Billie Whitelaw Biography (1932-) (original) (raw)

1. Theatre, Film, and Television Biographies
2. Titus Welliver to Peter Wingfield

Born June 6, 1932, in Coventry, England; daughter of Gerry and Frances Mary (maiden name, Williams) Whitelaw; married Peter Vaughan (divorced); married Robert Muller; children: a son. Addresses: Agent: Joy Jameson Ltd., Seven W. Easton Place Mews, London SW1, England.

Nationality

British

Gender

Male

Occupation

Actress

Birth Details

June 6, 1932

Coventry, England

Famous Works

• CREDITS
• Stage Appearances
• (Stage debut) Pink String and Sealing Wax, Princes Theatre, Bradford, England, 1950
• (London debut) Victoire, Hotel Paradiso, Winter Garden Theatre, 1956
• Mag Keenan, Progress to the Park, Theatre Royal, Stratford, England, 1960, then Saville Theatre, London, 1961
• Ensemble, England, Our England (revue), Princes Theatre, 1962
• Sara Melody, A Touch of the Poet, Dublin Festival, then Venice Festival, 1962
• Second woman, Play, National Theatre Company, Old Vic Theatre, London, 1964
• Francischina, The Dutch Courtesan, National Theatre Company, Chichester Festival, 1964
• Desdemona, Othello, National Theatre Company, Chichester Festival,1964
• Francischina, The Dutch Courtesan, Old Vic Theatre, 1964
• Maggie Hobson, Hobson's Choice, Old Vic Theatre, 1965
• Avonia Bunn, Trelawny of the Wells, Chichester Festival, later OldVic Theatre, 1965
• Clare, After Haggerty, Royal Shakespeare Company, Criterion Theatre, London, 1971
• Mouth, Not I, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1973, again, 1975
• Lucy, Alphabetical Order, Hampstead Theatre Club, then May Fair Theatre, both London, 1975
• May, Footfalls, Royal Court Theatre, 1976
• Title role, Molly, Comedy Theatre, London, 1978
• Winnie, Happy Days, Royal Court Theatre, 1979
• Andromache and Athene, The Greeks, Aldwych Theatre, London, 1980
• Eleanor, Passion Play, Aldwych Theatre, 1981, then National Theatre, London, 1982
• Woman, Rockabye, La Mama Etc. Theatre, New York City, 1982
• Nellie Mann, Tales from Hollywood, National Theatre, 1983
• Also appeared with the National Theatre Company as Desdemona in Othello, and as Maggie Hobson in Hobson's Choice, Moscow and Berlin,1965; appeared in productions of Samuel Beckett's plays Rockabye, Enough, and Footfalls, New York City, 1984.
• Major Tours
• June Hodge, Where There's a Will ..., British cities, 1954
• Film Appearances
• Waitress, The Fake, 1953
• Secretary, The Sleeping Tiger, 1954
• Companions in Crime, 1954
• Room in the House, 1955
• Caroline Mallet, Small Hotel, 1957
• Maggie, Miracle in Soho, 1957
• Winnie, Carve Her Name with Pride, 1958
• Christine, Gideon's Day, 1958, released in the U.S. as Gideon of Scotland Yard, 1959
• Mary Patterson, The Flesh and the Fiends (also known as The Fiendish Ghouls, Mania, and Psycho Killers), 1959
• Rose Munro, Breakout, 1959
• Lydia, Bobbikins, 1960
• Chloe Hawkins, Hell Is a City, 1960
• Lily, Make Mine Mink, 1960
• Piroska, The Devil's Agent (also known as Im Namen des Teufels), 1961
• Ernestine, Mr. Topaze (also known as I Like Money), 1961
• Mary, No Love for Johnnie, 1961
• Jackie Parker, Payroll (also known as I Promised to Pay), Allied Artists, 1961
• Judy, The Comedy Man, 1961
• Lottie Bubbles, Charlie Bubbles, Regional, 1968
• Joan Harper, Twisted Nerve, National General, 1969
• Daisy Devore, The Adding Machine, 1969
