Wendy Hiller | |
|---|---|
 Hiller inSailor of the King (1953) | |
| Born | Wendy Margaret Hiller (1912-08-15)15 August 1912 |
| Died | 14 May 2003(2003-05-14) (aged 90) Beaconsfield,Buckinghamshire, England |
| Resting place | St Mary Churchyard,Radnage,Buckinghamshire, England |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1935–1993 |
| Spouse | |
Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller (15 August 1912 – 14 May 2003) was an English film and stage actress who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly 60 years. WriterJoel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilationRating the Movie Stars, described her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took command of the screen whenever she appeared on film". Despite many notable film performances, Hiller chose to remain primarily a stage actress.
Hiller won theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance inSeparate Tables (1958).[1] Her performance asEliza Doolittle inPygmalion (1938) earned a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Actress.
Born inBramhall,Cheshire, the daughter of Frank Watkin Hiller, aManchestercotton manufacturer, and Marie Stone, she was educated at Winceby House School and Oriel Bank High School and at age 18 joined the Manchester Repertory Company, for which she acted and stage-managed for several years.[2] She first found success as slum dweller Sally Hardcastle in the stage version ofLove on the Dole in 1934. The play was an enormous success and toured the regional stages of Britain, including Hiller'sWest End debut in 1935 at theGarrick Theatre. In 1937, she married the play's authorRonald Gow, 15 years her senior. That same year, she made her film debut inLancashire Luck, scripted by Gow.
The huge popularity ofLove on the Dole took the production toNew York in 1936, where Hiller's performance attracted the attention ofGeorge Bernard Shaw. Shaw recognised a spirited radiance in the young actress, which was ideally suited for playing his heroines. Shaw cast her in several of his plays, includingSaint Joan,Pygmalion andMajor Barbara, and his influence on her early career is clearly apparent. She was reputed to be Shaw's favourite actress of the time. Unlike other stage actresses of her generation, she performed in relatively fewShakespeare productions, preferring the more modern dramatists such asHenrik Ibsen and new plays adapted from the novels ofHenry James andThomas Hardy, among others.
In the course of her stage career, Hiller won popular and critical acclaim in both London and New York. She excelled at rather plain but strong-willed characters. After touring Britain as Viola inTwelfth Night (1943), she returned to the West End to be directed byJohn Gielgud as Sister Joanna inThe Cradle Song (Apollo, 1944). The string of notable successes continued asPrincess Charlotte inThe First Gentleman (Savoy, 1945) oppositeRobert Morley as the Prince Regent, Pegeen inPlayboy of the Western World (Bristol Old Vic, 1946) andTess of the d'Urbervilles (Bristol Old Vic, 1946, transferring to thePiccadilly Theatre in the West End in 1947), which was adapted for the stage by her husband.
In 1947, Hiller originated the role of Catherine Sloper, the painfully shy, vulnerable spinster inThe Heiress onBroadway. The play, based on the Henry James novelWashington Square, also featuredBasil Rathbone as her emotionally abusive father. The production enjoyed a year-long run at theBiltmore Theatre in New York and would prove to be her greatest triumph on Broadway. On returning to London, Hiller again played the role in the West End production in 1950.
Her stage work remained a priority and continued withAnn Veronica (Piccadilly, 1949), which was adapted by Gow fromthe novel byH. G. Wells[3] with his wife in the leading role. She performed in a two-year run of N. C. Hunter'sWaters of the Moon (Haymarket, 1951–53) alongsideSybil Thorndike andEdith Evans. At theOld Vic for the 1955–56 season, Hiller contributed a notable performance as Portia inJulius Caesar, among others, including as Helen of Troy inTroilus and Cressida. Other stage work at this time includedThe Night of the Ball (New Theatre, 1955), the newRobert Bolt playFlowering Cherry (Haymarket, 1958, Broadway, 1959),Toys in the Attic (Piccadilly, 1960),The Wings of the Dove (Lyric, 1963),A Measure of Cruelty (Birmingham Repertory, 1965),A Present for the Past (Edinburgh, 1966),The Sacred Flame (Duke of York's, 1967) withGladys Cooper,The Battle of Shrivings (Lyric, 1970) withJohn Gielgud andLies (Albery, 1975).
