Wendy Hiller

At 90 years old, Wendy Hiller physical status not available right now. We will update Wendy Hiller's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller, (1912 – May 2003), an English film and stage actress who had a varied acting career that spanned nearly 60 years.

In his 1984 collection Rating the Movie Stars, writer Joel Hirschorn characterized her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took control of the screen whenever she appeared on film."

Despite numerous notable film appearances, she decided to remain mainly a stage actress. She received the Academy Award for Best Support Actress for her appearance in Separate Tables (1958).

Early years

Marie Stone, born in Bramhall, Cheshire, was educated at Winceby House School and joined the Manchester Repertory Company, where she served and stage-managed for many years. Sally Hardcastle, a slum dweller, made her first appearance in 1934's Love on the Dole. The production was a huge success and toured the regional stages of Britain, including Hiller's debut at the Garrick Theatre in 1935. She married Ronald Gow, a 15-year-old woman, in 1937. She made her film debut in Lancashire Luck that year, scripted by Gow.

Source

Career

Love on the Dole brought the production to New York in 1936, where Hiller's appearance attracted George Bernard Shaw's attention. Shaw embraced a vivacious radiance in the young actress, which was especially appropriate for portraying his heroines. Shaw appeared in several of his plays, including Saint Joan, Pygmalion, and Major Barbara, and her influence on her early career is evident. She was rumored to be Shaw's favorite actress of all time. Unlike other stage actresses of her generation, she appeared in very few Shakespeare productions, preferring the more modern dramatists such as Henrik Ibsen and new plays adapted from Henry James' novels, Thomas Hardy, among other things.

Hiller received acclaim in both London and New York over her stage career. She was a natural performer with a strong desire to be. In The Cradle Song, she returned to the West End to be directed by John Gielo, after touring Britain as Viola in Twelfth Night (1943). Princess Charlotte in The First Gentleman (Savoy, 1945) opposite Robert Morley as the Prince Regent of the Western World (Bristol Old Vic, 1946), and Tess of the d'Urbervilles (Bristol Old Vic, 1946) which was adapted for the stage by her husband.

Hiller portrayed Catherine Sloper, the incredibly shy, vulnerable spinster in The Heiress on Broadway, in 1947. Basil Rathbone was also played as her emotionally troubled father in the play, which is based on Henry James' book Washington Square. The production had a year-long run at the Biltmore Theatre in New York and would be her biggest triumph on Broadway. Hiller played a part in the West End production in 1950 when he returned to London.

Ann Veronica (Piccadilly, 1949), which was adapted by Gow from the novel by H. G. Wells with his wife in the leading role, remained a priority and went into the theatre. She appeared in N. C. Hunter's Waters of the Moon for two years (Haymarket, 1951–53), alongside Sybil Thorndike and Edith Evans. Hiller, who appeared in various roles as Portia in Julius Caesar, including Helen of Troy in Troilus and Cressida, was one of many at the Old Vic for the 1955-56 season. Other stage appearances at this time included The Night of the Ball (Birmingham Repertory, 1954), The Wings of the Dove (Birmingham Repertory, 1960), The Sacred Flame (British, 1966), The Battle of Shrivings (British, 1965) with John Gielty and Lies (Albery, 1975), The Night of the Bird (Birmingham Repertory, 1955), The Night of the a

Hiller returned to New York in 1957 to appear as Josie Hogan in Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten, a Tony Award nomination for Best Dramatic Actress. Cyril Cusack and Franchot Tone appeared in the film as well. Miss Tina was the title of her last appearance on Broadway in Michael Redgrave's 1962 production of The Aspern Papers from the Henry James novella.

As Hiller grew, she displayed a strong passion for Henrik Ibsen's films as Irene in When We Dead Awaken (1972), Asst. In John Gabriel Borkman's (National Theatre Company, Old Vic, 1975), in which she appeared with Ralph Richardson and Peer Ashcroft, she demonstrated a strong affinity for the actors As Hen's Astute In 1975, she became a member of Peer Gynt (BBCambridge, Queen Mary of Crown Matrimonial (Haymarket, 1972) discovered that she was not restricted to playing dejected, emotionally deprived women. In the West End revivals of Waters of the Moon (Chichester, 1977, Haymarket, 1978) with Vanessa Redgrave, she revisited some earlier plays portraying older characters. Natalie Wood, who was supposed to return to Anastasia in 1982, but Wood died just weeks before rehearsals. Hiller appeared in Driving Miss Daisy, the final West End performance (Apollo, 1988).

