Kay Walsh


Actor
Kay Walsh

About

Birth Place
London, England, GB
Died
April 16, 2005

Biography

Kay Walsh was a gorgeous screen siren in the 1930s and '40s who went on to make her mark as a revered actress in the '50s and beyond in such films as "Oliver Twist" and "The Horse's Mouth." Beginning her career as a dancer working alongside Andre Charlot, she eventually hung up her shoes to try acting, and made her first splash with a supporting role in George King's 1934 comedy, "Get Yo...

Biography

Kay Walsh was a gorgeous screen siren in the 1930s and '40s who went on to make her mark as a revered actress in the '50s and beyond in such films as "Oliver Twist" and "The Horse's Mouth." Beginning her career as a dancer working alongside Andre Charlot, she eventually hung up her shoes to try acting, and made her first splash with a supporting role in George King's 1934 comedy, "Get Your Man." Two years later she met famed director David Lean, who was working as a film editor at the time; the two married in 1940 as their careers were just warming up. Soon Walsh was discovered while performing on a West End stage, by producer-director Basil Dean, and signed with Ealing Studios. In the '40s she played leads in the mystery thriller "The Missing People" opposite Will Fyffe, and in '48 collaborated with Lean, portraying Nancy in his screen version of the Charles Dickens classic "Oliver Twist"; the two divorced the following year. As Walsh aged she worked in more supporting and character roles, notably with Alfred Hitchcock on his thriller "Stage Fright," and with Ronald Neame in the Scottish military drama "Tunes of Glory." In 1958 she was in the Alec Guinness vehicle "The Horse's Mouth," citing it as her favorite role. Meanwhile, she appeared on the London stage and began to work in television. Walsh carried on with screen appearances until 1982, when she retired in London.

Life Events

Videos

Movie Clip

Oliver Twist (1948) -- (Movie Clip) Rather More No Than Yes The Dodger (Anthony Newley) is confronting criminal Fagin (Alec Guinness) when their boss Sykes (Robert Newton) arrives, his girlfriend Nancy (Kay Walsh, the director's wife!) catching up, all this over the title character who's been grabbed by the cops, in David Lean's Oliver Twist, 1948.
Horse's Mouth, The (1958) -- (Movie Clip) The Old Dreadnought Painter Gulley Jimson (Alec Guinness) and ally Cookie (Kay Walsh) drop in on his crafty ex-wife Sarah (Renee Houston) in The Horse's Mouth, 1958, from Guinness' own screenplay.
Devil's Own, The (1966) -- (Movie Clip) Schoolteacher Alleges Joan Fontaine (as teacher "Gwen"), having hurried to the scene of what she fears may have been a murder, called upon probably for the only time in her career to be run down in a stampede of sheep, her sinister employer (Kay Walsh) sort of rescuing, in Hammer Films' The Devil's Own, 1966.
Oliver Twist (1948) -- (Movie Clip) Parish Workhouse Possibly the only movie scene in which the mother (Josephine Stuart) of the hero appears, certainly the only one in a rainstorm, invented by director David Lean and cohorts, seeking a more dramatic opening to their famous 1948 treatment of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, camera by Guy Green.
Young Bess (1953) -- (Movie Clip) -- The King's Daughter First scene in which Princess Elizabeth has grown to be Jean Simmons, defiant but swooning when Admiral Seymour (Stewart Granger, Simmon's then-husband) arrives, sent by her father Henry VIII to fetch her, in George Sidney's Young Bess, 1953.
Encore (1951) -- (Movie Clip) She Was A Crashing Bore The author introduces the third piece in the third film based on his own stories, W. Somerset Maugham, on "Winter Cruise," starring Kay Walsh as Molly Reid, Noel Purcell her ship's captain, in Encore, 1951, segment directed by Anthony Pelissier.
Young Bess (1953) -- (Movie Clip) -- Ships Make History! Troublesome Princess Elizabeth (Jean Simmons) with tutor Mums (Leo G. Carroll), then confessing her admiration for an admiral to guardian Mrs. Ashley (Kay Walsh), in MGM's Young Bess, 1953.
This Happy Breed -- (Movie Clip) Thank Goodness We Ditched Them! Much spectacle as Ethel (Celia Johnson) and Frank (Robert Newton) conduct daughter Queenie (Kay Walsh), sailor suitor Billy (John Mills) et al to the British Empire Exhibition, 1924, in David Lean's This Happy Breed, 1944.
This Happy Breed -- (Movie Clip) All Sorts Of Horrors Aftermath of the general strike of 1926, Ethel (Celia Johnson) receives Frank (Robert Newton) and Bob (Stanley Holloway), then injured Reg (John Blythe) and pal Sam (Guy Verney) told off by sister Queenie (Kay Walsh), in David Lean's This Happy Breed, 1944.
Last Holiday (1950) -- (Movie Clip) Don't Creep About Mr. Bird (Alec Guinness), keeping his fatal diagnosis secret while blowing his savings at a fancy resort, confides in housekeeper Mrs. Poole (Kay Walsh), in Last Holiday, 1950, from J.B. Priestley's story and screenplay.
Cast A Dark Shadow -- (Movie Clip) Open, Second Honeymoon Mona Washbourne and Dirk Bogarde enjoy beachfront Haunted House ride as metaphor, in the opening from director Lewis Gilbert's Cast A Dark Shadow, 1955, also starring Margaret Lockwood and Kay Walsh.
Study In Terror, A -- (Movie Clip) I'll Have You Carved! Victim-to-be Polly (Christiane Maybach) tangles with customers then with barkeep Steiner (Peter Carsten) before meeting her end in the Sherlock Holmes/Jack The Ripper yarn A Study In Terror, 1966.

Trailer

Bibliography