Wendy Hiller

Academy Award-winning Dame Wendy Hiller began her career with the Manchester Repertory Theatre at the age of 18 and, after leaving to tour the provinces for awhile, returned there to act in "Love on the Dole", adapted from the Walter Greenwood novel by her future husband Ronald Gow. A seven-month tour of Lancashire and Yorkshire preceded its successful 1935 London run, which brought her to the attention of playwright George Bernard Shaw who, noting something special in the actress, became her mentor and friend. Following her 1936 Broadway debut in "Love on the Dole" and with only six rehearsals for each show, Hiller portrayed both "Saint Joan" and Eliza Doolittle in "Pygmalion" at that year's Malvern Theatre Festival honoring Shaw's 80th birthday. Though a proposed movie version with her as "Saint Joan" never materialized, she did play (at Shaw's insistence) both Eliza in "Pygmalion" (1938) and the title role of "Major Barbara" (1941), delivering two unforgettable film performances forever linked to her name.

Possessing a beautiful speaking voice and a uniquely crisp brand of charm, Hiller showed an early preference for appearing plainly, forsaking make-up and fancy costumes to specialize in characters withered by frustration and emotional deprivation. She played "The Heiress" on Broadway in 1947, the dowdy role that would win Olivia de Havilland an Oscar two years later. Her own Oscar-winning supporting turn as a dejected, lonely woman in "Separate Tables" (1958) and an Oscar-nominated part as Sir Thomas More's alienated wife in "A Man For All Seasons" (1966) were also in this vein, as was her Gunhild Borkman in Ibsen's "John Gabriel Borkman" on the London boards in 1975. Unlike her fellow 'dames' of the English stage, Hiller has essayed relatively few Shakespearean roles: the 1955-56 season with London's Old Vic Company under the direction of Tyrone Guthrie, a tour of UK factory centers as Viola in "Twelfth Night" (1943), Portia in "The Merchant of Venice" (1946) and the Duchess of York in a TV presentation of "Richard II" (PBS, 1979).

At a glance there is very little to connect the young Hiller of "Love on the Dole" and the Shaw plays with the grande dame familiar to spectators of later years. She made an early transition to age and dignity, playing Queen Mary in Royce Ryton's "Crown Matrimonial" on the London stage in 1972, and has appeared frequently on the small screen, portraying such characters as Janet Mackenzie in "Witness for the Prosecution" (CBS, 1982), Lady Bracknell in "The Importance of Being Earnest" (PBS, 1985) and Princess Victoria in "Lord Mountbatten: The Last Victory" (PBS, 1986). She was back on the London stage in 1988 in the title role of "Driving Miss Daisy" and several years later returned to Shaw, this time as Dame Laurentia McLachlan, his long-time friend and spiritual advisor, in "The Best of Friends" (PBS, 1992), co-starring John Gielgud (as Sir Sydney Cockerell) and Patrick McGoohan (as Shaw). For the young actress who had gone onstage at Malvern as Saint Joan after only six days' rehearsal in a vacant swimming bath under the author's watchful eye, the world had come full circle. The following year, she acted in "The Countess Alice" and "Ending Up", both airing on PBS.

• Also Credited As:
  Dame Wendy Hiller
• Born:
  August 15, 1912 in Bramhall, Cheshire, England
• Died:
  May 14, 2003.
• Job Titles:
  Actor

Family

• Father: Frank Watkin Hiller.
• Mother: Marie Elizabeth Hiller.

Education

• Winceby House School, Bexhill, England

Milestones

• 1930 First appeared on stage at age 18, playing the Maid in Manchester Repertory Theatre production of "The Ware Case"
• 1935 London stage debut as Sally Hardcastle in "Love on the Dole"
• 1936 Broadway debut, "Love on the Dole"
• 1936 Portrayed "Saint Joan" and Eliza Doolittle in "Pygmalion" at the Malvern Theatre Festival, honoring George Bernard Shaw's 80th birthday
• 1937 Film acting debut in "Lancashire Lad"
• 1938 Reprised Eliza Doolittle opposite Leslie Howard for film version of "Pygmalion", earning a Best Actress Oscar nomination
• 1941 Played title role in film adaptation of Shaw's "Major Barbara"
• 1944 Portrayed Sister Joanna in "The Cradle Song"
• 1945 Starred in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger's charming film, "I Know Where I'm Going"
• 1946 Acted the parts of Portia in "The Merchant of Venice", Pegeen Mike in "Playboy of the Western World" and the title role of "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre
• 1947 Starred on Broadway in "The Heiress", adapted from a Henry James novel
• 1950 Reprised "The Heiress" in London
• 1951 Starred opposite Dames Edith Evans and Sybil Thorndike in N C Hunter's "Waters of the Moon"
• 1957 Acted role of Josie Hogan in Broadway premiere of Eugene O'Neill's "A Moon for the Misbegotten"
• 1958 Portrayed Isabel Cherry in "Flowering Cherry" on London stage, repeating the role for Broadway the following year
• 1958 Won Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her delicate portrayal of a dejected, lonely woman in "Separate Tables"
• 1960 Played Trevor Howard's wife and Dean Stockwell's mother in "Sons and Lovers", adapted from the D H Lawrence novel
• 1963 Portrayed Anna Berniers, one of Dean Martin's overprotective sisters (along with Geraldine Page) in "Toys in the Attic", film adaptation of Lillian Helman's play
• 1966 Earned Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role as Alice More in "A Man for All Seasons"; last film for eight years
• 1970 Acted the part of Mrs Micawber in "David Copperfield", an NBC movie adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel
• 1972 Made an early transition to age and dignity, playing Queen Mary in London production of Royce Ryton's "Crown Matrimonial"
• 1974 Returned to features as part of the star-studded cast of Sidney Lumet's "Murder on the Orient Express"
• 1975 Created a dame by Queen Elizabeth II
• 1975 Portrayed Gunhild Borkman in "John Gabriel Borkman" at London's Old Vic
• 1976 Played Luther Adler's wife in Stuart Rosenberg's "Voyage of the Damned"
• 1979 Portrayed the Duchess of York in "Richard II" for PBS' "The Shakespeare Plays"
• 1980 Acted in David Lynch's "The Elephant Man"
• 1982 Played Janet Mackenzie in CBS "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presentation of Agatha Christie's "Witness for the Prosecution"
• 1985 Portrayed Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" for "Great Performances" (PBS)
• 1986 Played Princess Victoria in six-part "Masterpiece Theatre" (PBS) series, "Lord Mountbatten: The Last Victory"
• 1987 Appeared in "Anne of Avonlea: The Continuing Story of Anne of Green Gables" (Disney Channel)
• 1987 Last feature to date, "The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne"
• 1988 Starred in the London stage production of "Driving Miss Daisy"
• 1990 Portrayed Lady Ursula Berowne in "A Taste of Death", a six-part presentation of "Mystery!" (PBS)
• 1992 Co-starred with John Gielgud and Patrick McGoohan in "The Best of Friends"; a "Masterpiece Theatre" (PBS) presentation depicting the true story of the long-lasting friendship among Dame Laurentia MacLachlan, Sir Sydney Cockerell (Gielgud) and Shaw (McGoohan)
• 1993 Played "The Countess Alice" for "Masterpiece Theatre" and also acted in "Ending Up" (PBS), a comedy about a group of elderly men and women who live together in a country house
• Performed a season of Shakespeare under the direction of Tyrone Guthrie at London's Old Vic, playing Portia in "Julius Caesar", Mistress Page in "The Merry Wives of Windsor", Hermione in "The Winter's Tale", Emilia in "Othello" and Helen in "Troilus and Cressida";