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Revision as of 10:38, 29 March 2015
| Mary Kerridge | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1914-04-03)3 April 1914 London, England |
| Died | 22 July 1999(1999-07-22) (aged 85) Windsor, Berkshire, England |
| Occupation(s) | Stage, film and television actress |
Mary Kerridge (April 3, 1914 – July 22, 1999) was an English actress and theatre director, who (with her husband, John Counsell) ran the Theatre Royal, Windsor and it's in-house repertory company from the 1930's to the 1980's. The matriarch of the "Windsor rep" acting dynasty, her daughter is the actress Elizabeth Counsell, her niece was the actress and painter Jean Miller, and she is a cousin to the actor-director Brice Stratford.
Personal Life
Born in Islington to Ernest Kerridge and Antoinette Fick, she attended Highbury Hill School from 1924 to 1928. Her family later moved to Esher, Surrey and she attended Wimbledon High School from January 1929 to July 1932, having taken her London University Higher Certificate in English, French, Modern History and German in June 1932. At University College London, she studied for the (one year) Intermediate Arts BA. She worked as a secretary, model and receptionist before making her name as an actress. In the Summer of 1939 she married John Counsell, the managing director of the Theatre Royal, Windsor. She gave birth to twin daughters in 1942, one of them the actress Elizabeth Counsell.
Career
Beginning her career in the repertory companies of Margate, Southsea and Bath, Kerridge made her West End debut in 1937 with Edgar Wallace's The Squeaker. She then based herself in Windsor, running the Theatre Royal and it's in-house repertory company, whilst also directing and performing. During the second world war she toured with Donald Wolfitt's travelling Shakespearean company.
After the war, she appeared in a number of West End productions under her husband's direction, amongst them Tyrone Guthrie's only play as a writer ("Top Of The Ladder" at the St James theatre in 1950). At the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, she was directed by the theatre's founder as Rosalind in As You Like It and Imogen in Cymbeline. In 1955 she played Queen Elizabeth in Laurence Olivier film of Richard III, then reprised the role for Olivier's company at The Old Vic in 1962 (opposite Paul Daneman's Richard), alongside the part of Portia in Julius Caesar. In 1963 and 1964 she appeared alongside Michael MacLiammoir at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin and the Vaudeville Theatre, respectively.
Death
Mary Kerridge died in Windsor on July 22nd, 1999 and was buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor. Fittingly, the chapel is also the resting place of Elizabeth Woodville, the Queen Elizabeth in Richard III that Kerridge famously played.
References
- "Mary Kerridge". BFI.
- Eric Shorter. "Mary Kerridge". the Guardian.
- "Obituary: Mary Kerridge". The Independent.
- "Elizabeth Counsell". nndb.com.
- Counsell, John. "Counsell's Opinion" (1963)
External links
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