Maureen Pryor

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Maureen Pryor
in Orders Are Orders (1954)
Born
Maureen Arabella St John Pook

(1922-05-23)23 May 1922
Limerick, Ireland
Died5 May 1977(1977-05-05) (aged 54)
London, England
OccupationActress
Spouse(s)Stephen Lushington (m.1941 – ?; divorced)
Thomas S. Barry (1961 – ?; separated)
ChildrenOne son

Maureen St John Pook (23 May 1922 – 5 May 1977), known professionally as Maureen Pryor, was an Irish-born English character actress who made stage, film, and television appearances.[1][2] The Encyclopaedia of British Film noted, "she never played leads, but, with long rep and TV experience (from 1949), she was noticeable in all she did."[3]

Early life[edit]

Pryor was born in Limerick, Ireland, to a British father and an Irish mother.[3] She began acting with Manchester Repertory in 1938, and studied with Michel Saint-Denis at the London Theatre Studio in 1939.

Career[edit]

She appeared in the West End in Seán O'Casey's Red Roses for Me, Noël Coward's Peace in Our Time, John Griffith Bowen's After the Rain (also on Broadway),[1] Doris Lessing's Play with a Tiger[4] and plays such as Little Boxes and Where's Tedd.[5] She was a member of the Stables Theatre Company. She also appeared on Broadway in the premiere season of Boeing-Boeing (1965).[1] In Manchester, she appeared in Eugene O'Neill's one-act play Before Breakfast, directed by Bill Gilmour. She also directed the play herself, for the RSC at the Old Red Lion, Stratford, in 1975.[6] She played Mistress Quickly in Terry Hand's 1975/76 production of Henry IV, Part 2 and Henry V also for the Royal Shakespeare Company.[7]

She made over 500 television appearances, including a Play for Today, "O Fat White Woman" (1971),[8] adapted by William Trevor from his own short story, and Ken Russell's television film Song of Summer (1968), in which she played Jelka Delius, the long-suffering wife of the composer Frederick Delius.[9] Russell cast her again in his cinema film The Music Lovers (1970) as Tchaikovsky's mother-in-law.[2] In the 1974 BBC television film Shoulder to Shoulder, she played the composer Dame Ethel Smyth.[10]

In the 1970s British police drama The Sweeney, episode Big Spender, she appeared as Edith Wardle the wife of a dishonest employee of a car park company who becomes involved in an elaborate fraud.

Personal life[edit]

Her first marriage ended in divorce, her second in separation. She had one son, Mark. She died in 1977 from a heart ailment.

Selected filmography[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c League, The Broadway. "Maureen Pryor – Broadway Cast & Staff – IBDB". ibdb.com.
  2. ^ a b "Maureen Pryor". Archived from the original on 10 January 2018.
  3. ^ a b McFarlane, Brian (16 May 2016). The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9781526111968 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ "Play with a Tiger by Doris Lessing". dorislessing.org.
  5. ^ "doollee.com". Archived from the original on 28 May 2008.
  6. ^ "Production of Before Breakfast – Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  7. ^ "Maureen Pryor – Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  8. ^ Play for Today: O Fat White Woman, BFI Film and TV Database
  9. ^ "Song of Summer (1968)". Archived from the original on 10 January 2018.
  10. ^ "BFI Screenonline: Shoulder To Shoulder (1974) Credits". screenonline.org.uk.

External links[edit]

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