Margaret Lockwood

Born: 1916-09-15

Margaret Lockwood, CBE (15 September 1916 – 15 July 1990) was an English actress, notable for her performance in the 1945 Gainsborough movie, The Wicked Lady. Margaret Mary Lockwood Day was born in Karachi, British India (now Karachi, Pakistan), to an English administrator of a railway company and his Scottish wife. Lockwood's family returned to the United Kingdom when she was a child, along with her brother. She attended Sydenham High School for girls, and a ladies school in Kensington, London. She began studying for the stage at an early age at the Italia Conti, and made her debut in 1928, at the age of 12, at the Holborn Empire, where she played a fairy in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In December of the following year, she appeared at the Scala Theatre in the pantomime The Babes in the Wood. In 1932, she appeared at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in Cavalcade. Lockwood then trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where she was seen by a talent scout and signed to a contract. In June 1934, she played Myrtle in House on Fire at the Queen's Theatre, and on 22 August 1934 appeared as Margaret Hamilton in Gertrude Jenning's play Family Affairs when it premiered at the Ambassadors Theatre; Helene Ferber in Repayment at the Arts Theatre in January 1936; Trixie Drew in Henry Bernard's play Miss Smith at the Duke of York's Theatre in July 1936; and back at the Queen's in July 1937 as Ann Harlow in Ann's Lapse. Lockwood entered films in 1934, and in 1935 she appeared in the film version of Lorna Doone. In 1938 she starred in her most successful film, Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, in which she first appeared with Michael Redgrave. In 1940, she played the role of Jenny Sunley, the self-centered, frivolous wife of Michael Redgrave's character in The Stars Look Down. In the early 1940s, Lockwood changed her on-screen image to play villainesses in both contemporary and period films, becoming the most successful actress in British films during that period. Her greatest success was in the title role in The Wicked Lady (1945), a film which was controversial in its day and brought her considerable publicity. In 1946 Lockwood gained the Daily Mail National Film Awards First Prize for most popular British film actress. She made a return to the stage in a record-breaking national tour of Noel Coward's Private Lives in 1949, and also played Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion at the Edinburgh Festival of 1951, and the title role in Peter Pan in 1949, 1950, and 1957 (the latter with her daughter as Wendy). Her subsequent long-running West End hits include an all-star production of Wilde's An Ideal Husband (1965/66, in which she played the villainous Mrs Cheveley), Somerset Maugham's Lady Frederick (1970), Relative Values (Noel Coward revival, 1973), and the thrillers Spider's Web (1955, written for her by Agatha Christie), Signpost to Murder (1962), and Double Edge (1975). In 1969, she starred as barrister Julia Stanford in the TV play, Justice is a Woman. This inspired the Yorkshire Television series, Justice, which ran for three seasons (39 episodes) from 1971 to 1974, and featured her real-life partner, John Stone, as fictional boyfriend, Dr Ian Moody. Lockwood's role as the feisty Harriet Peterson won her Best Actress Awards from the TV Times (1971) and The Sun (1973). Her last professional appearance was as Queen Alexandra in Royce Ryton's stage play, Motherdear (Ambassadors Theatre, 1980). She was created a CBE in the New Year Honours of 1981. Margaret Lockwood had married and been divorced from Rupert Leon. She lived her final years in seclusion and died in the Cromwell Hospital, Kensington, London from cirrhosis of the liver, aged 73. She was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium. She was survived by her daughter, actress Julia Clark (née Margaret Julia Leon, born 1941).


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The Lady Vanishes

as Iris Matilda Henderson
Released: 1938-10-07

On a train headed for England a group of travelers is delayed by an avalanche. Holed up in a...

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Night Train to Munich

as Anna Bomasch
Released: 1940-08-31

Czechoslovakia, March 1939, on the eve of World War II. As the German invaders occupy Prague,...

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The Slipper and the Rose

as Stepmother
Released: 1976-03-25

Prince Edward wants to marry for love, but the King and court of the kingdom of Euphrania are...

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The Man in Grey

as Hesther Shaw Barbary
Released: 1943-08-06

After marrying a dour and disinterested lord for status, a young woman falls in love with a...

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Rulers of the Sea

as Mary Shaw
Released: 1939-11-08

The struggle of a man to build a steam ship to take him across the Atlantic in spite of all...

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Cast a Dark Shadow

as Freda Jeffries
Released: 1955-09-20

Edward "Teddy" Bare is a ruthless schemer who thinks he's hit the big time when he kills his...

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Susannah of the Mounties

as Vicky Standing
Released: 1939-06-13

This classic family drama stars Shirley Temple as young orphan Susannah Sheldon, the sole...

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The Wicked Lady

as Barbara Worth
Released: 1945-11-15

A married woman finds new thrills as a masked robber on the highways.

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Bank Holiday

as Catherine Lawrence
Released: 1938-01-27

A 1930s British summer Bank Holiday starts at midday on Saturday with a rush for the trains to...

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The Stars Look Down

as Jenny Sunley
Released: 1940-01-22

Davey Fenwick leaves his mining village on a university scholarship intent on returning to...

