Ellen Pollock

Ellen Pollock was a British character actress who mainly appeared on stage in London's West End. She also appeared in several films and TV productions.
The second child of Hanover merchant Adolf Meyer and Hedwig née Kahn, sister of Otto Hermann Kahn and composer Robert Kahn, she became the stepdaughter of Raymond Anselmo Pollak when her divorced mother remarried in April 1904 to the Austrian businessman, who himself had two sons from a first marriage to Elsa Julia Harris, a New Zealander.
A devotee of Bernard Shaw, she was president of the Shaw Society from 1949. In its obituary, The Independent wrote "Pollock is believed to have played, in a career spanning 72 years, more Shavian heroines than anyone else. She directed London seasons of his plays; and it was during the London premiere of one of his lesser-known works – Farfetched Fables – that she announced Shaw's death from the stage."
Pollock's dedication to acting began as a seven-year-old, when she saw Sarah Bernhardt on stage; she knew then that she wanted to be an actress herself. Pollock was also a theatre director and a teacher of drama at RADA and Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art; and her varied television work included several appearances in The Forsyte Saga for the BBC.
She outlived both of her husbands, Captain Leslie Hancock and the artist James Proudfoot. She had one child with Hancock. Pollock was the subject of TV's This Is Your Life in 1992.

Selected filmography

Moulin Rouge – GirlPiccadilly – Vamp The Informer – ProstituteToo Many Crooks – RoseNight Birds – FlossieLet's Love and Laugh The Wife's Family – Dolly White77 Park Lane A Gentleman of Paris Midnight The First Mrs. Fraser – MaidThe Last Coupon – Eliza Heads We Go – MadameChannel Crossing – Minor RoleRoyal Cavalcade It's a Bet – Mrs. JoeThe Happy Family – Leo HuttAren't Men Beasts! – The VampThe Street Singer – Gloria WestonNon-Stop New York – Miss HarveySplinters in the Air – Charles' WifeMillions – Janet Mason Sons of the Sea – Margaret HullsSpare a Copper – Lady HardstaffKiss the Bride Goodbye – Gladys DoddDon Chicago – Lady VanessaBedelia – McKelvey's HousekeeperWarning to Wantons – Baroness de JammesSomething in the City – Mrs. HolleyTo Have and to Hold – RobertaThe Galloping Major – Horsey LadyThe Fake – Miss FossettThe Golden Link – Madame SoniaThe Time of His Life – Lady Florence Carter-Wilson née PastryNot So Dusty — AgathaThe Hypnotist – Barbara BartonThe Gypsy and the Gentleman – Haggard's MaidThe Long Knife – Mrs. CheamSo Evil, So Young – Miss SmithMaster Spy – Dr. MorrellRapture – LandladyWho Killed the Cat? – Ruth PrendergastFinders Keepers – GrandmaHorror Hospital – Aunt HarrisThe Wicked Lady – Mrs. Munce