Billie Whitelaw, star of stage and screen, dies aged 82
She was not on the list.
Acclaimed actress Billie Whitelaw, famous for her roles on
stage and screen, has died at the age of 82.
The Coventry-born star, who was made a CBE in 1991, worked
in close collaboration with playwright Samuel Beckett, who described her as a
perfect actress.
She died in the early hours of Sunday at a nursing home in
London, her son Matthew Muller told the BBC.
"I could not have asked for a more loving mum," he
said.
"She had an incredible career - but first and foremost
she was my mum - and that's who I will miss," he added.
News of her death prompted a string of tributes on Twitter,
among them messages from Gary and Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet fame.
Whitelaw appeared with them in 1990 film The Krays, playing
Violet Kray, mother of the criminal Kray twins, to Gary's Ronnie and Martin's
Reggie.
"Deeply saddened that Billie Whitelaw has died,"
tweeted Gary Kemp. "I'll always remember her as a generous and towering
actor, and 'Mum'."
His sentiments were echoed by his brother Martin, who
tweeted: ""Desperately sad to hear the news... an honour to get to
know you on The Krays."
Born in 1932, Whitelaw made her radio acting debut aged just
11 and made her first stage appearance in Bradford in 1950.
She was well known for her role as Mrs Baylock in horror
film The Omen and more recently appeared in the comedy Hot Fuzz.
That film's director Edgar Wright tweeted that he was
"very sad to hear that the magnificent Billie Whitelaw passed away"
while adding he was "so very happy" to have worked with her.
Hot Fuzz was her last feature film and in a long tribute on
his website Wright wrote that filming with her was an honour.
"She made me laugh a lot. She had a wicked sense of
humour and could be devastatingly funny."
He admitted to frequently questioning her about her
illustrious career and said "she was both very proud of her career and
sometimes amusingly dismissive".
Whitelaw won two Baftas, in 1969 and 1973, and appeared in a
number of TV series, including BBC One's Dixon of Dock Green.
In her autobiography Billie Whitelaw... Who He?, however,
she acknowledged it was her work with Beckett that generated the most interest.
Without their association, she wrote, "nobody would
have been remotely interested in my autobiography."
Whitelaw was married to actor Peter Vaughan between 1952 and
1966. She later married German actor and writer Robert Muller, who died in
1998.
Last week the University of Reading announced it had
purchased Whitelaw's Samuel Beckett archive - a collection including
correspondence, annotated playscripts and costumes - for £35,000.
Scottish actor Douglas Henshall, US actress Mia Farrow and
singer Toyah Wilcox are among others to have paid tribute to Whitelaw on
Twitter.
"Thank you Billie for being a role model and an
inspiration," tweeted Wilcox, while Henshall - who appeared with the
actress in 1990s drama Firm Friends - remembered her as "lovely".
Mia Farrow, who played Whitelaw's Mrs Baylock role in the
2006 remake of The Omen, said she had been "magnificent" and
"never less than great".
"Sad to see Billie Whitelaw has died," tweeted
comedian Robin Ince. "I'd suggest a minute's silence, but I imagine
Beckett would suggest it should be much longer than that."
Selected filmography
The Fake (1953) as
Waitress
The Sleeping Tiger
(1954) as Receptionist at Pearce & Mann
Companions in
Crime (1955)
Room in the House
(1955)
Mr. Arkadin (1955)
(voice)
Miracle in Soho
(1957) as Maggie
Small Hotel (1957)
as Caroline Mallet
Carve Her Name
with Pride (1958) as Winnie
Gideon's Day
(1958) as Christine (uncredited)
Time Out for Peggy
(1958-1959, TV Series) as Peggy Spencer
Breakout (1959) as
Rose Munro
Bobbikins (1959)
as Lydia Simmons
The Flesh and the
Fiends (1960) as Mary Patterson
Hell Is a City
(1960) as Chloe Hawkins
Make Mine Mink
(1960) as Lily
Payroll (1961) as
Jackie Parker
No Love for
Johnnie (1961) as Mary
Mr. Topaze (1961)
as Ernestine
The Devil's Agent
(1962) as Piroska Maslov
The Comedy Man
(1964) as Judy
Charlie Bubbles
(1967) as Lottie Bubbles
The Strange Case
of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968, TV Movie) as Gwyn Thomas
Twisted Nerve
(1968) as Joan Harper
The Adding Machine
(1969) as Daisy Devore
Start the
Revolution Without Me (1970) as Queen Marie Antoinette
Leo the Last
(1970) as Margaret
Gumshoe (1971) as
Ellen
Eagle in a Cage
(1972) as Madame Bertrand
Frenzy (1972) as
Hetty Porter
Follow the Yellow
Brick Road (1972, TV Series) as Judy Black
Night Watch (1973)
as Sarah Cooke
Napoleon and Love
(1974, TV Mini-Series) as Josephine
The Omen (1976) as
Mrs Baylock
Space: 1999 (1976,
TV Series ) as Zamara
The Water Babies
(1978) as Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby / Old Crone / Mrs Tripp / Woman in Black /
Water Babies 'Gate Keeper'
Leopard in the
Snow (1978) as Isabel James
A Tale of Two
Cities (1980) as Madame Therese Defarge
Private Schulz
(1980) as Bertha Freyer
An Unsuitable Job
for a Woman (1982) as Elizabeth Leaming
The Dark Crystal
(1982) as Aughra (voice)
Jamaica Inn (1983,
TV Series) as Aunt Patience
Terror in the
Aisles (1984) as Madge
The Chain (1984)
as Mrs. Andreos
Camille (1984, TV
Movie) as Prudence Duvorney
Tangiers (1985) as
Louise
Shadey (1985) as
Doctor Cloud
Murder Elite
(1985) as Margaret Baker
Maurice (1987) as
Mrs Hall
The Secret Garden
(1987) as Mrs Medlock
Joyriders (1988)
as Tammy O'Moore
The Dressmaker
(1988) as Margo
The Krays (1990)
as Violet Kray
Freddie as F.R.O.7
(1992) as Messina (voice)
Deadly Advice
(1994) as Kate Webster
Jane Eyre (1996)
as Grace Poole
Merlin (1998, TV
Mini-Series) as Ambrosia
The Lost Son
(1999) as Mrs Spitz
The Last of the
Blonde Bombshells (2000) as Evelyn
Quills (2000) as
Madame LeClerc
Hot Fuzz (2007) as
Joyce Cooper (final film role)
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