Moyna Macgill

Moyna Macgill was a British and Irish actress from Belfast and the mother of actress Angela Lansbury and producers Edgar and Bruce Lansbury. In 2020, she was listed at number 35 on The Irish Times list of Ireland's greatest film actors.

Early life

Born Charlotte Lillian McIldowie at 42 Eglantine Avenue in south Belfast, she was the daughter of William McIldowie and Elizabeth Jane. Her father was a wealthy solicitor of Scottish parentage who was a director of the Grand Opera House in Belfast, a position that sparked her interest in theatrics.

Career

As a teenager she was noticed riding the London Underground by director and producer George Pearson, who cast her in several of his films. In 1918, she made her stage debut in the play Love is a Cottage at the West End theatres Globe Theatre. Encouraged by Sir Gerald du Maurier to change her name to Moyna Macgill, she became a leading actress of the day, appearing in light comedies, melodramas, and classics opposite Herbert Marshall, John Gielgud, and Basil Rathbone, among others.
Twenty-six-year-old Macgill was married with a three-year-old daughter, Isolde, when she became involved romantically with Edgar Lansbury, a socialist politician, who was a son of the Labour MP and Leader of the Opposition George Lansbury. Her husband, actor Reginald Denham, named Lansbury as co-respondent when he filed for divorce. A year after it was finalized, Macgill and Lansbury married and with Isolde settled into a garden flat in London's Regent's Park.
Macgill temporarily set aside her career following the birth of daughter Angela and twin sons Edgar, Jr., and Bruce, although music and dance were prevalent in their upbringing. When they moved into a larger house in suburban Mill Hill, she turned their home into a salon for actors, writers, directors, musicians, and artists, all of whom left an impression on young Angela and were instrumental in directing her interests towards acting.

Family

MacGill was born Charlotte Lilian McIldowie in Belfast on 10 December 1895 to William McIldowie and Elizabeth Jane McIldowie of 42 Eglantine Avenue.
MacGill's daughter Angela Lansbury, after having featured in a number of musicals from 1940 to the 1960s, would become a popular stage and film actress in her own right, starring in the long-running television series Murder, She Wrote.
In 1935, Edgar Lansbury died of stomach cancer, a year after publishing a biography of his father George. Macgill began an affair with Scotsman Leckie Forbes, a former colonel with the British Army in India. The two moved their respective families to a house in Hampstead, but Macgill soon discovered Forbes' military career had made him a staunch disciplinarian who ruled the household like a tyrant.
When the opportunity to take her children to the U.S. presented itself just prior to The Blitz, she spirited them away under cover of night. She never spoke to Forbes again. In New York City, Macgill was unable to work in movies or on the stage, not having a work visa, and she took to presenting dramatic readings at private schools for income.
In 1942, she was invited to join a troupe that was rehearsing Noël Coward's Tonight at 8.30 for a touring production designed to raise funds for the Royal Canadian Air Force. She accepted, and when the company finished the run in Vancouver, she headed to Hollywood to seek work there. She soon sent for Angela, and eventually, the twins and the family settled in Laurel Canyon, [Los Angeles, California|Laurel Canyon].

Hollywood career

Her career in Hollywood consisted largely of small character parts in films and on television. Among her more notable film credits are Frenchman's Creek and The Picture of Dorian Gray. In later years she made guest appearances on such television series as Studio One, The Twilight Zone, Dr. Kildare, Mister Ed and My Favorite Martian.

Death

She died of esophageal cancer in Los Angeles, aged 79.

Roles

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1920	Garryowen	Violet Grimshaw
1920	Nothing Else Matters	Margery Rose
1923	Should a Doctor Tell?	Woman on the Rack
1924	Miriam Rozella	Miriam Rozella
1928	Pygmalion	Woman Bystander	Uncredited
1943	Forever and a Day	Woman in Air Raid Shelter	Uncredited
1943	Jane Eyre	Dowager	Uncredited
1944	The Uninvited	Mrs. Coatsworthy	Uncredited
1944	Frenchman's Creek	Lady Godolphin
1944	National Velvet	Woman	Uncredited
1944	Winged Victory	Mrs. Gardner	Uncredited
1945	The Picture of Dorian Gray	Duchess	-
1945	The Clock	Luncheonette Lady	Uncredited
1945	The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry	Hester Quincy	-
1945	The Sailor Takes a Wife	Irate Woman	Uncredited
1946	Black Beauty	Mrs. Blake
1947	Green Dolphin Street	Mrs. Metivier
1948	Three Daring Daughters	Mrs. Smith
1948	Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven	Pearl Cheever
1949	Private Angelo	Marchesa Dolce
1951	Kind Lady	Mrs. Harkley
1951	Bride of the Gorilla	Mme. Van Heusen
1952	Les Misérables	Nun	Uncredited
1964	The Unsinkable Molly Brown	Lady Prindale	Uncredited
1964	My Fair Lady	Lady Boxington	Uncredited

Stage

''The Way''