Beryl Reid

Beryl Reid
OBE
Beryl Reid OBE
	Reid in 1974
Born	17 June 1919; Hereford, Herefordshire, England
Died	13 October 1996 (aged 77); Wexham, Buckinghamshire, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1936–1994
Spouses	; Bill Worsley (m. 1949; div. 1953) ; Derek Franklin (m. 1954; div. 1966)

Beryl Elizabeth Reid OBE (17 June 1919 – 13 October 1996) was a British actress. She won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for The Killing of Sister George, the 1980 Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for Born in the Gardens, and the 1982 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for Smiley's People. Her film appearances included The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954), The Killing of Sister George (1968), The Assassination Bureau (1969), and No Sex Please, We're British (1973).

Early life

Beryl Elizabeth Reid was born on 17 June 1919 in Hereford, Herefordshire, daughter of Leonard Reid, an estate agent and valuer, and Anne Burton, née McDonald.^[1]^[2] Reid was the daughter of Scottish parents and grew up in Manchester, where she attended Withington and Levenshulme High Schools. As a child, she established a lifelong friendship with Nancy Wrigley, the daughter of the prominent classical soprano, Dame Isobel Baillie. Years later, Reid fondly recalled how Baillie would "tell us the most wonderful things...you can imagine nine-year-old girls goggle-eyed at six princes serenading her in Hawaii!"^[3]

Career

Leaving school at 16, she made her debut in 1936 as a music hall performer at the Floral Hall, Bridlington. Before and during the Second World War, she took part in variety shows and pantomimes. She had no formal training but later worked at the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her first big success came in the BBC radio show Educating Archie as naughty schoolgirl Monica and later as the Brummie, "Marlene."

Her many film and television roles as a character actor were usually well received. She reprised her Tony Award-winning performance of a lesbian soap opera star in The Killing of Sister George for the 1968 screen version and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Drama. The tour of the play was not a success; people in shops refused to serve her and other performers due to the gay characters in the play.^[4]

She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1976 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the car park of Thames Television's Teddington Studios.

In both Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) and Smiley's People, (1982) Reid played Connie Sachs. For Smiley's People, she won a BAFTA for Best Actress on Television.

Between 1981 and 1983, Reid co-presented the Children's TV programme Get up and Go for Yorkshire Television, her co-presenter "Mooncat" being a green, talking, puppet cat. Stephen Boxer was her human co-star. After she left the show, it became titled simply Mooncat and Co.

In 1982 she was in Dr Who, Earthshock Ep 2, 3 & 4, as Captain Briggs, when the Peter Davison incarnation of The Doctor first met the Cybermen.

Reid wrote an autobiography in 1984, So Much Love.^[5]

She played the part of an elderly feminist and political subversive in the 1987 television drama, The Beiderbecke Tapes.

She appeared in many situation comedies and variety programmes on TV including BBC TV's long running music hall show, The Good Old Days.

Personal life and death

She married twice, but had no children. Her second husband, Derek Franklin, was a member of the Hedley Ward Trio.^[6] An authorised biography, Roll Out the Beryl, was published by Fantom Films on 22 August 2016. Written by Kaye Crawford, it was the first biography of the actress and coincided with the twentieth anniversary of her death.^[7]

Reid died at the age of 77 from severe osteoarthritis and kidney failure^[1] (according to some obituaries, she had developed pneumonia)^[8] at a hospital in Wexham, Buckinghamshire^[1] on 13 October 1996, after complications following knee replacement surgery for arthritis.^[8]

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1940	Spare a Copper	Minor role	Uncredited
1954	The Belles of St. Trinian's	Miss Wilson
1956	The Extra Day	Beryl
1960	Two-Way Stretch	Miss Pringle
1962	The Dock Brief	Doris Fowle
1968	Inspector Clouseau	Mrs. Weaver
1968	Star	Rose
1968	The Killing of Sister George	June Buckridge
1969	The Assassination Bureau	Madame Otero
1970	Entertaining Mr Sloane	Kath
1971	The Beast in the Cellar	Ellie Ballantyne
1972	Dr. Phibes Rises Again	Miss Ambrose
1973	Psychomania	Mrs. Latham
1973	Father, Dear Father	Mrs. Stoppard
1973	No Sex Please, We're British	Bertha Hunter
1977	Joseph Andrews	Mrs. Slipslop
1978	Rosie Dixon – Night Nurse	Matron
1978	Carry On Emmannuelle	Mrs. Valentine
1981	Late Flowering Love	(unknown role)	Short (segment: "Invasion Exercise on the Poultry Farm")
1983	Yellowbeard	Lady Lambourn
1985	The Doctor and the Devils	Mrs. Flynn

Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1950	Showcase	(unknown role)	(unknown episodes)
1951	Vic's Grill	(unknown role)	6 episodes
1955	The Benny Hill Show	Various roles	Series 1 (3 episodes)
1957	Mr Bowling Buys a Newspaper	Alice	TV film
1957	The Most Likely Girl	Arethusa Wilderspin	Series 1 (4 episodes)
1960	Someone Who Cares	(unknown role)	TV film
1962	The Dickie Henderson Show	(unknown role)	Series 4, episode 2
1963–64	Bold as Brass	Bessie Briggs	Pilot & Series 1 (7 episodes)
1964	Comedy Playhouse	Mrs. Teresa Fanwyn	Series 3, episode 14
1965	Who Is Mary Morison	Maggie	TV film
1966	The World of Wooster	Mrs. Wilberforce	Series 2, episode 7
1966	Frankie Howerd	(unknown role)	Series 2, episode 2
1966	Love Story	Kate Reilly	Series 4, episode 3
1967	Thirty-Minute Theatre	Miss Price	Series 2, episode 34
1967	The Bruce Forsyth Show	(unknown role)	Series 2, episode 6
1967	Before the Fringe	(unknown role)	Series 2 (4 episodes)
1967	The Very Merry Widow	Mrs. Breasley	Series 1, episode 2
1968	Armchair Theatre	Hilda Capper	Series 8, episode 14
1968	Comedy Playhouse	Irene Jelliot	Series 7, episode 2
1968	Beryl Reid Says Good Evening	Various roles	Series 1 (6 episodes)
1969	Armchair Theatre	Mrs. Blaxill	Series 9, episode 8
1969	Wink to Me Only	Rene Jelliot	Series 1 (6 episodes)
1970	BBC Play of the Month	Mrs. Malaprop	Series 5, episode 8
1970	Father, Dear Father	Mrs. Brockbank	Series 3, episode 5
1969	Cinderella	Ugly Sister Marlene	TV film
1971	The Misfit	Mrs. Low Road Jones	Series 2, episode 2
1971	Father, Dear Father	Miss Pretty	Series 4, episode 3
1971	Armchair Theatre	Ameila	Series 13, episode 8
1971	The Goodies	Mrs. Desiree Carthorse	Series 2, episode 11
1972	Alcock and Gander	Mrs Marigold Alcock	Series 1 (main role, 6 episodes)
1972	Late Night Theatre	Madame Thompson	1 episode
1973	Smike!	Mrs. Squeers/Mrs. Steele	TV film
1975	BBC Play of the Month	Amanda	Series 10, episode 5
1975	BBC Play of the Month	Maria Helliwell	Series 11, episode 4
1977	Beryl Reid	(unknown role)	(unknown episodes)
1978	BBC Play of the Month	Victoria	Series 13, episode 3
1978	Two's Company	Mrs. Shelton	Series 3, episode 3
1979	Dick Emery's Comedy Hour	Ada	Special
1979	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	Connie Sachs	Miniseries (2 episodes)
1979	An Honourable Retirement	Mrs. Heysham	TV film
1980	Peter Cook & Co.	Various	Special
1980	Nanny Knows Best	Nanny Price	TV pilot
1980	Rhubarb Rhubarb	Home Owner's Wife	Special
1980	Comedy Tonight	(unknown role)	Special (sketch "Laughing Gas")
1981	Agony	Cherry Lightfoot	Series 3, episode 2
1981	Worzel Gummidge	Sarah Pigswill	Series 4, episode 1
1982	Doctor Who	Briggs	Series 19 (3 episodes)
1982	Smiley's People	Connie Sachs	Series 1, episode 3
1982	The Irish R.M.	Mrs Knox	Series 1 (2 episodes)
1983	Cuffy	Matron	Series 1, episode 2
1983	The Wind in the Willows	Mrs. Carrington-Moss (voice)	TV film
1984	The Wind in the Willows	Other Voices	Series 1, episode 1
1984	Minder	Ruby Hubbard	Series 5, episode 4
1985	Late Starter	Helen Magee	Series 1 (3 episodes)
1985	The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾	May Mole	Series 1 (main role, 5 episodes)
1985	Bergerac	Miss Broome	Series 4, episode 4
1987	The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole	Grandma Mole	Series 1 (main role, 6 episodes)
1987	The Beiderbecke Tapes	Sylvia	Miniseries (2 episodes)
1988	The Comic Strip Presents...	Mrs. Moss	Series 4, episode 5
1988	Sophia and Constance	Madame Foucault	Series 1, episode 4
1988	Alexei Sayle's Stuff	Hettie	Series 1, episode 3
1990	Boon	Pat Goran	Series 5, episode 12
1990	The Ruth Rendell Mysteries	Mrs. Mountnessing	Series 4, episode 9
1991	Duel of Hearts	Lady Augusta Warlingham	TV film
1991	Perfect Scoundrels	Aunt Molly	Series 2, episode 4
1992	Bunch of Five	Gran	Series 1 (2 episodes)
1993	Cracker	Fitz's Mum	Series 1, episode 3
1994	Blue Heaven	Jeweller	Series 1, episode 4 (final role)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Jonathan Cecil, "Reid, Beryl Elizabeth (1919–1996)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004 available online. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
^ Hayward, Anthony (14 October 1996). "Beryl Reid: Obituary". The Independent. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
^ "Isobel Baillie -Never Sing Louder Than Lovely BBC Documentary 1984" – via www.youtube.com.
^ Daily Telegraph obituary, also featured in Chin Up Girls! (2005)
^ So Much Love, 1984, Hutchinson & Co Hardback, ISBN 0-09-155730-5
^ Fox, Larry (Lew) (8 December 2004). "Almost a prisoner". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
^ Roll Out The Beryl!: The Authorised Biography Of Beryl Reid. ISBN 978-1781962657. Retrieved 7 March 2024. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
^ ^a ^b MEL GUSSOW (15 October 1996). "Beryl Reid, Actress, 76, Dies; Gave Life to Varied Eccentrics". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 June 2012.