Elspet Gray
Elspet Jean Gray, Baroness Rix ( born April 12, 1929 in Inverness, Scotland, † February 18, 2013 in London, England) was a British actress.
Life
Education and Theatre
Elspet Gray was born as Jean MacGregor Elspet Gray. She attended St Margaret 's School in Hastings. She grew up partly on in India. There, she was a student at the Presentation Convent in Srinagar, in the Kashmir valley. She completed training as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Her professional debut as a theater actress, she gave in April 1947 with the role of Phyllis in the play Edward, My Son by Donald Ogden on Grant Theatre in Leeds. In May 1947, followed in the same role her London West End debut at His Majesty's Theatre.
In 1949 she received an engagement at Bridlington Repertory Company, which was led by Brian Rix, who was there automatically as an actor and manager. Together with Rix Gray appeared from 1950 to 1954 at the Whitehall Theatre in London in the successful comedy Unruly hero of John Roy Chapman ( 1927-2001 ) on. In 1960 she was also there to fill the recovery. Other stage roles she had in the comedy Wolf 's Clothing (1959, Wyndham 's Theatre, London) and in the comedies Uproar in the House and Let Sleeping Wives Lie (1967, Garrick Theatre, London ), each in a production of Brian Rix. In 1971 she went with four plays by Vernon Sylvaine on tour. In 1973, she appeared on O'Keefe Theatre in Toronto on, in a production of the play Move Over Mrs Markham by Ray Cooney and John Chapmam. In 1980 she played, under the direction of Joan Littlewood at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in the melodrama The Streets of London. In 1983, she played the role of Donna Lucia d' Alvadorez ( Charley's Aunt ) in the farce Charley's Aunt at the side of Griff Rhys Jones at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in London.
Film and Television
1948 Gray was taken by the British film production company Gainsborough Pictures under contract. Her film debut was in 1948 with a small role in the movie Love in Waiting. She had in the aftermath small roles in the films The Blind Goddess, Fly Away Peter and Tottie True ( 1949). Her only starring role in a movie she had in 1954 as Joan Ingram in the thriller Johnny on the spot, on the side of Hugh McDermott, directed by Maclean Rogers. Later in her career, she had roles in the films Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969, as Lady Sutterwick ), The girl on the Swing (1988, as Mrs. Dresland ) and in the comedy film Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994 ); in it she played Laura's mother as one of the female wedding guests.
Since the 1950s, Gray worked mainly for television. Particularly well known it was her roles in the 1970s and 1980s, such as Lady Collingford in the British television series Catweazle ( 1970-1971 ), as the wife of psychiatrist Dr. Abbot in the television series Fawlty Towers (1979 ), a widow and mother Mrs. Elizabeth Palmer in the British sitcom solo (1981-1982) and especially as Queen Gertrude of Flanders in the comedy series Blackadder (1983). In it she played alongside Rowan Atkinson in the title role, his mother.
She also had episode roles in the television series Father Dear Father (1971-1972), The Agatha Christie Hour ( 1982), Doctor Who, ,, Inspector Morse (1987 ), Agatha Christie's Poirot (1990 ) (1983 in the episode Arc of Infinity ) Casualty (1990 ), Doctor Finley (1995 ), Ruth Rendell Mysteries ( 1996) and as Hilary in the television series dinner Ladies ( 1998).
Private life
1949 Gray met at an audition for some summer theater performances in the southern English seaside resort of Margate actor and theater manager Brian Rix know. Rix was appointed in 1992 to the Life Peer. He is known as Cross Bencher member of the House of Lords.
1949 married Gray and Rix. The marriage produced four children; two sons and two daughters, including the TV producer and children's book author Jamie Rix and actress Louisa Rix. Their daughter Shelley (1951-2005) came with Down's syndrome to the world. Gray and Rix dedicated themselves because of this personal experience intense benevolent and charitable purposes. In particular, Gray sat, with her husband Brian Rix, especially for people with a learning disability.
Gray was for many years a member of the Board of Directors ( Council) of the Actors' Charitable Trust; at times it belonged to the management committee of Denville Hall, a residential and nursing home for actors, on.
Elspet Gray died at the age of 83 years at a hospital in London.