Like Judi Dench, Geraldine McEwan is a British actress best known for her stage roles who has also made the occasional foray into film and television. Born and raised in Windsor, she began her acting career as a teenager and gradually made her way through various repertory companies to land in the mid-1950s at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon. After joining the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1961, McEwan distinguished herself in such roles as Beatrice in "Much Ado About Nothing" and Ophelia in "Hamlet". Over the course of the next three decades, the actress amassed a formidable array of credits, originating roles in such contemporary classics as Joe Orton's "Loot" (1965) and tackling many of the classics like "The School for Scandal" (her Broadway debut in 1963), "The Rivals" (in 1983) and more recently, the absurdist "The Chairs" (a return to Broadway in 1998).
McEwan has made only a handful of feature appearances including starring opposite Laurence Olivier in Strindberg's "The Dance of Death" (1968). She was suitably aristocratic in the uneven comedy "Foreign Body" (1986) and provided an amusing turn as the maid teaching English to the French queen (Emma Thompson) in Kenneth Branagh's stirring remake of "Henry V" (1989). More recently, she won plaudits as the town eccentric in "The Love Letter" (1999). Her small screen roles have allowed McEwan better showcases for her talents. She dominated the Scottish miniseries version of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (shown on PBS in 1979), all but erasing memories of Maggie Smith's Oscar-winning bravura performance. McEwan did battle with Prunella Scales as social rivals in the amusing London Weekly Television miniseries "Mapp & Lucia" (1985-86). Among her other notable small screen appearances was her strong turn as the deeply religious mother of a lesbian in the BBC miniseries "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit" (1990).
- Also Credited As:
Geraldine McKeown
- Born:
May 9, 1932 in Old Windsor, Berkshire, England, United Kingdom
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Job Titles:
Actor, Director
Family
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Daughter: Claudia Crutwell.
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Father: Donald McKeown.
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Mother: Nora McKeown.
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Son: Greg Crutwell.
Milestones
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1946 Stage acting debut as an attendant to Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night s Dream in Windsor, England
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1951 London debut in Who Goes There!
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1955 Had the title role in Patience in Brighton
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1956 Early British TV credit, George and Margaret for ITV
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1957 Played Frankie Adams in the London production of A Member of the Wedding
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1958 Toured the Soviet Union with the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre
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1961 Was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company; essayed such roles as Olivia in Twelfth Night , Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing and Ophelia in Hamlet
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1961 Film acting debut in No Kidding/Beware of Children
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1963 Broadway debut as Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal
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1964 American TV acting debut in The Thomas Hart Benton Story , an episode of the NBC series Profiles in Courage
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1965 Appeared in the original production of Joe Orton s black comedy Loot
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1968 Co-starred with Laurence Olivier in the film version of Strindberg s The Dance of Death
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1976 Had role of Lady Bellaston in The Bawdy Adventures of Tom Jones
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1978 Played the title role in the Scottish TV miniseries The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (aired in the USA on PBS)
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1982 Co-starred in the British miniseries The Barchester Chronicles (aired on Masterpiece Theatre in the USA in 1984)
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1989 Appeared as Alice in Kenneth Branagh s version of Henry V
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1990 Played the heroine s starchy evangelist mother in the three-part BBC miniseries Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (an edited version aired on A&E in the USA)
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1991 Last film role to date, Mortianna in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in the TNT miniseries
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1996 Cast as Miriam, the sister of Ben Kingsley s Moses
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1998 Returned to Broadway opposite Richard Briers in Eugene Ionesco s The Chairs
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1999 Had featured role as the town busybody in The Love Letter
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1999 Made cameo appearance in Titus
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2000 Co-starred in Kenneth Branagh s musicalization of Love s Labour s Lost
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2003 Co-starred in the Irish-set drama Magdalene Sisters
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Appeared as cranky spinster who hired Mulberry in the British sitcom
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Directed stage production of As You Like It (for the Renaissance Theatre Company)
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Played opposite Prunella Scales in the four-part series Mapp & Lucia (aired on PBS in 1986)
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Returned to the National Theatre, starring in such plays as The Rivals and You Can t Take It With You
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Was a member of the National Theatre