Sheila Gish

Born: 1942-04-23

Sheila Gish (23 April 1942 – 9 March 2005) was a British stage and television actress. She was born Sheila Anne Gash in Lincoln, studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and made her stage debut with a repertory company. Her first starring role in the West End was as Bella in Robert and Elizabeth. She continued to be best known for her stage work, but she also appeared in many television dramas, from The First Churchills (in which she played Mary of Modena) to the successful adaptation of Love in a Cold Climate (2001) in which she played the eccentric and outrageous Lady Montdore. She had two daughters: the actresses Kay Curram and Lou Gish (1967–2006) by her first husband, the actor Roland Curram. While filming That Uncertain Feeling for BBC2 in 1985, she met actor Denis Lawson, who was to become her second husband. She rarely appeared on film, her most notable performances being as Anna in the Merchant-Ivory film Quartet (1981) and as Mrs Norris in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park (1999). She is also known for her appearance in the 1986 film Highlander as Rachel Ellenstein. She took the part of the alcoholic Joanne in Stephen Sondheim's musical Company, directed by Sam Mendes at the Donmar Warehouse and in the West End, in 1995. The following year, she won the Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical. In 1999 she played Miss Venable in Tennessee Williams's Suddenly Last Summer, directed by Sean Mathias with Rachel Weisz at the Comedy Theatre, London. One of her last stage roles was as Arkadina in the Chichester Festival Theatre's production of The Seagull in 2003. By this time she had been diagnosed with cancer and had lost an eye as a result of surgery. She died in Camden, London. Her final performance was for BBC Radio. She is Ewan McGregor's mother's sister-in-law. Her daughter, Lou, also died of cancer less than a year after her mother.


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as Rachel Ellenstein
Released: 1986-03-07

He fought his first battle on the Scottish Highlands in 1536. He will fight his greatest battle...

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Mansfield Park

as Mrs. Norris
Released: 1999-11-12

When spirited young woman, Fanny Price is sent away to live on the great country estate of her...

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Darling

as Cameo (uncredited)
Released: 1965-08-03

The swinging London, early sixties. Beautiful but shallow, Diana Scott is a professional...

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Every Home Should Have One

as Mother in Commercial
Released: 1970-03-05

Teddy works for a large advertising company. Given the seemingly impossible task of selling...

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Hitler: The Last Ten Days

as Frau Christian
Released: 1973-04-19

Hitler: The Last Ten Days takes us into the depths of der Furher’s Berlin bunker during his...

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Quartet

as Anna
Released: 1981-10-25

When her husband's arrest leaves her penniless, a woman accepts an invitation to move in with a...

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The Reckoning

as Mrs Garner
Released: 1970-01-31

Michael Marler, a successful business man in London, is about to make his way to the top. The...

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Seasick

as Martina Schaffer
Released: 1996-04-05

Eco-terrorists attack a ship carrying toxic waste.

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Company

as Joanne
Released: 1996-12-10

Filmed live at the Donmar Warehouse in London's West End, Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's...

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A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

as Pam
Released: 1972-05-01

A couple uses extremely black comedy to survive taking care of a daughter who is nearly...

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Play for Today

as Jane Elkinson
First aired: 1970-10-15

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and...

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Tales of the Unexpected

as Laura Parker
First aired: 1979-03-24

A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and...

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Tales of the Unexpected

as Frances
First aired: 1979-03-24

A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and...

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Tales of the Unexpected

as Mary Hitchman
First aired: 1979-03-24

A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and...

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Pie in the Sky

as Julia Sutton
First aired: 1994-03-13

Pie in the Sky is a British offbeat police comedy drama programme starring Richard Griffiths and...

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The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes

as Mrs. Chalmers
First aired: 1971-09-20

Adaptations of mystery stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's contemporary rivals in the genre.

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The House of Eliott

as Yolande Hermane
First aired: 1991-08-31

Two sisters who set up a London fashion house for society of the early 1920s.

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Inspector Morse

as Gwladys Probert
First aired: 1987-01-06

Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse...

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Crown Court

as Erika Brabazon
First aired: 1972-10-11

Crown Court is an afternoon television courtroom drama produced by Granada Television for the...

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Jonathan Creek

as Serena Shale
First aired: 1997-05-09

Working from his home in a converted windmill, Jonathan Creek is a magician with a natural...

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The Sweeney

as June
First aired: 1975-01-02

Jack Regan, an unethical officer of the Flying Squad, uses unorthodox methods to pursue...

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The Thin Blue Line

as uncredited
First aired: 1995-11-13

The Thin Blue Line is a British sitcom starring Rowan Atkinson set in a police station that ran...

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The First Churchills

as uncredited
First aired: 1969-09-27

The lives of the Duke of Marlborough and his wife Sarah, from their meeting in 1673 to the...

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Anna Karenina

as uncredited
First aired: 1977-09-25

Anna Karenina was a 1977 BBC television adaptation of Tolstoy's novel.

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The Adventurer

as Laura
First aired: 1972-09-29

The Adventurer is an ITC Entertainment TV adventure series created by Dennis Spooner that ran...

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Love in a Cold Climate

as Lady Montdore
First aired: 2001-02-04

Dramatization of Nancy Mitford's novel about three aristocratic young girls' adventures in love.

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Brighton Belles

as Bridget
First aired: 1993-03-09

On her husband's demise, attractive Bridget suddenly finds she can't meet the financial demand...

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Jewels

as Victoria Thompson
First aired: 1992-10-18

Sarah Thompson, an American visiting England, meets and marries William Whitfield, the Duke of...

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Stanley and the Women

as Nowell Hutchinson
First aired: 1991-11-28

The life of Stanley Duke, a fortysomething advertising executive, is thrown into turmoil when...

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