Beryl Reid

Beryl Elizabeth Reid was a British actress. She won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for The Killing of Sister George, the 1980 Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for Born in the Gardens, and the 1982 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for Smiley's People. Her film appearances included The Belles of St. Trinian's, The Killing of Sister George, The Assassination Bureau, and No Sex Please, We're British.

Early life

Beryl Elizabeth Reid was born on 17 June 1919 in Hereford, Herefordshire, daughter of Leonard Reid, an estate agent and valuer, and Anne Burton, née McDonald. Reid was the daughter of Scottish parents and grew up in Manchester, where she attended Withington and Levenshulme High Schools. As a child, she established a lifelong friendship with Nancy Wrigley, the daughter of the prominent classical soprano, Dame Isobel Baillie. Years later, Reid fondly recalled how Baillie would "tell us the most wonderful things...you can imagine nine-year-old girls goggle-eyed at six princes serenading her in Hawaii!"

Career

Leaving school at 16, she made her debut in 1936 as a music hall performer at the Floral Hall, Bridlington. Before and during the Second World War, she took part in variety shows and pantomimes. She had no formal training but later worked at the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her first big success came in the BBC radio show Educating Archie as naughty schoolgirl Monica and later as the Brummie, "Marlene."
Her many film and television roles as a character actor were usually well received. She reprised her Tony Award-winning performance of a lesbian soap opera star in The Killing of Sister George for the 1968 screen version and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Drama. The tour of the play was not a success; people in shops refused to serve her and other performers due to the gay characters in the play.
She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1976 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the car park of Thames Television's Teddington Studios.
In both Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Smiley's People, Reid played Connie Sachs. Having been nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for both performances, winning for Smiley's People.
Between 1981 and 1983, Reid co-presented the Children's TV programme Get up and Go for Yorkshire Television, her co-presenter "Mooncat" being a green, talking, puppet cat. Stephen Boxer was her human co-star. After she left the show, it became titled simply Mooncat and Co.
In 1982, Reid appeared in Doctor Who in the Fifth Doctor serial Earthshock, as Captain Briggs.
Reid wrote an autobiography in 1984, So Much Love.
She played the part of an elderly feminist and political subversive in the 1987 television drama, The Beiderbecke Tapes.
She appeared in many situation comedies and variety programmes on TV including BBC TV's long running music hall show, The Good Old Days.

