Brenda Bruce OBE (7 July 1919Year of birth given as 1919, findmypast.co.uk; accessed 30 January 2016.Some sources cite 17 July 1919. – 19 February 1996) was an English actress. She was focused on the theatre, radio, film, and television.
Career Bruce was born in Prestwich, Lancashire, in 1919, and started her acting career as a teenager on stage as a chorus girl. She appeared with the Birmingham Repertory Company (1936–39) and was a long-time actress with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), including playing Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, in 1964, 1968, 1975 and 1995. She appeared as Irma in the RSC's production of Jean Genet's The Balcony in 1971. In the 1950s, she appeared on television in many dramas and in a chat show Rich and Rich with her husband. She starred as Winnie in the 1962 British premiere of Samuel Beckett's Happy Days, and in 1977 as Lucilla Edith Cavell Teatime in Murder Most English.
Bruce played Aunt Dahlia in the 1990s production of Jeeves and Wooster with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. Other roles include Tilda in the Doctor Who story "Paradise Towers", Bea in the rag trade drama Connie and Granny Grogan in The Riff Raff Element. Among her film roles were Peeping Tom, where she played a prostitute murdered in the opening scene, and in 1964, she played Mary Lewis in Nightmare. In 1994, she starred in Honey for Tea, a short-lived sitcom.
Personal life She was married and widowed twice, first to television personality Roy Rich, with whom she had two daughters, and second to actor Clement McCallin, with whom she adopted a son. McCallin died in 1977.
Death She died in London on 19 February 1996 from undisclosed causes, aged 76.
Awards In 1962, she was given the Society of Film and Television Arts Television Awards 1962. She was named Best Actress in 1963 by BAFTA British Academy Television Award for Best Actress. She was awarded an OBE in the 1985 New Year Honours.
Theatre Stage Year Play Role Notes 1949 Love in Albania Susan Lawn St James's Theatre1962 Happy Days Winnie Royal Court Theatre Woman in a Dressing Gown The Vaudeville Theatre1967 Little Murders Aldwych Theatre1970 The Balcony Irma Aldwych Theatre1980 Romeo and JulietNurse Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Radio Radio Year Play Role Notes1965 Host Planet Earth Clare Stewart BBC Light Programme1967 A Life of Bliss Ann Fellows BBC Home Service1977 Cry God for Harry! Doll Tearsheet BBC Radio 41983 When the Wind Blows Hilda BBC Radio 41983 A Mad World, My Masters Courtesan's Mother BBC Radio 31986 Too Long an Autumn Maisie May BBC Radio 41987 Kiss of Life Dot BBC Radio 41992 The Boy with the Cart Mother BBC Radio 41993 A Perfect Spy Miss Dubber BBC Radio 4
TV and filmography Film & Television Year Title Role Notes1938 Laugh with Me Rose Dinwiddy TV movie The Wooing of Anne Hathaway Katharine Hathaway TV movie 1943 Millions Like Us Brenda Uncredited 1944 They Came to a City WAAF Officer Uncredited 1945 I Live in Grosvenor Square 1st Girl in Guard's Van1946 Night Boat to Dublin Lily Leggett I See a Dark Stranger American Waitress Uncredited Piccadilly Incident Sally Benton Carnival Maudie Chapman1947 While the Sun Shines Mabel Crum When the Bough Breaks Ruby Chapman 1948 My Brother's Keeper Winnie Foreman1949 Marry Me! Brenda Delamere Don't Ever Leave Me Miss Smith 1951 Two on the Tiles Janet Lawson1953 The Final Test Cora The Motorola Television Hour "Westward the Sun" 1954 Douglas Fairbanks Presents Emily "Man Who Heard Everything"1958 Law and Disorder Mary Cooper Behind the Mask Elizabeth Fallon Mary Britten, M.D. Mary Britten 13 episodes 1960 Peeping Tom Dora1961 Sunday Night Theatre May Sommers "Nearer to Heaven" Sunday Night Theatre Elaine "The Wrong Side of the Park"1962 Armchair Theatre "Girl in a Bird Cage" ITV Play of the Week Millie Crocker Harris "A Lily in Little India" Zero One Sarah Elkinson "Stoneface" The Winter's Tale Paulina TV movie Sunday Night Theatre Ethel Gibbons "This