Margaret Tyzack CBE
Tyzack in the trailer forA Clockwork Orange (1971)
Born	Margaret Maud Tyzack (1931-09-09)9 September 1931[1] West Ham, Essex, England
Died	25 June 2011(2011-06-25) (aged 79) Blackheath, London, England
Alma mater	St Angela's Ursuline School Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1956–2011
Spouse	Alan Stephenson ​ (m. 1958)​
Children	1

Margaret Maud TyzackCBE (9 September 1931 – 25 June 2011)^[2] was an English actress. Her television roles includedThe Forsyte Saga (1967)I, Claudius (1976), andGeorge Lucas'sYoung Indiana Jones (1992–1993). She won the 1970BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for theBBC serialThe First Churchills, and the 1990Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play forLettice and Lovage, oppositeMaggie Smith. She also won twoOlivier Awards—in 1981 asActress of the Year in a Revival and in 2009 asBest Actress in a Play. Her film appearances includedStanley Kubrick's2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) andA Clockwork Orange (1971). As well asPrick Up Your Ears (1987) andMatch Point (2005).

Tyzack was born inEssex, England, the daughter of Doris (née Moseley) and Thomas Edward Tyzack.^[1][2] She grew up in Plaistow,West Ham (nowGreater London). She attended the all-girls'St Angela's Ursuline School,Newham, and was a graduate ofRADA.^[3]

Tyzack was noted for her classical stage roles, having joined theRoyal Shakespeare Company to play Vassilissa inMaxim Gorky'sThe Lower Depths in 1962, and had major roles in their 1972 Roman Season as Volumnia inCoriolanus, Portia inJulius Caesar and Tamora inTitus Andronicus. She appeared in another Gorky play, as Maria Lvovna inSummerfolk RSC 1974. In 1977 she joined the acting company of theStratford Festival inCanada, where she played Mrs Alving in Ibsen'sGhosts, Queen Margaret inRichard III and the Countess of Roussillon inAll's Well That Ends Well.^[4] In a feature of Stratford's 1977 season,New York Times writerRichard Eder noted "One of the main excitements was the discovery of Margaret Tyzack [...] her work here has been a revelation".^[5] Tyzack had been engaged on short notice by the Festival when Canadian actressKate Reid dropped out, which initially spurred some protests from Canadian nationalists. Theatre critic Robert Cushman later wrote that had the protests succeeded "Canadian audiences would have been deprived of three great performances", noting of her performance inRichard III, "there can never have been a better(Queen) Margaret".^[6] She played the Countess role again for the Royal Shakespeare Company on Broadway in 1983.

She received her first Olivier award asActress of the Year in a Revival in 1981 for theNational Theatre revival ofWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in which she played Martha, replacingJoan Plowright who was ill.^[7] In 1990, she won theTony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Lotte Schoen in the playLettice and Lovage, in which she appeared in both the London andBroadway productions opposite DameMaggie Smith.^[7] The AmericanActors' Equity initially refused permission for Tyzack to join the New York production, but Smith refused to appear without Tyzack because of the "onstage chemistry" she believed the two women had created in their roles.^[8] In 1994, she played Sybil Birling in the Royal National Theatre production ofAn Inspector Calls. In 2008, she was acclaimed for her portrayal of Mrs St Maugham in a revival ofEnid Bagnold'sThe Chalk Garden at theDonmar Warehouse, London, for which she won the Best Actress award in the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and the Olivier award forBest Actress in a Play in 2009.^[9][10] In 2009, she also appeared alongsideHelen Mirren inPhedre at the Royal National Theatre.

She appeared in two films directed byStanley Kubrick,2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) andA Clockwork Orange (1971).^[11] Tyzack also appeared inRing of Spies (1964),The Whisperers (1967),A Touch of Love (1969),The Legacy (1978),The Quatermass Conclusion (1979),Mr. Love (1985),Prick Up Your Ears (1987),The King's Whore (1990),Mrs Dalloway (1997),Bright Young Things (2003), and theWoody Allen filmsMatch Point (2005) andScoop (2006).^[11]

It was as a television actress that Tyzack became a household name. She is remembered for her leading roles inBBC television productions. She came to notice as Winifred, Soames's sister, in the well received BBC adaptation ofGalsworthy'sThe Forsyte Saga in 1967, a series shown internationally.^[11] She portrayed the character of Gladys King inDennis Potter'sThe Bone Grinder (1968), a metaphor for the decline of theBritish Empire and rise of American power in the post-war world.^[12][13] Tyzack played Queen Anne inThe First Churchills; Bette inCousin Bette; andAntonia, mother of the Emperor Claudius, inI, Claudius. She also played Clotilde Bradbury-Scott in the BBC adaptation of theAgatha Christie storyNemesis in 1987 inMiss Marple.^[14]

In the 1990s, she played a major role inGeorge Lucas'sYoung Indiana Jones television series as the youngIndiana Jones' strictOxford-educated tutor,Miss Helen Seymour. In the 2000s, she made two appearances inMidsomer Murders. In 2011, she joined the cast of soap operaEastEnders, playingLydia Simmonds.^[15] On 13 April 2011, it was announced that for personal reasons she had departedEastEnders and that her role had been recast toHeather Chasen as a result of the nature of the large storyline needing to continue.

Tyzack was appointedOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the1970 Birthday Honours andCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the2010 New Year Honours,^[16] both for services to drama.

Tyzack marriedmathematician Alan Stephenson in 1958 and together they had one son, Matthew.^[1][17] Tyzack died on 25 June 2011, at the age of 79, following a brief battle with cancer.^[18][19]

• Jerome Kern:Show Boat, conducted by John McGlinn, EMI, 1988

• Margaret Tyzack at theInternet Broadway Database
• Margaret Tyzack atIMDb
• Selected performances in Theatre Archive, University of Bristol
• Obituary inThe Guardian
• Obituary inThe Independent

• 1931 births
• 2011 deaths
• Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
• Best Actress BAFTA Award (television) winners
• Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
• Critics' Circle Theatre Award winners
• English film actresses
• English radio actresses
• English stage actresses
• English soap opera actresses
• English television actresses
• Laurence Olivier Award winners
• Actors from the London Borough of Newham
• Royal Shakespeare Company members
• English Shakespearean actresses
• Tony Award winners
• Actresses from Essex
• People from West Ham
• People from Plaistow, Newham

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