Catherine Lacey (actress)

Catherine Lacey (born May 6, 1904 in London , † September 23, 1979 ibid) was a British actress with character roles in theater, film and television. She played numerous roles in British cinema productions from the 1930s to the 1970s. Including in films like A Lady Vanishes , Rejoice in Life , The Servant , Under the Spell of Dr. Monserrat or The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes .

life and career

Catherine Lacey, born in London in 1904, was drawn to the stage as a character actress at an early age. From 1925 she played in prestigious English theaters. She made her Broadway debut in 1931. She impersonated numerous roles at the Shakespeare Memorial Theater in the mid-1930s and in the 1935 season she had several leading roles at Stratford. From 1951 on she became a regular guest at the Old Vic Company in London.

Catherine Lacey began her film career in the supporting role of the nun in Alfred Hitchcock's famous film classic A Lady Disappears . Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave played the leading roles . In the 1940s she played character roles on screen in films such as I Know Where I'm Going , directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger , in the thriller Apotheker Sutton by director Robert Hamer, or in the 1946 romance A Heart Is Lost , 1947 You saw she in three different roles in the cinema, in Roy Ward Baker's mystery thriller Jim Ackland under suspicion of murder , in Bernard Knowle's symbol of happiness and in Lawrence Huntington's drama Fight for Jimmy . In 1949 she cast the director Alexander Mackendrick in his crime comedy in the female lead of Mrs. Waggett, where she played on the side of fellow actor Basil Radford . In the 1950s, her appearances in the cinema became less frequent. She was seen in productions by directors Gavin Lambert , Gerald Thomas and Michael Relph, among others . In 1957 she played Charles Crichton's dramatic thriller Experimental Machine CB 5 and in 1958 in Philip Leacock's drama Little Malefactors .

At the beginning of the 1960s, she was seen alongside Orson Welles , Juliette Gréco and Bradford Dillman in the cinema in Richard Fleischer's crime film Drama im Spiegel . In Joseph Losey's drama Der Diener from 1963 with Dirk Bogarde in the lead role, she embodied the role of Lady Mounset. In 1967 she starred in the hammer film production The Curse of the Mummy . In the same year she engaged the director Michael Reeves for his horror film Im Banne des Dr. Monserrat , where she played the lead female role alongside Boris Karloff . In 1970 she ended her film career with a role in Billy Wilder's drama The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes .

Catherine Lacey had already turned to television as early as 1938, where she often played eccentric roles as she got older. You saw them in episodes of successful series. Her appearances in the new medium included the BBC Sunday-Night Theater (1950-1952), Somerset Maugham Hour (1960), Commissioner Maigret (1962), The Rat Catchers (1967) and Play for Today (1973).

Catherine Lacey was married three times, to Geoffrey Clark, Roy Emerton and Anthony Wright. She died on September 23, 1979 at the age of 75 in her hometown of London.

Filmography (selection)

movie theater

• 1938: A Lady Vanishes (The Lady Vanishes)
• 1939: Poison Pen
• 1940: The House of the Arrow
• 1941: Cottage to Let
• 1945: I know where I'm going (I Know Where I'm Going!)
• 1945: Apotheker Sutton (Pink String and Sealing Wax)
• 1946: a heart is lost (Carnival)
• 1947: Jim Ackland suspected of murder (The October Man)
• 1947: Symbol of Luck (The White Unicorn)
• 1947: Fight for Jimmy (When the Bough Breaks)
• 1949: Enjoy life (Whiskey Galore!)
• 1954: Another Sky
• 1957: Test machine CB 5 (The Man in the Sky)
• 1958: Little culprits (Innocent Sinners)
• 1958: The Solitary Child
• 1958: Rockets Galore
• 1960: Drama in the Mirror (Crack in the Mirror)
• 1961: Shadow of a cat (The Shadow of the Cat)
• 1963: The Servant (The Servant)
• 1967: The Curse of the Mummy (The Mummy's Shroud)
• 1967: Under the spell of Dr. Monserrat (The Sorcerers)
• 1968: Journey to Midnight
• 1970: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes)

watch TV

• 1938: The Duchess of Malfi (TV movie)
• 1939: Marco Millions (TV movie)
• 1947: Gaslight (TV movie)
• 1950: The Master Builder (TV movie)
• 1950–1952: BBC Sunday-Night Theater (TV series, 2 episodes)
• 1952: A Cradle of Willow (TV movie)
• 1953: A Place of Execution (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1958: Women of Troy (TV movie)
• 1958: ITV Play of the Week (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1960: Somerset Maugham Hour (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1961: ITV Television Playhouse (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1961: Drama 61-67 (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1962: Commissioner Maigret (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1963: Festival (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1964: Espionage (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1964: Gideon's Way (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1964: The Human Jungle (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1965: The Wednesday Thriller (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1966: Dr. Finlay's Casebook (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1967: The Rat Catchers (TV series, 2 episodes)
• 1967–1970: The Wednesday Play (TV series, 2 episodes)
• 1968: All's Well That Ends Well (TV movie)
• 1968: Detective (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1968: Journey to the Unknown (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1969: The Expert (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1969: Paul Temple (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1970: The Six Wives of Henry VIII (TV miniseries)
• 1971: ITV Saturday Night Theater (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1971: The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1971: Cider with Rosie (TV movie)
• 1972: The Intruder (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1972: Six Faces (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1973: Play for Today (TV series, 1 episode)

Short film

• 1939: All Living Things

literature

• Catherine Lacey. In: John Gielgud, Richard Mangan: Sir John Gielgud: A Life in Letters. , Arcade Publishing, 2005, p. 526.

Web links

• Catherine Lacey in theInternet Movie Database(English)
• Catherine Lacey in: Find A Grave
• Portrait of Catherine Lacey in: The New York Times
• Films by Catherine Lacey with German distribution titles

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Catherine Lacey. In: Bernard Shaw, Sir Barry Vincent Jackson, Leonard W. Conolly: Bernard Shaw and Barry Jackson. , University of Toronto Press, 2002, p. 87.
2. ↑ Catherine Lacey. In: Robert Michael, Bobb Cotter: The Women of Hammer Horror: A Biographical Dictionary and Filmography. , McFarland, 2013