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Moira Redmond

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Moira Redmond
Born(1928-07-14)14 July 1928
Bognor Regis, Sussex, UK
Died16 March 2006(2006-03-16) (aged 77)
London, UK
Years active1959–1997
Spouse(s)Anthony Hughes (1951–1957)
Herbert Wise (1962–1972)

Moira Redmond (14 July 1928 – 16 March 2006) was an English actress.[1]

Biography

She was born in Bognor Regis, Sussex, England. Her parents were actors and director managers, although she was also cared for by other relatives.[2] Her grandfather was the actor manager playwright E Hill Mitchelson.

As a young actress, she joined the Windmill Girls (evoked in the film Mrs Henderson Presents) who performed non-stop revues and nude tableaux at the Windmill Theatre in the West End. Several years later, she married her first husband and emigrated to Australia, but the marriage did not endure so she returned to Britain in 1957.[2] While in Australia, Redmond became a successful radio actress. She played in the major radio features, Caltex Theatre and General Motors' Hour as well as plays for the Australian Broadcasting Commission. Her best remembered radio drama was Linday Hardy's Stranger in Paradise alongside Guy Doleman, a New Zealand actor who later had a movie career both in the US and Britain.[citation needed]

She made her stage debut as an understudy to Vivien Leigh in Peter Brook's revival of Titus Andronicus with Laurence Olivier.[3] In July of that year, she made her London debut at the Stoll in the same production.[4]

In 1958, she made her film debut in a thriller, entitled Violent Moment (1958), which was followed by several more roles in the films Doctor in Love (1960), "Jigsaw" (1962), A Shot in the Dark (1964) and several B-film thrillers.[1]

Meanwhile, her theatrical career had taken off with roles in Verdict (Strand), in which she played Helen Rollander; Detour After Dark (Fortune Theatre), Horizontal Hold (Comedy Theatre); Patrick Peace Hotel (Queen's); The Winter's Tale (Cambridge Theatre) and Flint (Comedy Theatre).[5]

She was also a founder member of the Actors' Company with Ian McKellen.[3] Redmond appeared as a page in Iris Murdoch's The Three Arrows (17 October – 11 November 1972) along with McKellen.[6] She played at the Edinburgh Festival as Helen of Troy in The Trojan Women with Flora Robson, and as Hermione in The Winter's Tale with Laurence Harvey.[7]

Throughout the 1960s, she appeared in London and the provinces in the plays of Alan Ayckbourn; she was also Lady Sheerwell in Jonathan Miller's revival of Sheridan's The School for Scandal; Maria in Twelfth Night; Mrs Wickstead in Habeas Corpus; Brand's mother in Brand; and Jocasta in Stephen Spender's trilogy Oedipus. She later toured South America for the British Council in revivals of Habeas Corpus and Shaw's Heartbreak House (as Hesione). Television appearances in the 1960s included a role in Hot Snow (the debut episode of the first series of The Avengers) and in Danger Man and The Baron among others.

By the 1970s, she was increasingly in demand for television series, her theatrical training earning her roles in some of the best known television dramas of the period, including Edward the Seventh (playing Edward's mistress Alice Keppel); I, Claudius (in which she played Domitia, Claudius's mother-in-law); and Boswell's London Journey. She also appeared in The Alleyn Mysteries; Edgar Wallace Mysteries, Dixon of Dock Green, and The Sweeney.

Personal life

She was twice married and divorced: firstly to Anthony Hughes and secondly to Herbert Wise (1962–1972). Moira Redmond died of a heart attack on 16 March 2006 at a nursing home in south east London. She had been suffering from senile dementia for some years.[8][2]

Selected filmography

References

  1. ^ a b "Moira Redmond". BFI.
  2. ^ a b c Purser, Philip (21 March 2006). "Obituary: Moira Redmond". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Moira Redmond". www.scotsman.com.
  4. ^ "Production of Titus Andronicus | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  5. ^ "Moira Redmond". 23 March 2006 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  6. ^ "THE THREE ARROWS with Ian McKellen". www.mckellen.com. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  7. ^ "Production of The Winter's Tale | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  8. ^ Daily Telegraph 23 March 2006
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