critics expressed hopes that she might be seen more often on stage in addition to her numerous television roles,[3] but another five years elapsed before she appeared again in a London theatre.[5]
Throughout the decade Watford appeared continually on television in one-off new dramas, series and adaptations of classics. In the last of these categories she starred as Elizabeth Moulton-Barrett inThe Barretts of Wimpole Street, Lettice inBroome Stages and Lea Markat inSomerset Maugham'sThe Alien Corn. In one-off dramas she appeared in many episodes ofArmchair Theatre,ITV Sunday Night Theatre andITV Play of the Week; in the BBC'sThe Wednesday Play slot, she played Monica in David Mercer'sLet's Murder Vivaldi.[9] She was again named as best television actress by the Society of Film and Television Arts in 1966.[5] In addition to her television performances, Watford was frequently heard on BBC radio in the 1960s; her many roles included Marya Pavlovna inTurgenev'sA Quiet Backwater, Sibyl Railton-Bell inSeparate Tables, the title role inAnn Veronica, Angèle inFeydeau'sfarceA Close Shave, and Isabelle Rimbaud in Hampton'sTotal Eclipse.[14] For the cinema she played supporting roles inThe Very Edge,Cleopatra (both 1963) andValley of the Kings (1964), and had a leading part inDo You Know This Voice? (1964).[9]
Watford was seen on the London stage in three productions during the decade. In June 1966 at theRoyal Court Theatre, and later theComedy Theatre, she played Mrs Evans inWhen Did You Last See My Mother? byChristopher Hampton. The delicacy of her performance as the mother in a triangular relationship with her gay son's partner caused the criticJ. C. Trewin to "congratulat[e] Miss Watford on the really moving restraint of a portrait that makes the night worth while".[15] She recreated the role the following year for BBC radio.[14] She played Margaret Schlegel inLance Sieveking's adaptation ofE. M. Forster'sHowards End at theNew Theatre in 1967. The critics found the adaptation poor, and Watford received mixed notices, rating her from excellent and the best actress in the cast to charming but shallow.[16] Her last West End role of the 1960s was Violet Seedy inCome Sunday, half of a double-bill that ran briefly at theFortune Theatre in October 1968.[5]
In 1971 Watford toured in a revival of Maugham'sThe Constant Wife[17] and the following year she was a founder-member ofRobin Phillips's Company Theatre group, based atGreenwich Theatre; fellow members includedJeremy Brett,Charles Dance,Mia Farrow,Penelope Keith andJoan Plowright.[18] In the company's opening production,Chekhov'sThree Sisters, Watford, playing Masha, was "ripely sensual", "memorable" and "the essence of Chekhovian suffering", according to critics.[3][7][19] Other stage appearances outside the West End included Mrs Conklin and Hilde Latymer in aNoël Cowarddouble bill inBasingstoke,[20] and Gertrude inHamlet atLudlow.[21]The Stage, commenting in 1974 that Watford was too rarely seen in London, asked "why it is that this supremely talented actress so seldom gets the parts she deserves in the theatres to which her abilities entitle her".[22]
During the 1970s Watford continued to appear in numerous one-off television dramas includingSpecial Branch in 1973: but her most conspicuous screen role was as co-star withGeorge Cole in the comedy seriesDon't Forget to Write!, written byCharles Wood. It originated in a single comedy written for ITV in 1974, but was taken up by the BBC. Twelve episodes were made in two series between 1977 and 1979. The comic playing of Cole and Watford was likened byThe Stage to "a superb Rolls Royce ... gliding smoothly and effortlessly along" but with "hidden power under the bonnet".[23]
Her radio roles in the 1970s includedMinna in a drama about the life ofRichard Wagner, leading parts in adaptations of stories by Maugham,Henry James,George Meredith andDaphne du Maurier, Mrs Davenport in the premiere ofTerence Rattigan'sCause Célèbre, and Lady Britomart in Shaw'sMajor Barbara.[14] Her only cinema role of the decade was a deranged Indian servant in a horror film,The Ghoul.[9]
Watford's stage roles in her later years included Monica Reed, in Coward'sPresent Laughter, withDonald Sinden; her portrayal of the tolerant, amused secretary to Sinden's ageing matinée idol won her aSociety of West End Theatre Award in 1981. In Shakespeare'sAll's Well That Ends Well for theRoyal Shakespeare Company her Countess of Roussillon – "gentle but dignified"[7] – attracted comparisons with celebrated earlier interpretations byEdith Evans andPeggy Ashcroft.[7][24] She was last seen in the West End as Alice More oppositeCharlton Heston inA Man for All Seasons, in a production transferred from theChichester Festival; theEvening Standard found her performance so touching that it "would make a stone weep".[25] Offstage, she was vice-chairman of the Combined Theatrical Charities and was one of the four trustees ofEquity.[7]
The Times, describing Watford's last television work as among her best, instanced Grace Winslow inThe Winslow Boy withIan Richardson andEmma Thompson (whose role as the sister Watford had played in the 1958 BBC TV production), Dolly Bantry in twoMiss Marple stories withJoan Hickson, and Sheila inAlan Ayckbourn'sRelatively Speaking withNigel Hawthorne.[7] She was in several series, includingCrown Court for ITV andBehaving Badly forChannel 4.[9] The West EndPresent Laughter was filmed by the BBC, broadcast in 1981 and issued on DVD in 2007.[14][26]
Watford's later career was curtailed by illness, but the year before her death she toured inAlan Bennett'sTalking Heads.[2] She died, aged 66, on 6 February 1994.[27] A memorial service was held at the actors' church,St Paul's, Covent Garden, on 22 March 1994; Sinden read the lesson and there were readings by Gielgud,Judi Dench and other friends and colleagues.[28]
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