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Billie Whitelaw | |
|---|---|
 Whitelaw,c. 1960s | |
| Born | Billie Honor Whitelaw (1932-06-06)6 June 1932 |
| Died | 21 December 2014(2014-12-21) (aged 82) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1950–2007 |
| Known for | |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 1 |
| Awards | BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role |
Billie Honor Whitelaw (6 June 1932 – 21 December 2014) was an English actress. She worked in close collaboration with Irish playwrightSamuel Beckett for 25 years and was regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works.[1] She was also known for her portrayal ofMrs. Baylock, the demonic nanny in the 1976 horror filmThe Omen.
Whitelaw was nominated for threeTelevision BAFTAs, winning two in 1961 and 1973. She was also nominated for fourFilm BAFTAs, winning theAward for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for bothCharlie Bubbles andTwisted Nerve in1969.
Whitelaw was born on 6 June 1932 inCoventry,Warwickshire,[a] the daughter of Frances Mary (née Williams) and Gerry Whitelaw.[2] She had one sister, Constance, who was 10 years older. Whitelaw grew up in a working class part ofBradford and later attended Grange Girls' Grammar School in Bradford.[citation needed]
At age 11, she began performing as a child actress on radio programmes, including the part of Bunkle, an extrovert prep-schoolboy on Children's Hour from Manchester, and later worked as an assistant stage manager and acted with the repertory company at the Prince's Theatre in Bradford during high school. Her father died oflung cancer when Billie was 9 years old. Money was tight and her mother struggled to support the family. "It's something I haven't come to terms with ... I'm rather ashamed of having the good life I have", she later recalled.[3]
At the age of sixteen, Whitelaw met the directorJoan Littlewood at the BBC in Manchester and was invited to join her Theatre Workshop troupe. She was encouraged by her mother to join Harry Hanson's Leeds company in 1948 and then went on to play in repertory theatres in Dewsbury, New Brighton on Merseyside, and Oxford; eventually making her London debut in 1950.[4]
Whitelaw made her film debut inThe Sleeping Tiger (1954), followed by roles inCarve Her Name with Pride (1958) andHell Is a City (1960). Whitelaw soon became a regular in British films of the 1950s and early 1960s. In her early film work, she specialised in blousy blondes and secretaries, but her dramatic range began to emerge by the late 1960s. She starred withAlbert Finney inCharlie Bubbles (1967), a performance which won her aBAFTA award as Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She would win her second BAFTA as the sensuous mother of college studentHayley Mills in the psychological studyTwisted Nerve (1969). She continued in film roles includingLeo the Last (1970),Start the Revolution Without Me (1970),Gumshoe (1971) and theAlfred Hitchcock thrillerFrenzy (1972).[citation needed]
Whitelaw gained international acclaim for her chilling role as Mrs Baylock, the evil guardian of the demon child Damien inThe Omen (1976). Her performance was considered one of the more memorable of the film, winning her theEvening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress.[5] Other films included performing the voice of Aughra inThe Dark Crystal, as the hopelessly naive Mrs. Hall inMaurice (1987), one of two sisters, withJoan Plowright, struggling to survive in war-timeLiverpool inThe Dressmaker (1988), the fiercely domineering and protective mother of psychopathic twin murderers inThe Krays (1990), a performance that earned her a BAFTA nomination, as the nurse Grace Poole inJane Eyre (1996) and the blind laundress inQuills (2000). She returned to film, in a comedy turn, as Joyce Cooper inHot Fuzz (2007).[citation needed]
In 1970, she was a member of the jury at the20th Berlin International Film Festival.[6]
In 1963, Billie Whitelaw met Irish playwrightSamuel Beckett. She and Beckett enjoyed an intense professional relationship until his death in 1989. He wrote many of his more experimental plays especially for her, referring to Whitelaw as "a perfect actress". Whitelaw became Beckett's muse, as he created, reworked and revised each play while she physically, at times to the point of total exhaustion, acted each movement.
Whitelaw remained the foremost interpreter of the man and his work. She gave lectures on the Beckettian technique and explained: "He used me as a piece of plaster he was moulding until he got just the right shape".[7] They collaborated on Beckett plays such asPlay,Eh Joe,Happy Days,Not I,Footfalls andRockaby for both stage and screen.[1] For her performance inRockaby Whitelaw was nominated for aDrama Desk Award.[8]
From 1964 to 1966, she was a member of Britain'sNational Theatre Company. In 1965, she took over the part ofDesdemona oppositeLaurence Olivier'sOthello fromMaggie Smith.[9]
Whitelaw also appeared frequently on television and won acclaim for her work. A very early TV appearance was in the first series of the long-running BBC1 police seriesDixon of Dock Green (1955), as Mary Dixon, daughter of George (Jack Warner). She also appeared as a woman who tries to join Robin Hood's outlaw band in a 1957 episode ofThe Adventures of Robin Hood, "The Bride of Robin Hood" and won a BAFTA award as Best Actress for her performance inThe Sextet (1972). She starred on the 1958–59 sitcomTime Out for Peggy.[10] She also appeared in an episode ofWicked Women (1970),[11] theBBC adaptation ofThomas Hardy'sWessex Tales (1973),A Tale of Two Cities (1980),Private Schulz (1982),A Murder of Quality (1991),Duel of Hearts (1991),Firm Friends (1992–1994) withMadhur Jaffrey,Jane Eyre (1996),Born to Run (1997),Merlin (1998) andA Dinner of Herbs (2000).[10]
Whitelaw was married to the actorPeter Vaughan from 1952 to 1966. She later married the writer and drama criticRobert Muller. The couple had a son together. Muller died in 1998.
Having divided her time between a home inHampstead, north London and a cottage nearGlemsford inSuffolk, Whitelaw spent the last four years of her life as a resident ofDenville Hall, the actors' retirement and nursing home inNorthwood,Hillingdon.[4] She died there aged 82, following a bout ofpneumonia[4] on 21 December 2014.[12]
Billie Whitelaw...Who He? An Autobiography, was published bySt Martin's Press in 1995.
Whitelaw was appointed aCommander of the Order of the British Empire byQueen Elizabeth II in the1991 Birthday Honours.[13]
| Year | Awards | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | British Academy Film Awards | Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles | Hell Is a City | Nominated | [14] |
| British Academy Television Awards | Best Actress | —[b] | Won | [15] | |
| 1969 | British Academy Film Awards | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Charlie Bubbles /Twisted Nerve | Won | [16] |
| 1973 | British Academy Television Awards | Best Actress | The Sextet (8 Plays) | Won | [15] |
| 1974 | Wessex Tales: The Withered Arm | Nominated | |||
| 1977 | British Academy Film Awards | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | The Omen | Nominated | [16] |
| Evening Standard British Film Awards | Best Actress | Won | |||
| 1979 | Laurence Olivier Awards | Actress of the Year in a Revival | Happy Days | Nominated | [17] |
| 1988 | Evening Standard British Film Awards | Best Actress | The Dressmaker | Won | |
| 1991 | British Academy Film Awards | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | The Krays | Nominated | [16] |