In 1957, Hiller returned to New York to star as Josie Hogan inEugene O'Neill'sA Moon for the Misbegotten, a performance that gained her aTony Award nomination as Best Dramatic Actress. The production also featuredCyril Cusack andFranchot Tone. Her final appearance on Broadway was as Miss Tina in the 1962 production ofMichael Redgrave's adaptation ofThe Aspern Papers from the Henry James novella.
As Hiller matured, she demonstrated a strong affinity for the plays ofHenrik Ibsen, as Irene inWhen We Dead Awaken (Cambridge, 1968), as Mrs. Alving inGhosts (Edinburgh, 1972), Ase inPeer Gynt (BBC, 1972) and as Gunhild inJohn Gabriel Borkman (National Theatre Company, Old Vic, 1975), in which she appeared withRalph Richardson andPeggy Ashcroft. Later West End successes such asQueen Mary inCrown Matrimonial (Haymarket, 1972) proved that she was not limited to playing dejected, emotionally deprived women. She later revisited some earlier plays playing older characters, as in West End revivals ofWaters of the Moon (Chichester, 1977, Haymarket, 1978) withIngrid Bergman andThe Aspern Papers (Haymarket, 1984) withVanessa Redgrave. She was scheduled to return to the American stage in a 1982 revival ofAnastasia withNatalie Wood, but Wood died just weeks before rehearsals. Hiller made her final West End performance in the title role inDriving Miss Daisy (Apollo, 1988).
At Shaw's insistence, she starred asEliza Doolittle in the filmPygmalion (1938) withLeslie Howard as Professor Higgins. This performance earned Hiller her firstOscar nomination, a first for a British actress in a British film, and became one of her best-remembered roles. She was also the first actress to utter the word "bloody" in a British film, when Eliza utters the line "Not bloody likely, I'm going in a taxi!"
Hiller followed up this success with another Shaw adaptation,Major Barbara (1941) withRex Harrison and Robert Morley.Powell and Pressburger signed her forThe Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), but her second pregnancy forced her to bow out in favor ofDeborah Kerr. Determined to work with Hiller, the filmmakers later cast her withRoger Livesey again forI Know Where I'm Going! (1945), another classic of British cinema.
Despite her early film success and offers from Hollywood, she returned to the stage full-time after 1945 and only occasionally accepted film roles. With her return to film in the 1950s, she portrayed an abused colonial wife inCarol Reed'sOutcast of the Islands (1952), but had already transitioned into mature, supporting roles withSailor of the King (1953) and as a memorable victim of theMau Mau uprising inSomething of Value (1957). She won theOscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1959 for the filmSeparate Tables (1958) as a lonely hotel manager and mistress ofBurt Lancaster. She remained uncompromising in her indifference to film stardom, as evidenced by her surprising reaction to her Oscar win: "Never mind the honour, cold hard cash is what it means to me."[4] She received aBAFTA nomination as Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of the domineering, possessive mother inSons and Lovers (1960).[5] She reprised her London stage role in theSouthern GothicToys in the Attic (1963), which earned her aGolden Globe nomination as the elder spinster sister in a film that also starsDean Martin andGeraldine Page.[6]
Hiller received a third Oscar nomination for her performance as the simple, unrefined but dignified Lady Alice More, oppositePaul Scofield asThomas More, inA Man for All Seasons (1966). Her role as the grandRussian princess in a great commercial success,Murder on the Orient Express (1974), won her international acclaim and theEvening Standard British Film Award as Best Actress. Other notable roles included a Jewish refugee fleeingNazi Germany with her dying husband inVoyage of the Damned (1976), the formidable London Hospital matron inThe Elephant Man (1980) andMaggie Smith's emotionally cold and demanding aunt inThe Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987).
