Wendy Hiller facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dame Wendy Hiller DBE
Hiller in Sailor of the King (1953)
Born	Wendy Margaret Hiller (1912-08-15)15 August 1912 Bramhall, Cheshire, England
Died	14 May 2003(2003-05-14) (aged 90) Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England
Resting place	St Mary Churchyard, Radnage, Buckinghamshire, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1935–1993
Spouse(s)	Ronald Gow ​ ​ (m. 1937; died 1993)​

Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller (born August 15, 1912 – died May 14, 2003) was a famous English actress. She acted in movies and on stage for almost 60 years. People knew her for being a strong and powerful actress. She often took charge of the screen when she appeared in films. Even though she was great in movies, Wendy Hiller loved acting on stage the most.

Wendy Hiller won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the movie Separate Tables (1958). She was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for playing Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion (1938).

Early life

Wendy Hiller was born in Bramhall, Cheshire, England. Her father, Frank Watkin Hiller, made cotton in Manchester. Her mother was Marie Stone. Wendy went to Winceby House School. When she was 18, she joined the Manchester Repertory Company. There, she acted and helped manage the stage.

She first became well-known in 1934 for playing Sally Hardcastle in the play Love on the Dole. This play was very successful. It toured around Britain and Wendy Hiller made her West End debut in London in 1935. In 1937, she married Ronald Gow, who wrote the play. She also made her first movie that year, Lancashire Luck, which her husband wrote.

Career highlights

Stage acting

The play Love on the Dole was so popular it went to New York in 1936. There, Wendy Hiller's acting caught the eye of George Bernard Shaw. Shaw was a famous writer who thought she was perfect for his plays. He cast her in many of his works, like Saint Joan and Pygmalion. She was known as Shaw's favorite actress at that time.

Unlike many actresses of her time, she did not act in many Shakespeare plays. She preferred plays by newer writers like Henrik Ibsen. She also liked plays made from novels by Henry James and Thomas Hardy. Wendy Hiller became very popular in London and New York. She was great at playing simple but strong-willed characters.

After touring Britain, she returned to London's West End. She played Sister Joanna in The Cradle Song (1944). She also had success as Princess Charlotte in The First Gentleman (1945). Other notable roles included Pegeen in Playboy of the Western World (1946). She also starred in Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1946), which her husband adapted for the stage.

In 1947, Wendy Hiller played Catherine Sloper in The Heiress on Broadway. This play was based on the novel Washington Square. It was a huge success and ran for a year in New York. When she returned to London, she played the same role in 1950.

Her stage work remained very important to her. She starred in Ann Veronica (1949), which her husband adapted from a novel by H. G. Wells. She also performed for two years in Waters of the Moon (1951–53). At the Old Vic in 1955–56, she played Portia in Julius Caesar. She also played Helen of Troy in Troilus and Cressida.

In 1957, Hiller went back to New York to star in A Moon for the Misbegotten. This role earned her a Tony Award nomination. Her last Broadway appearance was in 1962 in The Aspern Papers.

As she got older, Wendy Hiller enjoyed acting in plays by Henrik Ibsen. She played Mrs. Alving in Ghosts (1972). She also played Gunhild in John Gabriel Borkman (1975). Later, she played Queen Mary in Crown Matrimonial (1972). She also returned to earlier plays, playing older characters. These included Waters of the Moon (1977) and The Aspern Papers (1984). Her final West End performance was in Driving Miss Daisy (1988).

Film career

Scott Sunderland, Leslie Howard and Wendy Hiller in Pygmalion (1938)

George Bernard Shaw insisted that Wendy Hiller star in the movie Pygmalion (1938). She played Eliza Doolittle alongside Leslie Howard. This role earned her her first Oscar nomination. She was the first British actress to be nominated for an Oscar for a British film. This role is still one of her most famous. She was also the first actress to say the word "bloody" in a British film.

Hiller then starred in another Shaw movie, Major Barbara (1941). She was supposed to be in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943). But she had to leave because she was pregnant. The filmmakers still wanted to work with her. They later cast her in I Know Where I'm Going! (1945), another classic British movie.

Hiller, around 1938

Even with early movie success, she went back to stage acting after 1945. She only took movie roles sometimes. In the 1950s, she returned to film. She played a colonial wife in Outcast of the Islands (1952). She also took on older, supporting roles. These included Sailor of the King (1953) and Something of Value (1957).

She won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1959. This was for her role in Separate Tables (1958). She played a lonely hotel manager in the film. She did not care much about being a movie star. She once said about her Oscar win, "Never mind the honour, cold hard cash is what it means to me."

She was nominated for a BAFTA award for her role in Sons and Lovers (1960). She played a strong, controlling mother in that film. She also starred in Toys in the Attic (1963). This role earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

Hiller received her third Oscar nomination for A Man for All Seasons (1966). She played Lady Alice More in the film. Her role as a Russian princess in Murder on the Orient Express (1974) was very popular. It won her an award for Best Actress. Other important roles included a Jewish refugee in Voyage of the Damned (1976). She also played a hospital matron in The Elephant Man (1980).

Television career

Wendy Hiller appeared in many TV shows in Britain and the United States. In the 1950s and 1960s, she was in American drama shows like Studio One and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1965, she played Anne Hutchinson in Profiles in Courage. Anne Hutchinson was a woman accused of heresy in early America.

In Britain, she appeared in the police drama Z-Cars (1964). She also narrated five episodes of the children's show Jackanory in 1965.

In the 1970s and 1980s, she was in many TV movies. She played the Duchess of York in Richard II (1978). She also starred in Miss Morrison's Ghosts (1981). Her role as Lady Slane in All Passion Spent (1986) earned her a BAFTA nomination. Her last acting role was in The Countess Alice (1992).

Personal life

In the early 1940s, Wendy Hiller and her husband Ronald Gow moved to Beaconsfield, England. They had two children, Ann (born 1939) and Anthony (born 1942). They lived in a house called "Spindles." Ronald Gow passed away in 1993. Wendy Hiller continued to live in their home until she died ten years later.

When she was not acting, she lived a very private life. She preferred to be called Mrs. Gow instead of her stage name. She was known as one of Britain's greatest dramatic actors. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1971. Then, she became a Dame Commander (DBE) in 1975.

In 1984, she received an honorary degree from the University of Manchester. In 1996, she won an award for her great work in British films. Wendy Hiller was a very disciplined and humble actress. She did not like personal attention. She was known for being very real and skilled in her performances.

Even with her busy career, she always helped young actors. She supported local amateur drama groups. She was also the president of the Chiltern Shakespeare Company until she died. She stopped acting in 1992 due to health problems. She spent her last ten years living quietly at her home in Beaconsfield. She passed away at age 90.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

See also

In Spanish: Wendy Hiller para niños