Brenda Bruce

Bruce was born in Prestwich, Lancashire, in 1919, and started her acting career as a teenager on stage as a chorus girl.^[4] She appeared with the Birmingham Repertory Company (1936–39) and was a long-time actress with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC),^[5] including playing Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, in 1964, 1968, 1975 and 1995.^[6] She appeared as Irma in the RSC's production of Jean Genet's The Balcony in 1971.^[7] In the 1950s, she appeared on television in many dramas and in a chat show Rich and Rich with her husband.^[4] She starred as Winnie in the 1962 British premiere of Samuel Beckett's Happy Days,^[8] and in 1977 as Lucilla Edith Cavell Teatime in Murder Most English.^[9]

Bruce played Aunt Dahlia in the 1990s production of Jeeves and Wooster with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.^[10] Other roles include Tilda in the Doctor Who story "Paradise Towers",^[11] Bea in the rag trade drama Connie^[12] and Granny Grogan in The Riff Raff Element.^[13] Among her film roles were Peeping Tom, where she played a prostitute murdered in the opening scene, and in 1964, she played Mary Lewis in Nightmare.^[14] In 1994, she starred in Honey for Tea, a short-lived sitcom.^[15]

She was married and widowed twice, first to television personality Roy Rich, with whom she had two daughters, and second to actor Clement McCallin, with whom she adopted a son.^[5] McCallin died in 1977.

She died in London on 19 February 1996 from undisclosed causes, aged 76.^[5]

• In 1962, she was given the Society of Film and Television Arts Television Awards 1962.^[16]
• She was named Best Actress in 1963 by BAFTA British Academy Television Award for Best Actress.^[17]
• She was awarded an OBE in the 1985 New Year Honours.