Angharad Rees

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Angharad Rees , CBE (born July 16, 1949 in Cardiff , Wales , † July 21, 2012 in London , England ) was a British- Welsh actress .

Life

Education and theater

Angharad Mary Rees was born in Wales. Her father, Professor Linford Rees , Commander of the British Empire , was a recognized psychiatrist and professor ; he later headed the first specialist department for "psychological medicine" at Bart's Hospital in London .

She attended the private Commonweal Lodge School in Surrey ; there she suffered from dyslexia . At the age of 16 she went to Paris and studied two semesters at the Sorbonne . She received a scholarship to Rose Bruford Drama College in Surrey; Rees completed her acting training there. At times she also studied at the University of Madrid ; During this time she was teaching English at a psychiatric clinic in Madrid .

Her stage career began in the mid-1960s, initially as a stage manager and actress at the West Cliff Theater in Clacton-on-Sea , Essex . She then played at a number of repertoire theaters . As a theater actress , she was best known for her roles in Shakespeare plays: Perdita in The Winter's Tale (Old Vic Theater, London), Ophelia in Hamlet , Juliet in Romeo and Juliet , Hermione in The Winter's Tale and Queen Isabella in Richard II ; for television she also played Celia in As You Like It in 1978 , alongside Helen Mirren (as Rosalinde).

She had other theater appearances in the West End of London in the play It's a Two Feet Six Inches Above the Ground World by Kevin Laffan (Wyndham's Theater, 1970), in a stage version of the novel A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh (Epic Theater), as Sybil Vane and as the Duchess of Monmouth in a stage version of the novel The Portrait of Dorian Gray (Greenwich Theater, London, 1975) and as Patricia Smith in the comedy The Millionaire by George Bernard Shaw (Royal Haymarket Theater, London, 1978-1979). Directed by Sir Peter Hall , she appeared in a production of the salon comedy An ideal husband ; Rees went on tour with this production .

Television and film

Rees made her television debut in 1968 as a housemaid in a BBC production of the play Mensch und Übermensch by George Bernard Shaw; her partners were Maggie Smith and Eric Porter . She first achieved greater attention in 1969 with the role of Marie Melmotte in the television film The Way We Live Now , a television adaptation of the novel by Anthony Trollope of the same name . In 1974 she played the daughter of Winston Churchill , Sarah Churchill, in the television movie The Gathering Storm ; her partner as Winston Churchill was Richard Burton . In the horror film The Curse of Tut-ench-Amun , a British-American television co-production, she was seen in 1980 as Lady Evelyn Herbert.

She had her best-known television role from 1975 to 1977 in the British historical television series Poldark , which was set in the period after the French Revolution . At the side of Robin Ellis , she played the idiosyncratic Demelza, a former maid who, despite her low background, manages to marry the landlord Ross Poldark.

Rees has also taken on episode roles and guest roles in numerous British television series , including Mit Schirm, Charme und Melone (1968), Paul Temple (1970) alongside Francis Matthews and Ros Drinkwater , Doctor in Charge (1972; 1973), Crown Court (1973), then later in The Forgotten Story (1983), Master of the Game (1984), Remington Steele (1985), in the sitcom Close to Home (1989–1990; as Helen De Angelo, the former and remarried wife of the Veterinarian James Shepherd) and in Trainer (1992; as Caroline Farrell, living with her drunk and gambling-addicted husband Freddie).

Rees also had a few roles in motion pictures . In 1971, in the horror film Hands Full of Blood , a production from the series of the Hammer films , she played Anna, the murderous daughter of Jack the Ripper , at the side of Eric Porter . In 1972 she took on, alongside Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the role of Gossamer Beynon in the film Unter dem Milchwald ; she embodied the daughter of the butcher Beynon.

In the Franco-British co-production La petite fille en velours bleu ( The Little Girl In Blue Velvet ) she played the role of macha in 1978 under the direction of Alan Bridges in an international cast with Michel Piccoli , Claudia Cardinale , Lara Wendel , Umberto Orsini and Alexandra Stewart .

honors and awards

Rees was an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. In 2004 she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire .

A pub in Pontypridd , Angharad's , bears her name.

Private

Rees was married in first marriage from September 1973 to 1994 with the British actor Christopher Cazenove ; the marriage resulted in two sons, Linford (* 1974) and Rhys William (* 1976). Elderly son Linford died in 1999 at the age of 25 in a car accident on the M11 Motorway in Essex. Rees and Cazenove also appeared in commercials for Nescafé with their children . In 1981, Rees largely gave up her acting career to devote herself to family and child rearing. During this time she worked as a language coach and gave rhetoric courses for business people.

Her long-term, publicly announced relationship with actor Alan Bates ended in 2002.

In 2005 she married the British nobleman David Malcolm McAlpine (* 1946), the brother of Alastair McAlpine , the former treasurer of the Conservative Party .

In 2005 she started her own jewelry design company, Angharad , based in the Belgravia borough of London and with a shop in Knightsbridge . Rees herself once described her work as a jewelry designer as "therapeutic". She designed necklaces and earrings for the movie Elizabeth: The Golden Kingdom (2007), with Cate Blanchett in the lead role.

Rees died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 63 with her family in her London home in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea .

Filmography (selection)

  • 1968: BBC Play of the Month: Man and Superman
  • 1968: With Umbrella, Charm and Bowler Hat (The Avengers) (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1969: The Way We Live Now (TV movie)
  • 1969: Doctor in the House (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1970: Paul Temple (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1970: The Secret of Thornfield Castle (Jane Eyre) (Movie made for TV)
  • 1971: hands full of blood (Hands of the Ripper)
  • 1972: Under Milk Wood (Under Milk Wood)
  • 1972: No Pardon for Guardian Angels (The Protectors) (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1972; 1973: Doctor in charge (TV series, 3 episodes)
  • 1973: The Deadly Vision (Baffled!) (TV movie)
  • 1973: Love Story (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1973: Crown Court (TV series, 2 episodes)
  • 1974: Thriller (TV series, 1 episode)
  • 1975–1977: Poldark (TV series)
  • 1978: La petite fille en velours bleu ( The Little Girl In Blue Velvet )
  • 1978: As You Like It (TV adaptation)
  • 1980: The Curse of King Tut's Tomb
  • 1983: The Forgotten Story (TV series, 6 episodes)
  • 1984: Master of the Game (TV series, 3 episodes)
  • 1985: Remington Steele (TV series, 2 episodes)
  • 1989–1990: Close to Home (TV series)
  • 1992: Trainer (TV series, 8 episodes)
  • 1998: The Wolves of Kromer

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Welsh actress Angharad Rees dies death report and obituary in: The Guardian of July 22, 2012
  2. ↑ useyourlocal.com
  3. ↑ Angharad Rees (1949-2012) entry in Peerage News ; July 22, 2012
personal data
SURNAME Rees, Angharad
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rees, Angharad Mary (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-Welsh actress
DATE OF BIRTH July 16, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Cardiff , Wales
DATE OF DEATH July 21, 2012
Place of death London , England