Happy Breed"1963 Armchair Theatre "The Monkey and the Mohawk" Dr. Finlay's Casebook Bridie Bell "The Face Saver" 1964 Nightmare Mary Lewis1965 Armchair Theatre Ellen "The Lodger" Thirty-Minute Theatre Pat Pendleton "Give the Clown His Supper"1966 The Uncle Addie Morton The Wednesday Play Betty Bradshaw "Way Off Beat" ITV Play of the Week Millie Crocker Harris "The Browning Version" Knock on Any Door "The First Day of Spring" Knock on Any Door "The Dear Ones"1967 The Girl Miss Cashcart The Wednesday Play Mollie "Death of a Teddy Bear" Softly, Softly Hilda Berry "An Eye for an Eye"1968 Sherlock Holmes Saunders "The Dancing Men" Late Night Horror Mary Pearl "William and Mary" The First Lady Mary Tunnicliffe "Mrs. Whatever" The Gamblers Gertie "Give and Take"1969 The Virgin Soldiers Nursing Sister Uncredited The Wednesday Play Ma "Happy"1971 A Family at War Mrs Thomas "Happy Returns" Budgie Janey Baib "Sunset Mansions or Whatever Happened to Janey Baib?"1972 Country Matters Mrs Holland "The Mill" Thirty-Minute Theatre The Wife "Not Counting the Savages" The Man from Haven Mary Balfour1973 Cheri Charlotte 5 episodes That'll Be the Day Doreen Play for Today Madge "Jingle Bells"1974 Bedtime Stories Gertie "Hansel and Gretel" Dial M for Murder Kath "Recording Angel" Alice Through the Looking Glass The White Queen TV movie Swallows and Amazons Mrs Dixon 1975 All Creatures Great and Small Miss Harbottle TV movie1976 Ubu roi Ma Ubu TV movie Crown Court Angela Stacey "A Matter of Honour"1977 The Man in the Iron Mask Queen Anne of Austria TV movie Murder Most English Lucy Teatime 4 episodes Centre Play Auntie Kathleen "Auntie Kathleen's Old Clothes"1978 Armchair Thriller Sister Elizabeth "Quiet as a Nun" The Devil's Crown Matilda 2 episodes Play for Today Mrs Hackett "A Touch of the Tiny Hacketts" Play of the Month Lady Bountiful "The Beaux' Stratagem" Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm Aunt Miranda1979 BBC Television Shakespeare Mistress Quickly "The First Part of King Henry the Fourth, with the life and death of Henry surnamed Hotspur" BBC Television Shakespeare Mistress Quickly "The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth, including his death and the coronation of King Henry the Fifth"1983 The Mad Death Miss Stonecroft three-part BBC television serial The Home Front Mrs Place 6 episodes BBC Television Shakespeare First Witch "Macbeth" Farmers Arms Mrs Casson TV movie1984 Weekend Playhouse Margaret "Winter Break" Crown Court Angela Stacey "Oddball"1985 Connie Bea 10 episodes Steaming Mrs Meadows1986 Screen Two June Swift "Time After Time" David Copperfield Betsey Trotwood 7 episodes1987 Doctor Who Tilda "Paradise Towers" The Secret World of Polly Flint Granny Porter 3 episodes London Embassy Madge Cowrie "Tomb with a View"1988 The Tenth Man Madame Mangeot Little Dorrit Duchess Worlds Beyond "Home" Menace Unseen Norma Trisk 3 episodes The Return of the Antelope Mrs Henshaw "Travelling Companions"1990 Jeeves and Wooster Aunt Dahlia Travers "The Hunger Strike", "Brinkley Manor" Bergerac Karen Markham "In Love and War" Back Home Lady Beatrice Langley Theatre Night Old Woman "Bingo: Scenes of Money and Death" Screen Two June Swift "Circles of Deceit" The Fool Antonia and Jane Therapist 1991 December Bride Martha Gilmartin Lovejoy Mrs Jaglom "Bin Diving" The New Statesman Beryl "Keeping Mum" 4 Play Sarah "Finding Sarah"1992 Goodbye Cruel World Marjory 3 episode Growing Rich Mrs Baker 2 episode1993 The Riff Raff Element Granny Grogan TV movie Splitting Heirs Mrs Bullock Riders Granny Maxwell TV movie CASUAL+Y Carrie Springett "The Final Word" Harnessing Peacocks Amy Tremayne TV movie1994 Men of the World Mrs Daff 3 episode Honey for Tea Mary Harris 2 episodes 1995 Performance Grandmother "The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd" 1996 The Vet Kath Paley "Stormy Weather" (final appearance)
References
External links
Performances in the Theatre Archive University of Bristol Brenda Bruce filmography, timeout.com