BILLIE WHITELAW

'Billie Whitelaw', CBE (born June 6, 1932) is a distinguished English actress for both stage and film and has worked alongside notables such as Laurence Olivier, Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Albert Finney, Peter Sellers, and Samuel Beckett (with whom she collaborated closely on theatrical techniques for twenty-five years). Appearing frequently on television, often in costume dramas such as ''Jane Eyre'' and ''A Tale of Two Cities'', Whitelaw has won acclaim for her performances in dramas such as the BBC adaptation of Thomas Hardy's ''Wessex Tales'' and was awarded the CBE in 1991.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Filmography

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Whitelaw was born in Coventry, Warwickshire to Frances Mary Williams and Gerry Whitelaw.^[1] She grew up in a disadvantaged neighborhood and attended the Thornton Grammar School in Bradford. At age 11, she began performing as a child actor on radio programs and later worked as an assistant stage manager at a provincial theatre.

Career

After training at RADA, Whitelaw made her stage debut at age 22 in London 1950. Making her film debut in ''The Sleeping Tiger'' (1954) as a secretary, Whitelaw soon becoming a regular in British films of the 1950s and 1960s. Meeting in 1963, Whitelaw and famed Irish playwright Samuel Beckett enjoyed an intense professional relationship until his death in 1989. They collaborated and performed plays such as ''Play'', ''Eh Joe'', ''Krapp's Last Tape'', ''Not I'', ''Footfalls'' and ''Rockaby'' for both stage and screen. Whitelaw is regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works.

Personal life

Married first to the actor Peter Vaughan, whom she divorced, Whitelaw later married writer and drama critic Robert Muller with whom she had a son. Her autobiography, ''Billie Whitelaw... Who He?,'' was published by St. Martin's Press (published in 1996). Whitelaw currently lives in Hampstead, London and continues to work on stage, films and television. She regularly gives lectures on the Beckettian technique.
Her son, who had lent Edgar Wright the use of his flat for ''Shaun of the Dead'', convinced his mother to come out of retirement and accept the role of Joyce Cooper in ''Hot Fuzz''.^[2]

Filmography

★ ''Hot Fuzz'' (2007)

★ ''Quills'' (2000)

★ ''Merlin'' (1998) (TV)

★ ''Jane Eyre'' (1996)

★ ''The Krays'' (1990)

★ ''Maurice'' (1987)

★ ''Terror in the Aisles'' (1984)

★ ''Camille'' (1984) (TV)

★ ''The Dark Crystal'' (1982) (voice)

★ ''Private Schulz'' (1980)

★ ''A Tale of Two Cities'' (1980)

★ ''The Water Babies'' (1978)

★ ''The Omen'' (1976)

★ ''Night Watch'' (1973)

★ ''Frenzy'' (1972)

★ ''Gumshoe'' (1971)

★ ''The Adding Machine'' (1969)

★ ''The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' (TV)

★ ''Charlie Bubbles'' (1967)

★ ''Make Mine Mink'' (1960)

★ ''No Love for Johnnie'' (1960)

★ ''Breakout'' (1959)

★ ''Carve Her Name with Pride'' (1958)

★ ''Dixon of Dock Green'' (1955) (TV)

References

1. http://www.filmreference.com/film/43/Billie-Whitelaw.html
2. Interview: Edgar Wright for Hot Fuzz Paul Fischer

External links

★

★ Video of Billie Whitelaw performing Beckett's ''Not I''