Margery Mason obituary
She was not on the list.
My aunt, Margery Mason, who has died aged 100, was an actor,
writer and theatre manager. She was a founder member of the Actors' Company and
made appearances in diverse productions, from Midsomer Murders to a Harry
Potter film.
Born and brought up in Hackney, east London, she came from a
modest background, and after rudimentary education left school at 15. Her
parents ran a semi-professional dramatic company, from which Margery's acting
career developed. Initially she performed in their company at working men's
clubs in the East End of London, starting as principal boy in pantos, then
succeeding to adult parts, sometimes competing with her mother for the starring
female roles. Her father ran an early cinema, the Hackney Bioscope, and
subsequently established the Impartial Film Report, which distributed weekly
film reviews to the then many independent cinemas. Margery attended film trade
showings, wrote reviews and helped produce the Report.
Before the second world war she was active in repertory
theatres in Macclesfield, Oldham, and Worthing. In 1943 Ensa (the
Entertainments National Service Association) recruited her for tours in Egypt,
Palestine and Jordan; then again to India, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore,
Malaysia and Thailand. She was an army lieutenant, and claimed to enjoy the
luxury of service life.
After the war, she returned to repertory acting and wrote
her first play, And Use of Kitchen, about London bedsit life. From the 1950s to
early 60s she managed theatres, including at Amersham, and later ran her own
theatre company in Bangor, Northern Ireland. She was a founder-member of the
Actors' Company, before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company for touring and
Stratford seasons. Her marriage in 1951 to the classical violinist Peter
Daminoff was short-lived.
In Talking to a Stranger, John Hopkins' 1966 seminal four-part
television drama, Margery co-starred alongside Maurice Denham, Judi Dench and
Michael Bryant, and gave an acclaimed performance in the final episode's
central role. Other television work followed in several episodes of Peak
Practice, A Family at War and The Bill, with guest appearances in Midsomer
Murders, Jonathan Creek, Cadfael and many others. In films she played in The
Princess Bride and had cameo parts in Love Actually and Harry Potter and Goblet
of Fire.
Margery had extraordinary energy and enthusiasm. She loved
travel and had been a keen horsewoman and tennis player. Until she was 99 she
swam five times a week at the Swiss Cottage baths. She was an autodidact and an
idealist, and loved life. She always spoke her mind and relished argument. Politically
she was of the old Left, and for many years was a member of the Communist
party. She resigned in disgust after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Her chief love was theatre and the spoken word: poetry,
novels, plays. Her farewell to the stage came in 2003 when, aged 90, she played
the nurse in Chekhov's Three Sisters at the Playhouse theatre, London.
Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
1968 Charlie
Bubbles Mrs. Noseworthy
1969 Walk a
Crooked Path Aunt Mildred
1970 Clegg Neighbour
1971 The Raging
Moon Matron
1972 Made Mrs. Marshall
1975 Hennessy Housekeeper
1982 Pink Floyd –
The Wall Teacher's Wife
1986 Terry on the
Fence Terry's Gran
1987 The Princess
Bride The Ancient Booer
1992 Howards End Wedding Guest #2
1993 The Hawk Greengrocer
1996 101
Dalmatians Woman On Park
Bench
1998 Les
Misérables Nursing Nun
2003 Love Actually
Harris Street Old Lady
2005 Harry Potter
and the Goblet of Fire Food
Trolley Lady
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