___________________________________________________
1921-2009 Actress
dvds | posters | videos | other galleries new powell/pressburger online
small back room uk dvd
hedda gabler
-
key dates
- Perfect Strangers (2001) (TV)
- "In a Land of Plenty" (2001) TV Series
-
Dalziel and Pascoe: Cunning Old Fox (2000) (TV)
- Diary (1998)
- Saving Private Ryan (1998)
- Misérables, Les (1998)
- Emma (1996)
-
Portrait of a Marriage (1990) (TV)
- "Nancy Astor" (1982) (mini) TV Series
- From a Far Country (1981)
-
Elephant Man, The (1980)
- Englishman's Castle, An (1978) (TV)
- Honey (1977) (TV)
- North and South (1975) (TV)
- One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975)
- Heidi (1974) (TV)
- Abdication, The (1974)
- "Brontes of Haworth, The" (1973) (mini) TV Series
- Craze (1973)
- "Marked Personal" (1973) TV Series
- On Call (1973) (TV)
- New Life, The (1973) (TV)
- "Edwardians, The" (1972) (mini) TV Series
- "General Hospital" (1972) TV Series
- Nothing But the Night (1972)
- "Emmerdale Farm" (1972) TV Series
- "Golden Bowl, The" (1972) (mini) TV Series
- "Moonstone, The" (1972) (mini) TV Series
- Twins of Evil (1971)
-
Private Road (1971) .... Mrs. Halpern
- Wolfshead: The Legend of Robin Hood (1969)
- Confessions of Marian Evans, The (1969) (TV)
- Hammerhead (1968)
- Portrait of a Lady, The (1968) (TV)
- "Who Is Sylvia?" (1967) TV Series
- Play to Win (1966) (TV)
- Night of the Eagle (1962)
-
Hand in Hand (1960)
- "Emergency-Ward 10" (1957) TV Series
- Handcuffs, London (1955)
- Secret Venture (1955)
- Night of the Silvery Moon (1954)
- Profile (1954)
- Star of My Night (1954)
- Young Bess (1953)
- Gambler and the Lady, The (1952)
- Four Days (1951)
- Hell Is Sold Out (1951)
- Life in Her Hands (1951)
- My Death Is a Mockery (1951)
- Scarlet Thread, The (1951)
- Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951)
- House in the Square, The (1951)
- Reluctant Widow, The (1951)
-
Prelude to Fame (1950) .... Signora Bondini
- Madness of the Heart (1949)
- Small Back Room, The (1949)
- Black Narcissus (1947)
- Matter of Life and Death, A (1946)
- Silver Fleet, The (1943)
-
Young Mr. Pitt, The (1942) (uncredited)
- Climbing High (1938) (uncredited)
- Ingmar Bergman
- Frank Capra
- Charlie Chaplin
- Jean Cocteau
- Clark Gable
- D.W. Griffith
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Buster Keaton
- Fritz Lang
- Buster Keaton
- Marx Brothers
-
G.W. Pabst
- Louise Brooks
- Madeleine Carroll
- Bette Davis
- Marlene Dietrich
- Rita Hayworth
- Grace Kelly
- Margaret Lockwood
main site
- Leninimports.com
1921:
-
Born 11th January in London
1938:
- Uncredited debut film role in Climbing High
1942:
-
First credited role in The Young Mr. Pitt
1946:
-
Appears in A Matter of Life and Death, voted the 2nd greatest British film ever in 2004
1947:
-
Appears in Black Narcissus. Her mysterious beauty steals the movie
1949:
-
Appears in The Small Back Room
1953:
-
Hollywood debut in Young Bess
2009:
-
Dies at the age of 88 on 18th January in Northwood, Middlesex, UK
filmography
where are they now?Seen on UK TV screens in Perfect Strangers - 2001
links
_________________________________________________________________________
-
b. London, UK, 1921
d. Northwood, Middlesex, UK, 2009
-
Representation of the erotic was never the strong point of British cinema, but there is a moment in Black Narcissus which, sixty years later, still seems remarkable in that respect. Kathleen Byron as Sister Ruth, in a Himalayan convent, mad with lust for the District Commissioner, suddenly appears out of her nun's habit, in a low-cut dress, applying lipstick to her mysteriously beautiful face. It remains a brilliant study in suppressed sexuality suddenly asserting itself and it is to the undying discredit of British cinema that it never gave her another comparably exciting role. She might, with half a chance, have been a great melodramatic heroine: she had wit, intelligence, sensuality, and a flamboyant streak that she often used to salvage inferior roles. However, to be grateful for what she got, there is a clutch of films for Michael Powell which she rightly sees as the high point of her career; and Prelude to Fame gave her some scope as a selfish obsessive manipulating a small boy's life. Though wickedness or madness possibly brought out the best in her, she was also a more interesting than usual lead in The Small Back Room and Life in her Hands, both of which she imbues with individiality and appealing sympathy. The screen has wasted her talents appallingly in the last 40 years.
She made her film debut in Carol Reed's The Young Mr Pitts (41). It was a small part with two lines opposite the brilliant Robert Donat. Because of the war, she did little after that until starring in The Silver Fleet (43), A Matter of Life and Death (46)
, Black Narcissus (47), and Madness of the Heart (49). In the latter film the lead star was Britain's most famous actress of the 1940s, Margaret Lockwood. Because she could, Lockwood could dictate what shots could be taken of her co-stars and this was one of the reasons Byron didn't get on with her. But this was really an isolated incident of Lockwood behaving like the big star as there are countless stories of her charm and kindness to other actors.
Byron went to Hollywood in 1953 to make Young Bess with Charles Laughton, but because of family commitments and lack of guiding support from a manager or agent, her Hollywood career never took off.
From the mid-50s onwards her roles became smaller and she appeared less and less on the big screen. David Lynch's The Elephant Man (80), Emma (95) and Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (98) are the best known films she has appeared in during the later period of her career.
biog. | gallery
books | dvds | posters | videos |
other galleries
new powell/pressburger online shop
| hedda gabler
small back room uk dvd | twins of evil
