Maureen Pryor
Maureen Pryor | |
---|---|
Born | Maureen Arabella St John Pook 23 May 1922 Limerick, Ireland |
Died | 5 May 1977 London, England | (aged 54)
Occupation | Actress |
Spouse(s) | Stephen Lushington (m.1941 – ?; divorced) Thomas S. Barry (1961 – ?; separated) |
Children | One son |
Maureen St John Pook (23 May 1922 – 5 May 1977), known professionally as Maureen Pryor, was an Irish-born English character actress who made stage, film, and television appearances.[1][2] The Encyclopaedia of British Film noted, "she never played leads, but, with long rep and TV experience (from 1949), she was noticeable in all she did."[3]
Early life
[edit]Pryor was born in Limerick, Ireland, to a British father and an Irish mother.[3] She began acting with Manchester Repertory in 1938, and studied with Michel Saint-Denis at the London Theatre Studio in 1939.
Career
[edit]She appeared in the West End in Seán O'Casey's Red Roses for Me, Noël Coward's Peace in Our Time, John Griffith Bowen's After the Rain (also on Broadway),[1] Doris Lessing's Play with a Tiger[4] and plays such as Little Boxes and Where's Tedd.[5] She was a member of the Stables Theatre Company. She also appeared on Broadway in the premiere season of Boeing-Boeing (1965).[1] In Manchester, she appeared in Eugene O'Neill's one-act play Before Breakfast, directed by Bill Gilmour. She also directed the play herself, for the RSC at the Old Red Lion, Stratford, in 1975.[6] She played Mistress Quickly in Terry Hand's 1975/76 production of Henry IV, Part 2 and Henry V also for the Royal Shakespeare Company.[7]
She made over 500 television appearances, including a Play for Today, "O Fat White Woman" (1971),[8] adapted by William Trevor from his own short story, and Ken Russell's television film Song of Summer (1968), in which she played Jelka Delius, the long-suffering wife of the composer Frederick Delius.[9] Russell cast her again in his cinema film The Music Lovers (1970) as Tchaikovsky's mother-in-law.[2] In the 1974 BBC television film Shoulder to Shoulder, she played the composer Dame Ethel Smyth.[10]
In the 1970s British police drama The Sweeney, episode Big Spender, she appeared as Edith Wardle the wife of a dishonest employee of a car park company who becomes involved in an elaborate fraud.
Personal life
[edit]Her first marriage ended in divorce, her second in separation. She had one son, Mark. She died in 1977 from a heart ailment.
Selected filmography
[edit]- Room for Two (1940)
- The Lady with a Lamp (1951) – Sister Wheeler
- The Weak and the Wicked (1954) – Prison Matron
- Doctor in the House (1954) – Mrs. Cooper
- Orders Are Orders (1954) – Miss Marigold
- Angel Pavement (1957-1958, TV series) – Mrs. Smeeth
- The Secret Place (1957) – Mrs. Haywood
- Doctor at Large (1957) – Mrs. Dalton
- Heart of a Child (1958) – Frau Spiel
- Conspiracy of Hearts (1960) – Sister Consuela
- The Secret Kingdom (1960, TV series) – Paula Byron
- No Love for Johnnie (1961) – Labour Party Member
- Life for Ruth (1962) – Teddy's mother
- Madhouse on Castle Street (TV, 1963; Mrs Griggs; this was Bob Dylan's acting debut)
- Modesty Blaise (1966) – (scenes deleted)
- The Sandwich Man (1966)
- Three Bites of the Apple (1967) – Birdie Guffy
- Omnibus: Song of Summer (TV, 1968)
- The Music Lovers (1970) – Nina's Mother
- Lady Caroline Lamb (1972) – Mrs. Buller
- The National Health (1973) – The Matron
- Shoulder to Shoulder (1974, BBC TV; as ) – Dame Ethel Smyth
- The Black Windmill (1974) – Jane Harper
- The Sweeney (1975) – Enid Wardle
References
[edit]- ^ a b c League, The Broadway. "Maureen Pryor – Broadway Cast & Staff – IBDB". ibdb.com.
- ^ a b "Maureen Pryor". Archived from the original on 10 January 2018.
- ^ a b McFarlane, Brian (16 May 2016). The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9781526111968 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Play with a Tiger by Doris Lessing". dorislessing.org.
- ^ "doollee.com". Archived from the original on 28 May 2008.
- ^ "Production of Before Breakfast – Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
- ^ "Maureen Pryor – Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
- ^ Play for Today: O Fat White Woman, BFI Film and TV Database
- ^ "Song of Summer (1968)". Archived from the original on 10 January 2018.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Shoulder To Shoulder (1974) Credits". screenonline.org.uk.