# Still MORE Obits--Dame Wendy Hiller **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 16, 2003, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-more-obits-dame-wendy-hiller/175659 "2003-05-16T12:47:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-more-obits-dame-wendy-hiller/175659/1 "2003-05-16T12:47:31Z")
It’s been a bad month for show biz! Cut down from today’s _Daily Telegraph_: Dame Wendy Hiller, who died on Wednesday aged 90, was an actress who was adored by Shaw and won an Oscar, but kept her distance from the mainstream of British theatre, in which she flourished for more than half a century . . . What ultimately made her career so remarkable was its quiet success on both sides of the Atlantic and her ability to shuttle for nearly 60 years between queens and peasant women without a glimmer of pretence. Sheridan Morley writes: “In one sense, Wendy was a kind of anti-star: one husband, one house (in Beaconsfield), one family. Although she did occasionally travel to Hollywood (notably in 1958 for Separate Tables) and Broadway (where her greatest success was in The Aspern Papers in 1962), she lived a relatively domestic life. Her territory was regional England and, of course, Shaw; she landed the film of Pygmalion in 1936 after he had seen her on stage at the Malvern Festival where she played her first Major Barbara. Like Peggy Ashcroft, whom she often followed into classical roles, Wendy abhorred any personal publicity; as an actress she could break your heart by her voice alone, but there was a steely centre to her Cheshire heart. What was remarkable about her was her extreme untheatricality until the house lights went down, whereupon she would give a performance of breathtaking reality and expertise: few who saw it will forget her at the very opening of the National Theatre with Ralph Richardson and Peggy Ashcroft in John Gabriel Borkman.” ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-more-obits-dame-wendy-hiller/175659/2 "2003-05-16T17:15:43Z")
I remember her as Lady Alice More in “A Man For All Seasons” The scene where she visits her husband, Sir Thomas More, for the last time, is priceless. And she was the head nurse in “The Elephant Man” And the Russian countess in “Murder on the Orient Express”. And many, many, others. What a great talent. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-more-obits-dame-wendy-hiller/175659/3 "2003-05-16T17:27:54Z")
Yes, A Man For All Seasons was one of my faves as well. She was something. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-more-obits-dame-wendy-hiller/175659/4 "2003-05-16T19:53:12Z")
Damn! But sadly, I had assumed she’d already expired. ---
**Author:** ![SteverinoAlaReno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@SteverinoAlaReno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteverinoAlaReno)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-more-obits-dame-wendy-hiller/175659/5 "2003-05-16T21:41:50Z")
I loved A Man For All Seasons, too, and also thought Hiller’s scene in the prison was excellent. My wife can’t understand why I keep watching this movie, but I think it’s one of the best ever made. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-more-obits-dame-wendy-hiller/175659/6 "2003-05-16T22:42:00Z")
Another vote for “A Man For All Seasons”, a great movie. She was perfect in her role. (Aside: I’m surprised to see that the entire text of the play is here: [http://www.cooper.edu/humanities/classes/coreclasses/hss2/library/man\_for\_all\_seasons.html](http://www.cooper.edu/humanities/classes/coreclasses/hss2/library/man_for_all_seasons.html) )