Personal life and death

She married twice, but had no children. Her second husband, Derek Franklin, was a member of the Hedley Ward Trio. An authorised biography, Roll Out the Beryl, was published by Fantom Films on 22 August 2016. Written by Kaye Crawford, it was the first biography of the actress and coincided with the twentieth anniversary of her death.
From a date in the late 1950s until not long before her death in 1996, Beryl Reid lived in a small African-styled rondavel house, Honey Pot Cottage, built in 1933 as, originally, a holiday home, and overlooking the Thames at Wraysbury, west of London. She bequeathed the property to a friend, Paul Strike, an actor later regularly featured in the BBC TV series, Casualty and who, as of 2021, still owned it.
In 1987, Reid and Honeypot Cottage featured in the comedy panel game show, Through the Keyhole, presented by David Frost and Loyd Grossman.
Reid died at the age of 77 from severe osteoarthritis and kidney failure at a hospital in Wexham, Buckinghamshire on 13 October 1996, after complications following knee replacement surgery for arthritis.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1950	Showcase
1951	Vic's Grill		6 episodes
1955	The Benny Hill Show	Various roles	Series 1
1957	Mr Bowling Buys a Newspaper	Alice	TV film
1957	The Most Likely Girl	Arethusa Wilderspin	Series 1
1960	Someone Who Cares		TV film
1962	The Dickie Henderson Show		Series 4, episode 2
1963–64	Bold as Brass	Bessie Briggs	Pilot & Series 1
1964	Comedy Playhouse	Mrs. Teresa Fanwyn	Series 3, episode 14
1965	Who Is Mary Morison	Maggie	TV film
1966	The World of Wooster	Mrs. Wilberforce	Series 2, episode 7
1966	Frankie Howerd		Series 2, episode 2
1966	Love Story	Kate Reilly	Series 4, episode 3
1967	Thirty-Minute Theatre	Miss Price	Series 2, episode 34
1967	The Bruce Forsyth Show		Series 2, episode 6
1967	Before the Fringe		Series 2
1967	The Very Merry Widow	Mrs. Breasley	Series 1, episode 2
1968	Armchair Theatre	Hilda Capper	Series 8, episode 14
1968	Comedy Playhouse	Irene Jelliot	Series 7, episode 2
1968	Beryl Reid Says Good Evening	Various roles	Series 1
1969	Armchair Theatre	Mrs. Blaxill	Series 9, episode 8
1969	Wink to Me Only	Rene Jelliot	Series 1
1970	BBC Play of the Month	Mrs. Malaprop	Series 5, episode 8
1970	Father, Dear Father	Mrs. Brockbank	Series 3, episode 5
1969	Cinderella	Ugly Sister Marlene	TV film
1971	The Misfit	Mrs. Low Road Jones	Series 2, episode 2
1971	Father, Dear Father	Miss Pretty	Series 4, episode 3
1971	Armchair Theatre	Ameila	Series 13, episode 8
1971	The Goodies	Mrs. Desiree Carthorse	Series 2, episode 11
1972	Alcock and Gander	Mrs Marigold Alcock	Series 1
1972	Late Night Theatre	Madame Thompson	1 episode
1973	Smike!	Mrs. Squeers/Mrs. Steele	TV film
1975	BBC Play of the Month	Amanda	Series 10, episode 5
1975	BBC Play of the Month	Maria Helliwell	Series 11, episode 4
1977	Beryl Reid
1978	BBC Play of the Month	Victoria	Series 13, episode 3
1978	Two's Company	Mrs. Shelton	Series 3, episode 3
1979	Dick Emery's Comedy Hour	Ada	Special
1979	Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	Connie Sachs	Miniseries
1979	An Honourable Retirement	Mrs. Heysham	TV film
1980	Peter Cook & Co.	Various	Special
1980	Nanny Knows Best	Nanny Price	TV pilot
1980	Rhubarb Rhubarb	Home Owner's Wife	Special
1980	Comedy Tonight		Special
1981	Agony	Cherry Lightfoot	Series 3, episode 2
1981	Worzel Gummidge	Sarah Pigswill	Series 4, episode 1
1982	Doctor Who	Captain Briggs	Serial: "Earthshock"
1982	Smiley's People	Connie Sachs	Miniseries
1982	The Irish R.M.	Mrs Knox	Series 1
1983	Cuffy	Matron	Series 1, episode 2
1983	The Wind in the Willows	Mrs. Carrington-Moss	TV film
1984	The Wind in the Willows	Other Voices	Series 1, episode 1
1984	Minder	Ruby Hubbard	Series 5, episode 4
1985	Late Starter	Helen Magee	Series 1
1985	The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾	May Mole	Series 1
1985	Bergerac	Miss Broome	Series 4, episode 4
1987	The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole	May Mole	Series 1
1987	The Beiderbecke Tapes	Sylvia	Miniseries
1988	The Comic Strip Presents...	Mrs. Moss	Series 4, episode 5
1988	Sophia and Constance	Madame Foucault	Series 1, episode 4
1988	Alexei Sayle's Stuff	Hettie	Series 1, episode 3
1990	Boon	Pat Goran	Series 5, episode 12
1990	The Ruth Rendell Mysteries	Mrs. Mountnessing	Series 4, episode 9
1991	Duel of Hearts	Lady Augusta Warlingham	TV film
1991	Perfect Scoundrels	Aunt Molly	Series 2, episode 4
1992	Bunch of Five	Gran	Series 1
1993	Cracker	Fitz's Mum	Series 1, episode 3
1994	Blue Heaven	Jeweller	Series 1, episode 4