Eliza Doolittle starred in the film Pygmalion (1938) with Leslie Howard as Professor Higgins at Shaw's insistence. Hiller received her first Oscar nomination, first for a British actress in a British film, and became one of her best-remembered roles. When Eliza says, "Not bloody likely, I'm going in a taxi," she was the first actress to utter the word "bloody" in a British film.

Major Barbara (1941) with Rex Harrison and Robert Morley. Hiller continued their success with another Shaw based version. Powell and Pressburger both signed The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), but her second pregnancy led her to her bowing out in favour of Deborah Kerr. Determined to work with Hiller, the filmmakers filmed her with Roger Livesey in I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) Another British cinema classic.

Despite her early film success and Hollywood offers, she returned to the stage full-time after 1945, although she only occasionally accepted film roles. In Carol Reed's Outcast of the Islands (1952), she portrayed an abused colonial wife in a dramatic role with Sailor of the King (1953) and as a hero of the Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau Mau vaise, 1959, en, homage, 1957, entra (G) In 1959, she received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the film Separate Tables (1958) as a lonely hotel boss and mistress of Burt Lancaster. "Never mind the prestige; cold hard cash is what it means to me," she said in her surprising reaction to her Oscar victory: "Never mind the honor." In Sons and Lovers (1960), she received a BAFTA nomination for her portrayal of the domineering, possessive mother. In the Attic (1963), she reprised her London stage appearance in the Southern Gothic Toys, earning her a Golden Globe nomination as the youngest spinster sister in a film that also stars Dean Martin and Geraldine Page.

In A Man for All Seasons (1966), Hiller received her third Oscar nomination for her role as Lady Alice More, a simple, unrefined, but dignified lady. Murder on the Orient Express (1974), the grand Russian princess in a worldwide commercial success, received international recognition and the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress. In Another Famous Judith Hearne (1987), a Jewish immigrant fleeing Nazi Germany with her dying husband in Voyage of the Damned (1976), and Maggie Smith's physically ill and demanding aunt in The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (1987).

Hiller made numerous television appearances, both in the United Kingdom and the United States. She appeared in American drama series, including Studio One and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, in the 1950s and 1960s. Anne Hutchinson, a free-thinking woman convicted of heresy in Colonial America, appeared in an episode of the acclaimed dramatic series Profiles in Courage (1965). Hiller appeared in the drama series Play of the Month in the United Kingdom, and in 1965 she appeared as a narrator in five episodes of the BBC children's television program Jackanory, based on Alison Uttley's life.

She appeared in many television films in the 1970s and 1980s, including a memorable Duchess of York in Miss Morrison's Ghosts (1981), the irascible Edwardian Oxford academic in Richard Johnson's Ghosts (1981) and the BBC dramatizations of Martin Gloag's Only Yesterday (1986), in which she was the obnoxious Lady Slane. This appearance earned her a BAFTA Award as Best Actress. The title role in The Countess Alice (1992), a BBC/WGBH-Boston television film starring Zo Wanamaker, was her last appearance before retiring from acting.

Hiller and her partner, Ronald Gow, migrated to Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, where they raised two children, Ann (1939–2006) and Anthony (b. ), who were born in the early 1940s. In 1942, 1942-1951, he and a friend called "Spindles" (now demolished). Ronald Gow died in 1993, but Hiller continued living at their house until her death a decade later. When she wasn't performing on stage or film, she lived a completely private domestic life, insisting on being identified as Mrs. Gow rather than by her stage name.

She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1971 and elevated to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1975, and was one of Britain's most outstanding performers.

She was given an honorary doctorate from the University of Manchester in 1984. The Dilys Powell Award for excellence in British cinema was given to Hiller in 1996 by the London Film Critics Circle for his contribution to British cinema. Her style was disciplined and unpretentious, and she loathed personal attention, and she loathed personal news. Sheridan Morley wrote about Hiller as being "most untheatricality" before the house lights went down, when she would deliver a spectacular display of stunning truth and wisdom.

Despite a tumultuous career, she maintained an active interest in young actors by promoting local amateur drama societies, as well as being president of the Chiltern Shakespeare Company until her death. Her eventual resignation from acting in 1992 was necessitated by persistent illness. She spent the last decade of her life in Beaconsfield, where she died of natural causes at the age of 90.

Source