Margaret Leighton Biography

Margaret Leighton, CBE (26 February 1922 – 13 January 1976) was an English actress. She was known for her exquisite sense of grandeur and refinement. She began her career on stage in 1938, and went on to twice win the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play; for the original Broadway productions of Separate Tables (1956-57) and The Night of the Iguana (1961-62).

Leighton's film appearances included Under Capricorn (1949), Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951), Carrington V.C. (1955) and The Best Man (1964). She won an Emmy Award in 1971 for a television version of Hamlet. She was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for the 1971 film The Go-Between.

Life and career

Born in Barnt Green, Worcestershire, Leighton made her stage debut as Dorothy in Laugh With Me (1938), which was also performed that year for BBC Television. She became a star of the Old Vic. Her Broadway debut was as the Queen in Henry IV (1946) starring Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson during a visit to America of the Old Vic company, which performed a total of five plays from its repertoire before returning to London.

After appearing in two British films, including the starring role of Flora MacDonald opposite David Niven in Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948) and in the popular The Winslow Boy (also 1948), the tall willowy actress played second female lead in Alfred Hitchcock's Under Capricorn (1949) starring Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten and Michael Wilding. She starred with Walter Pidgeon in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer crime/mystery Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951).

Leighton had three husbands: publisher Max Reinhardt (1947-55); actor Laurence Harvey (1957-61); and actor Michael Wilding (1964-76, her death). She had no children.

She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in Separate Tables (1956); she won another Tony in that category for The Night of the Iguana (1962), playing the luminous Hannah Jelkes (a role played by Deborah Kerr on film) opposite Bette Davis's Maxine Faulk. Leighton was nominated for Best Actress in a Play for Much Ado About Nothing (1959) opposite John Gielgud and for Tchin-Tchin (1962) opposite Anthony Quinn.

Leighton portrayed the wife of an American presidential candidate (Henry Fonda) in Gore Vidal's The Best Man (1964).

She had a noteworthy list of TV appearances, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Ben Casey and Burke's Law. She won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Drama for Hamlet (1970) and she was nominated for an Emmy in 1966 for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Drama for four episodes of Dr. Kildare. Her last appearance on Broadway was as Birdie Hubbard in a revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes (1967) starring Anne Bancroft as Regina Giddens.

For her film role as Mrs. Maudsley in The Go-Between (1970) Leighton won the British BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actress. She received a BAFTA nomination for Best British Actress for her role as Valerie Carrington in Carrington V.C. (1955). She received a Hollywood Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for The Go-Between.

She was awarded the CBE in 1974. Margaret Leighton died of multiple sclerosis, aged 53, in Chichester, Sussex.

Filmography

Film

• The Winslow Boy (1948) (British Lion Films) ... Catherine Winslow
• Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948) (London Film Productions) ... Flora MacDonald
• Under Capricorn (1949) (Warner Bros.) ... Milly
• The Astonished Heart (1950) (General Film Distributors) ... Leonora Vail
• The Elusive Pimpernel (1950) (British Lion Films) ... Marguerite Blakeney
• Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951) (MGM) ... Sgt. Helen Smith
• The Tempest (1952)...Ariel
• Home at Seven (1952) (British Lion Films) ... Janet Preston
• The Holly and the Ivy (1952) (London Film Productions) ... Margaret Gregory
• The Teckman Mystery (1954) (Associated Artists Productions) ... Helen Teckman
• The Good Die Young (1954) (United Artists) ... Eve Ravenscourt
• Carrington V.C. (1955) (Kingsley-International Pictures) ... Valerie Carrington
• The Constant Husband (1955) (British Lion Films) ... Miss Chesterman
• The Passionate Stranger (1957) (British Lion Films) ... Judith Wynter/Leonie
• The Sound and the Fury (1959) (20th Century Fox) ... Caddy Compson
• Waltz of the Toreadors (1962) (The Rank Organisation Film Productions) ... Emily Fitzjohn
• The Third Secret (1964) (20th Century Fox)
• The Best Man (1964) (United Artists) ... Alice Russell
• The Loved One (1965) (MGM) ... Mrs. Helen Kenton
• 7 Women (1966) (MGM) ... Agatha Andrews
• The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969) (Warner Bros.) ... Constance, the Madwoman of Passy
• The Go-Between (1971) (EMI Distribution) ... Mrs. Maudsley
• Zee and Co. (1972) (Columbia) ... Gladys ... aka X, Y and Zee (USA)
• Lady Caroline Lamb (1972) (MGM-EMI) ... Lady Melbourne
• A Bequest to the Nation (1973) (Universal) ... Lady Frances Nelson
• From Beyond the Grave (1973) (Warner Bros.) ... Madame Orloff in segment The Elemental
• Galileo (1975) (The American Film Theatre) ... Elderly Court Lady
• Trial by Combat (1976) (Combat-Warner Bros.) ... Ma Gore

Television

• Laugh With Me (1938) (BBC) ... Dorothy
• As You Like It (1953) (BBC) ... Rosalind
• ITV Play of the Week (1955) (Series) (ITV) episode "A Month in the Country" ... Natalya Petrovna
• Theatre Royal (TV series) (1956) (Series) (ATV London) episode "The Triumphant" ... Marion
• Suspicion (TV series) (1957) (Series) (NBC) episode "The Sparkle Of Diamonds" ... Miss Perry
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1958) (Series) (CBS) episode "Tea Time" ... Iris Teleton
• Playhouse 90 (1959) (Series) (CBS) episode "The Second Man" ... Miss Kerison
• DuPont Show of the Month (1959) (Series) (CBS) episode "The Browning Version" ... Millie Crocker-Harris
• ITV Play of the Week (1960) (Series) (ITV) episode "Gaslight"
• Ben Casey (1964) (Series) (ABC) episode "August is the Month Before Christmas" ... Leila Farr
• Burke's Law (1964) (Series) (ABC) episode "Who Killed Everybody" ... Connie Hanson
• Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1965) (Series) (NBC) episode "Where The Woodbine Twineth" ... Nell Snyder
• Dr. Kildare (TV series) (1965) (Series) (NBC) 4 episodes ... Chris Becker
• Dr. Kildare (TV series) (1965) (Series) (NBC) 1 episode ... Paula Winfield
• The F.B.I. (TV series) (1966) (Series) (ABC) episode "The Chameleon" ... Amy Hunter
• The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. (1966) (Series) (NBC) episode "The Lethal Eagle Affair" ... Gita Volander
• All on her Own (1968) (BBC) ... Rosemary
• An Ideal Husband (1969) (BBC) ... Mrs. Cheveley
• Hamlet (1970) (NBC) ... Gertrude
• The Upper Crusts (1973) (series) (ITV) ... Lady Seacroft
• Frankenstein: The True Story (1973) (NBC) ... Francoise DuVal
• Great Expectations (1974) (NBC) ... Miss Havisham
• Space: 1999 (First Season, ep. "Collision Course") (1975) (ITC) ... Arra