|
|
|
obituary
exclusive pics of lockwood's homes (2008)
margaret lockwood dvd collection boxset (includes lockwood documentary)
books
i. adjani |
Margaret Lockwood
Margaret Lockwood, the last totally English film star to have stayed at the
top of the cinema box office polls for several years in succession, died last
night in the Cromwell Hospital in west London at the age of 73.
Whereas the rest of her 1940s generation, from
Jean Simmons and
Deborah Kerr
to James Mason and Stewart Granger, went to seek international fame in
Hollywood, Miss Lockwood maintained a totally local kind of stardom that
nevertheless altered radically over the decades.
Born Margaret Day in India (1917 was the date she usually gave, though some
reports put it as early as 1911) she started in films with ingenue roles in the
middle 1930s, notably
Lorna Doone and Beloved Vagabond, before she was taken up
by
Hitchcock for the classic 1938 thriller
The Lady Vanishes, in
which she
played opposite
Michael Redgrave.
The Lady Vanishes made Lockwood a star and took her almost immediately to
Hollywood. She was there for less than a year and only two movies, from which
she returned to some very much better wartime work in England, notably in
another train thriller Night Train to Munich, The Stars Look Down and Quiet
Wedding.
But it was in 1943 with The Man in Grey that she, Phyllis Calvert, Stewart
Granger and James Mason formed themselves into the quartet of Gainsborough
stars most often to be found through the rest of the war years in a succession
of snobbery-with-violence pictures, usually involving period costumes and a
good horsewhipping. Lockwood would end up in these bruised by James Mason (The
Wicked Lady, probably her best-known film).
As Granger and Mason moved on to sunnier Californian contracts, Lockwood's
career went into roughly the same decline as the English cinema itself, before
finishing up in Bryan Forbes's The Slipper and the Rose, her last big screen
appearance in 1976.
In the meantime, however, she had begun to carve out a new career in the
theatre. She played Peter Pan for three seasons and had a long Savoy run in the
thriller Spider's Web. She also had three long-running television serials,
notably Justice.
She was married once (to Rupert Leon), divorcing 40 years ago, and leaves a
daughter, the actress Julia Lockwood.
Phyllis Calvert said last night: "Over the last ten years she lived quite
like a hermit. As a young actress, though, she was very gay but very serious
about her work."
A Among
those present were:
Mr Ernest Clark and Miss Julia Lockwood (son-in-law and daughter), Mr Tim
Clark and Mr Nicholas Clark (grandsons), Lucy and Catherine Clark
(granddaughters), Miss Penny Robinson, Mrs Betty Lait, Mr Simon Lait, Miss Jean
Lait, Miss Sarah Gall, Mr Nicholas Gall, Miss Tamara Gall, Mr Andrew Clark, Mrs
Ginny Tristan, Mrs Rosanna Cheyney.
Sir Peter and Lady Saunders, Miss Chili Bouchier, Mr Maurice Denham, Mr Robert
Flemyng, Mr Desmond Llewellyn, Miss Kathleen Byron, Mr Francis Burrow, Miss Eve
Southwood, Miss June Wyndham-Davies, Mrs Beryl Cook, Mr Anthony Holland, Mr
Theo Cowan, Mr Michael Thornton, Miss Deddie Davies, Miss Hazel Bainbridge,
Miss Patricia Dainton, Mr Norman Williams, Mr John Stone, Mr A Jackson, Mr
Robert Eddison, Mr and Mrs Michael Cochrane.
Mr Alan Sleath (chairman, Associates of RADA) with Miss Barbara Todd; Miss
Ella Slack (BBC), Mr Frank Coven (London director, Nine TV Network of
Australia) and Mrs Coven, Mr E Gansler (British Music Hall Society), Miss
Judith Craig (Henry Sherwood Productions), Mr Ken Gibson (Contact Artists
Association), Mr William Quinn (Irish Actors' Equity Association), Mr Ken
Sefton (Gallery First Nighters Club) and Mr Patrick Newley (Stage and TV Today).
Actress - filmography
julie christie |
josette day |
[dvds]
[margaretlockwoodwares]
[dvds] click here
|
|
ｩ 2004 by the appropriate owners of the included material |
||
|
Margaret Lockwood Archives: lenin@netcomuk.co.uk. | ||