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James Mason: The Star They Loved to Hate

as Barbara (archive footage)
Released: 1984-01-01

Retrospective of the life and movie work of British actor James Mason. The documentary presents...

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Madness of the Heart

as Lydia Garth
Released: 1949-12-20

A blind Englishwoman weds a French nobleman and moves into his family's chateau, but she quickly...

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Trouble in the Glen

as Marissa Mengues
Released: 1954-06-15

Major Jim "Lance" Lansing, an American ex-pilot of the U.S. Air Corps, returns to Scotland after...

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Highly Dangerous

as Frances Gray
Released: 1950-12-06

A US newsman and a British entomologist spy on germ-warfare research in a mythical country.

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Jassy

as Jassy Woodroofe
Released: 1947-08-13

In 19th century England, Jassy is a young Gypsy girl blessed with the gift of second sight....

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Trent's Last Case

as Margaret Manderson
Released: 1952-09-22

When a wealthy business man is found dead reporter Philip Trent is sent to investigate. Against...

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Bedelia

as Bedelia Carrington
Released: 1946-07-08

Bedelia Carrington is living happily, it appears, in Monte Carlo with her husband Charlie...

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Man of the Moment

as Vera Barton
Released: 1935-09-01

Love blossoms after a young man rescues a pretty girl who attempted to drown herself.

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The White Unicorn

as Lucy
Released: 1947-10-29

In a home for delinquent girls, the worst offender exchanges reminiscences with the warden.

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Cardboard Cavalier

as Nell Gwynne
Released: 1949-03-31

Cardboard Cavalier is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Sid...

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A Girl Must Live

as Leslie James
Released: 1939-09-24

A run-away school-girl falls among chorus girls planning to marry into the nobility.

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Alibi

as Helene Ardouin
Released: 1942-08-10

In 1930s France a bar hostess helps a man prove himself innocent of murder.

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A Place of One's Own

as Annette Allenby
Released: 1945-03-20

An elderly couple move into an old, supposedly haunted abandoned house. A young girl comes to...

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Look Before You Love

as Ann Markham
Released: 1948-01-06

Romance in Rio for a girl of the embassy staff.

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Girl in the News

as Anne Graham
Released: 1940-08-28

An elderly lady manages to sneak some pills away from her nurse and dies of an overdose. The...

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Hungry Hill

as Fanny Rosa
Released: 1947-01-07

Life becomes a tragedy for the wife of an Irish heir to a 19th-century family feud and fortune.

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The Amateur Gentleman

as Georgina Huntstanton
Released: 1936-04-26

A former boxing champion, now an innkeeper, is accused of stealing a watch from a party of...

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Love Story

as Lissa Campbell
Released: 1944-11-20

After discovering that she has only a short time left to live, concert pianist Lissa travels to...

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Laughing Anne

as Laughing Anne
Released: 1953-09-01

Story of love affair of captain who runs ship in Java Seas and a French saloon singer. From a...

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Jury's Evidence

as Betty Stanton
Released: 1936-01-01

'Foreman of Old Bailey jury refuses to accept circumstantial evidence and helps solve murder...

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Give Us the Moon

as Nina
Released: 1944-07-31

Set just after the end of WWII (but filmed in the middle of it) in a time of general euphoria at...

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Quiet Wedding

as Janet Royd
Released: 1941-04-19

A young couple become engaged, but enjoy a number of comedic aventures before their wedding day.

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Midshipman Easy

as Donna Agnes
Released: 1935-11-01

Set during the Peninsular Campaign of the Napoleonic War, Mr Midshipman Easy has just joined the...

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Owd Bob

as Jeannie McAdam
Released: 1938-01-26

Adam McAdam is an old, dour sheepherder whose life is devoted to his faithful dog, the whiskey...

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The Beloved Vagabond

as Blanquette
Released: 1936-08-24

Flying from one charming lady---eluding another---and almost losing both!

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Doctor Syn

as Imogene Clegg
Released: 1937-08-25

A highly respected clergyman is actually a former pirate who exacts vigilante justice in this...

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Lorna Doone

as Annie Ridd
Released: 1934-12-09

High drama, set in the English moorland of the 1600s. John Ridd wants revenge on the criminal...

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Honours Easy

as Ann
Released: 1935-07-31

Unhinged art dealer William Barton seeks revenge on a man who ruined his career years ago. He...

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The Street Singer

as Jenny Green
Released: 1937-03-01

Following an argument with his co-star during the rehearsals for a new stage show, famous singer...

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Pygmalion

as Eliza Doolittle
Released: 1948-02-08

Can Professor Higgins transform flower-girl Eliza Dolittle into a great lady?

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Bambi Awards

as Self (archive footage)
First aired: 1948-01-01

The Bambi, often called the Bambi Award and stylised as BAMBI, is a German award presented...

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Justice

as Harriet Peterson
First aired: 1971-10-08

Justice is a British drama television series which originally aired on ITV in 39 hour-long...

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The Human Jungle

as Jean Forrest
First aired: 1963-03-30

The Human Jungle is a British TV series about a psychiatrist, made for ABC Television by the...

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Justice

as uncredited
First aired: 2011-04-04

Justice is a British legal drama starring Robert Pugh as Judge Patrick Coburn. The first episode...

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