Hiller made numerous television appearances, in both Britain and the United States. In the 1950s and 1960s, she performed in episodes of American drama series such asStudio One andAlfred Hitchcock Presents among others. In 1965, she starred in an episode of the acclaimed dramatic seriesProfiles in Courage (1965), in which she playedAnne Hutchinson, a free-thinking woman charged with heresy in Colonial America. In Britain during the 1960s, Hiller gained critical acclaim for a guest appearance in a 1964 episode of the police dramaZ-Cars,[7] appeared in the drama seriesPlay of the Month, and in 1965 was the narrator forfive episodes of the BBC children's television programmeJackanory, reading the stories ofAlison Uttley.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, she appeared in many television films including a memorable Duchess of York in theBBC Television Shakespeare production ofRichard II (1978), the irascible Edwardian Oxford academic inMiss Morison's Ghosts (1981) and the BBC dramatisations ofJulian Gloag'sOnly Yesterday (1986) and theVita Sackville-West novelAll Passion Spent (1986), in which she was the quietly defiant Lady Slane. This performance earned her a BAFTA nomination as Best Actress. Her last appearance before retiring from acting was the title role inThe Countess Alice (1992), a BBC/WGBH-Boston television film withZoë Wanamaker.
In the early 1940s, Hiller and husband Ronald Gow moved toBeaconsfield,Buckinghamshire, where they brought up two children, Ann (1939–2006) and Anthony (b. 1942), and lived together in the house called "Spindles" (now demolished). Ronald Gow died in 1993, but Hiller continued living at their home until her death a decade later. When not performing on stage or screen, she lived a completely private domestic life, insisting on being referred to as Mrs. Gow rather than by her stage name.
Regarded as one of Britain's great dramatic talents, she was made anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1971 and raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1975.
In 1984 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Manchester. In 1996, Hiller was honoured by theLondon Film Critics Circle with theDilys Powell Award for excellence in British film. Her style was disciplined and unpretentious, and she disliked personal publicity. The writerSheridan Morley described Hiller as being remarkable in her "extreme untheatricality until the house lights went down, whereupon she would deliver a performance of breathtaking reality and expertise."[8]
Despite a busy professional career, throughout her life she continually took an active interest in aspiring young actors by supporting local amateur drama societies,[9] as well as being the president of theChiltern Shakespeare Company until her death. Chronic ill health necessitated her eventual retirement from acting in 1992. She spent the last decade of her life in quiet retirement at her home in Beaconsfield, where she died of natural causes at the age of 90.[10]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Laura Siddons | Season 5 Episode 14: "Graduating Class" (aired December 27) |
| 1969 | David Copperfield | Mrs. Micawber | |
| 1969 | The Growing Summer | Aunt Dymphna | Silver medal at 1969 Venice Film Festival |
| 1972 | Clochemerle | Justine Putet | |
| 1978 | Richard II | Duchess of York | |
| 1979 | Edward the Conqueror | Louisa | episode ofTales of the Unexpected |
| 1980 | The Curse of King Tut's Tomb | Princess Vilma | |
| 1981 | Country | Lady Carlion | episode ofPlay for Today |
| 1982 | The Kingfisher | Evelyn | |
| 1982 | Witness for the Prosecution | Janet Mackenzie | |
| 1985 | The Importance of Being Earnest | Lady Bracknell | |
| 1985 | The Death of the Heart | Matchett | fromthe novel by Elizabeth Bowen |
| 1986 | Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy | Princess Victoria | as Dame Wendy Hiller |
| 1986 | Only Yesterday | May Darley | from the novel byJulian Gloag |
| 1986 | All Passion Spent | Lady Slane | Nominated –British Academy Television Award for Best Actress |
| 1987 | Anne of Avonlea | Mrs. Harris | as Dame Wendy Hiller |
| 1988 | A Taste for Death | Lady Ursula Berowne | fromthe novel by P.D. James |
| 1989 | Ending Up | Adela | from the novel by Kingsley Amis |
| 1991 | The Best of Friends | Laurentia McLachlan | as Dame Wendy Hiller |
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1939 | Best Actress | Pygmalion | Nominated | [11] |
| 1959 | Best Supporting Actress | Separate Tables | Won | [12] |
| 1967 | A Man for all Seasons | Nominated | [13] |
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Academy Film Awards | ||||
| 1960 | Best British Actress | Separate Tables | nom | [14] |
| 1961 | Sons and Lovers | nom | ||
| British Academy Television Awards | ||||
| 1987 | Best Actress | All Passion Spent | nom | [15] |
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Actress of the Year in a Revival | Waters of the Moon | nom | [16] |
All praise to Wendy Hiller for a memorable performance that would have done credit to a stage production, let alone a television 'once only' presentation. How well it demonstrated Miss Hiller's long dramatic experience, both on the stage and in the film studio. Her talent was exploited the full in this episode of Z Cars
