Coral Browne

Coral Browne with her husband Vincent Price at the 1989 Academy Awards

Coral Browne (born July 23, 1913 in Melbourne , Victoria , † May 29, 1991 in Los Angeles , California ) was an Australian - American theater and film actress .

life and work

Coral Browne made her first appearance on an Australian theater stage at the age of 18, then went to London at the age of 23 to pursue a career as a stage actress in both classic and modern roles. She has played at numerous London houses ( Savoy Theater , Old Vic , Strand Theater , Theater Royal Haymarket , Piccadilly Theater ) as well as in Blackpool , Bristol , Brighton , Oxford and Birmingham . Among other things, she was seen in the great English dramas of Shakespeare , such as Macbeth , King Lear and Othello .

Browne had her first screen appearance in 1935 in Charing Cross Road . Over the next 54 years, a total of 29 other films of all genres followed, as well as countless television appearances. Particularly memorable were her appearances in the Robert Aldrich films The Double Life of Sister George as Mercy Croft, the vicious rival of the title heroine, and even more cutting in Big Lie Lylah Clare as the physically handicapped film critic Molly Luther.

During the filming of Horror - Comedy Theater of Blood ( Theater of Blood , GB 1973) she met American actor Vincent Price to know who lived in those years, especially in London, and whom she married on October 24, 1974th Her previous husband, Philip Pearman, had died of cancer ten years earlier after being married for 14 years. From then on, the Browne-Price couple were considered one of “the” great loves in the theater world. Together with her husband, Browne was among others in Charley's Aunt and Ardèle on stage and often appeared on television .

In the early 1980s , Coral Browne and Vincent Price moved to Los Angeles and lived in a house on Swallow Drive. Browne was now only on the screen and no longer on the stage. She played, among other things, the aged Alice Liddell in the fantasy drama The true life of Alice in Wonderland ( Dreamchild , USA 1985), for which she was awarded the Saturn Award for Best Actress in 1986 .

In 1987, Coral Browne was granted US citizenship, which she took primarily to please Price. Price "reciprocated" by accepting her faith and converting to the Roman Catholic Church .

Coral Browne's last film was a screen documentary about herself : Coral Browne: Caviar for the General , once again at the side of her husband Vincent Price.

During this filming, Browne was already seriously ill with cancer . Vincent Price cared for her sacrificially in the house on Swallow Drive, but could not stop fate: Coral Browne died after a long suffering on May 29, 1991. A memorial service was held on September 5, 1991 in the Farmers Church in London; Vincent Price could not come to this celebration - he was now suffering badly from the same cancer from which his wife had recently died. John Schlesinger read his final greeting to Coral Browne .

Filmography (selection)

• 1947: Fate of Yesterday (Piccadilly Incident)
• 1954: Money doesn't make you happy (Beautiful Stranger)
• 1958: The great aunt (Auntie Mame)
• 1961: The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone
• 1961: Thieves Have Right of Way (Go to Blazes)
• 1962: Dr. Crippen
• 1962: Picnic at midnight (Tamahine)
• 1967: The Night of the Generals (The Night of the Generals)
• 1968: Big Lie Lylah Clare (The Legend of Lylah Clare)
• 1969: The Killing of Sister George
• 1972: The Ruling Class
• 1973: Theater of Blood (Theater of Blood)
• 1975: You Don't Die Underwater (The Drowning Pool)
• 1980: Xanadu (voice)
• 1983: Gentleman in Moscow (An Englishman abroad)
• 1984: American Dreamer
• 1985: The Real Life of Alice in Wonderland (Dreamchild)

literature

• Price, Victoria: Vincent Price. A Daughter's Biography. New York, 1999.
• The Vincent Price Appreciation Society (Ed.): Journal. (12 issues 1988–1990).
• Rose Collis: Coral Browne: 'this effing lady'; a biography. Oberon, London 2007, ISBN 978-1-84002-764-8 .

Web links

• Coral Browne in Internet Movie Database (English)