Gwen Watford
Gwen Watford was an English actress. She twice won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and the 1981 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for Noël Coward's play Present Laughter. Her film appearances included Cleopatra, Taste the Blood of Dracula and Cry Freedom. She was married to actor Richard Bebb from 1952 until her death in 1994.
Born in London, Watford attended an independent school in Hastings where her father, a retired army officer, ran a public house. She trained at the Embassy Theatre and the Old Vic.
Watford made her film debut playing Lady Usher in The Fall of the House of Usher. Other films include Never Take Sweets from a Stranger, The Very Edge, Cleopatra, Taste the Blood of Dracula and Cry Freedom.
She died from cancer in London in 1994, aged 66.Awards
- She won a Society of Film and Television Arts Television award in 1958, and again in 1965 for Best Performance by an Actress in Television.
- She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award in 1982 for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance in Present Laughter.
Selected TV and filmography
- The Fall of the House of Usher .... Lady Usher
- The Winslow Boy .... Katherine Winslow
- Never Take Sweets from a Stranger .... Sally Carter
- The Grass Is Greener .... Hairdresser's receptionist
- The Barretts of Wimpole Street .... Elizabeth Barrett
- The Very Edge .... Sister Holden
- Cleopatra .... Calpurnia
- Do You Know This Voice? .... Jackie Hopta
- Valley of the Kings .... Mrs. Marsh
- The Rise and Rise of Cesar Birotteau .... Constance Birotteau
- Taste the Blood of Dracula .... Martha Hargood
- Shadows of Fear .... Moira Astle
- A Face of Your Own .... Moira
- The Ghoul .... Ayah
- In This House of Brede .... Dame Catherine
- Don't Forget To Write! .... Mable Maple
- The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife .... Maria Packington
- Miss Marple: The Body in the Library .... Mrs. Dolly Bantry
- Sorrell and Son
- Cry Freedom .... Wendy's Mother
- Behaving Badly .... Frieda
- Relatively Speaking .... Sheila Carter
- The Winslow Boy .... Grace Winslow
- Miss Marple: The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side .... Mrs. Dolly Bantry