• Margaret, Leo the Last, 1970
• Queen Marie, Start the Revolution without Me (also known as TwoTime Two), Warner Bros., 1970
• Madame Bertrand, Eagle in a Cage, National General, 1971
• Ellen, Gumshoe, Columbia, 1972
• Hetty Porter, Frenzy, Universal, 1972
• Sarah Cooke, Night Watch, Avco Embassy, 1973
• Mrs. Baylock, The Omen (also known as Omen I, Omen I: The Antichrist, and Omen I: The Birthmark), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1976
• Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby, The Water Babies (also known as SlipSlide Adventures) 1978
• Isabel James, Leopard in the Snow, 1978
• Elizabeth Leaming, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, 1981
• Voice of Aughra, The Dark Crystal, Universal, 1982
• Tangier, 1982
• Madge, Slayground, Universal, 1984
• Doctor Cloud, Shadey, 1985
• Margaret Baker, Murder Elite, 1985
• Mrs. Andreos, The Chain, 1985
• Mrs. Hall, Maurice, 1987
• Margo, The Dressmaker, 1988
• Violet Kray, The Krays, 1990
• Voice of Messina, Freddie as F.R.O.7 (also known as Freddie theFrog), 1992
• Kate Webster, Deadly Advice, 1993
• Margaret, Skallagrigg, 1994
• Grace Pool, Jane Eyre, Miramax, 1996
• Mrs. Spitz, The Lost Son, Artisan Entertainment, 1999
• Madame LeClerc, Quills, Fox Searchlight, 2000
• Television Appearances
• Movies
• No Trams to Lime Street (also known as Armchair Theatre: No Trams to Lime Street), 1959
• Lena, O My Lena (also known as Armchair Theatre: Lena, O My Lena), 1960
• Gwyn Thomas, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (also known as The StrangeCase of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), 1968
• Judy Black, Follow the Yellow Brick Road (also known as Sextet:Follow the Yellow Brick Road), 1972
• Jeanne Saunders, Poet Game, 1972
• Madame Defarge, A Tale of Two Cities, 1980
• Prudence Duvorney, Camille, CBS, 1984
• Patience, Jamaica Inn, 1985
• Mrs. Medlock, The Secret Garden, CBS, 1987
• Beatrice Llewellyn, The Fifteen Streets, 1989
• Sarah Ridd, Lorna Doone, 1990
• Mavis, The Cloning of Joanna May, Arts and Entertainment, 1992
• Dorcas, Duel of Hearts, TNT, 1992
• Evelyn, The Last of the Blonde Bombshells, HBO, 2000
• Also appeared in A World of Time; The Withered Arm; Happy Days; The Serpent Son; Lady of the Camellias; The Pityof It All; You and Me; Resurrection; Wessex Tales; The Fifty Pound Note; Supernatural; Eustace and Hilda; and Haunted Man.
• Series
• Mary Crawford, Dixon of Dock Green, 1955
• Peggy Spencer, Time Out for Peggy, 1958
• Lili Flitch, Born to Run, 1997
• Miniseries
• Josephine, Napoleon and Love, 1974
• Bertha Freyer, Private Schultz, 1981
• Aunt Elsie, Imaginary Friends, 1987
• Rose Guttridge, Firm Friends, 1992
• Auntie Ambrosia, Merlin, NBC, 1998
• Specials
• Mad Janie, A Murder of Quality, PBS, 1991
• Voice of Wife of Bath, The Canterbury Tales, HBO Family, 1999
• Veronica, Shooting the Past, PBS, 1999
• Also appeared in a WNET documentary on the creation of Samuel Beckett's play Rockabye; Three Plays by Samuel Beckett; and The Oresteia of Aeschylus.
• Episodic
• Zamara, "One Moment of Humanity," Space: 1999, 1976
• WRITINGS
• Books
• Billie Whitelaw ... Who He? (autobiography), St. Martin's Press (New York), 1996

Further Reference

OTHER SOURCES

Periodicals:

• American Theatre, April, 1994, p. 24; July-August, 1996, p. 56.
• Films in Review, -October, 1996, p. 89.