Madge Ryan

Ryan was born on 8 January 1919 in Townsville, Queensland, Australia,^[1] the youngest child of Michael Edward Ryan, a commercial traveller, and Sarah Josephine Ryan (née Brady) ^[3] Her father sang in the church choir, while her mother played the organ, becoming an accompanist for silent movies.^[3] Ryan attended school at St Patrick's College and participated in plays, recitals, and elocution competitions.^[3] After leaving school she worked for an insurance company.^[3]

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Ryan began working in radio in Townsville during her teens, with an early role as the mother in One Man's Family.^[5] After getting married, and starting a family, her career initially took a back seat. However, after the family moved to Sydney, Ryan established herself as a theatre actor, joining the Independent Theatre Company to perform in stage productions of The Seagull, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, and Children in Uniform.^[5] She then toured Australia with John Nugent-Hayward in The Patsy, Fresh Fields and Claudia for four months.^[5]

Back in Sydney, Ryan undertook further radio work. Her first role for the ABC was as Aunt Florence in a serial called Space Explorers. This led to frequent roles on ABC Radio, Lux Radio Theatre and Macquarie Radio Theatre.^[5] She also performed in long-running serial Blue Hills.^[6] She then returned to the stage, playing Birdie Hubbard in Doris Fitton's 1948 production of The Little Foxes^[5] at the Independent and Melbourne's Princess Theatre.

In 1954, Ryan appeared as Pearl Cunningham in an Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust production of Ray Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.^[6] She emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1957 and starred in numerous British stage shows,^[1] including a UK tour of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.^[6] In 1958, she then appeared on Broadway in the role.^[7]

In London, Ryan established a reputation as an actress who tackled challenging roles, including misfit and villains.^[1] In 1964, she played Kath in the original London production of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr Sloane. The Independent wrote, "as the dreadful Kath, ageing seductress and murderous landlady... Madge Ryan's cruel, cool but undeniably comic acting provoked one critic to describe her work... as 'something very close to perfection'."^[1]

In 1965, Ryan played the lead role in Mother Courage at the Old Vic,^[1] touring internationally. An international tour as Gertrude in Hamlet followed,^[6] and she also played the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, both for the Bristol Old Vic.^[1] Further stage roles included Maisie Madigan in Juno and the Paycock, Lizzie Sweeney in a 1967 London production of Philadelphia, Here I Come and Mrs Weston in Say Goodnight to Grandma.^[1]

In 1968, Ryan returned to Australia to perform in a double bill of Black Comedy and The White Liars.^[6]

Ryan played Dr. Branom in 1971 Stanley Kubrick classic feature film A Clockwork Orange, opposite Malcolm McDowell.^[6] Other film appearances included Summer Holiday (1963), Frenzy (1972), and Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978).

Ryan also appeared in television plays and serials including a 1966 BBC play of the month, Defection, playing Evdokia Petrov.^[6] The same year, she appeared in a season 5 episode ("The Better Mousetrap") of television series The Saint as Bertha Noversham, a French Riviera jewel thief.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Ryan performed in repertory theatre, including playing Madam Arkadina in The Seagull (in Exeter), Mrs Warren in Mrs. Warren's Profession and Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest (in Birmingham).^[1] She also appeared in Ring Round the Moon in Chichester.^[1] In 1975, Ryan played Rachel Lynde in a six-part television miniseries version of Anne of Avonlea.^[6]

In 1993, the year before her death, Ryan appeared in a West End stage production of Medea, opposite Diana Rigg.^[1]

Ryan married Milton Lynn Rumble, a bank officer, on 31 January 1939 at Townsville's Sacred Heart Cathedral, although used her maiden name professionally.^[3] The couple relocated to Toowoomba in 1940, and then to Sydney.^[3] Her marriage ended in 1957.^[3]

During the second World War, Ryan drove ambulances for the National Emergency Services.^[3]

During her early career, Ryan lived in Epping, then a rural setting on Sydney's outer fringe.

Ryan had two daughters, one of whom, Lyn Ashley^[3] born on 18 March 1940, was also an actress.^[3] Between 1969 and 1975, Eric Idle was married to Ryan's daughter, Lyn.^[8]

Ryan died in Westminster, London on 9 January 1994, one day after her 75th birthday.^[1][3] A memorial service was held at St James's Church, in Piccadilly.^[3] In their obituary for Ryan, The Independent wrote, "what set her apart from the others was a certain, often powerful, independence of spirit and humour... It was a fulfilled career."^[1]

Film

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1959	Witness in the Dark	Mrs. Finch	Film	[6]
1960	Upstairs and Downstairs	Sergeant Tuck	Film	[6]
	Hand in Hand	George's Wife	Film	[6]
1962	Tiara Tahiti	Millie Brooks	Film	[6]
	The Shifting Heart		Film	[9]
1963	Summer Holiday	Stella Winters	Film	[6][10]
	Doctor in Distress	Mrs. Clapper	Film	[6]
1964	This Is My Street	Kitty	Film	[6]
1968	The Strange Affair	Aunt Mary	Film	[6]
1970	I Start Counting	Mother	Film	[6]
1971	A Clockwork Orange	Dr. Branom	Film	[6]
1972	Frenzy	Mrs. Davison	Film	[6]
	Endless Night (aka Agatha Christie's Endless Night)	Michael's mother	Film	[6]
1973	Yellow Dog	Della's Mother	Film
1978	Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (aka Too Many Chefs and Someone Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe)	Beecham	Film	[6]
1979	The Lady Vanishes	Rose Flood Porter	Film	[6]
1988	Kokoda Crescent	Margaret	Film	[6]
1993	Splitting Heirs	Woman with Dog	Film	[6]

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Television

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1957	Summer of the Seventeenth Doll	Pearl Cunningham	TV play, episode of Theatre Night
1958–1970	Armchair Theatre	Mrs Weston	TV play, 9 episodes including Say Goodnight to Your Grandma
1959	BBC Sunday Night Theatre	Margaret Lord / Hilda Binns / Mrs Atkinson	3 episodes
	The Flying Doctor	Mrs Evans	1 episode
1959–1962	ITV Play of the Week	Various roles	4 episodes
1960	A Night Out	Mrs Stokes	TV play, episode of Armchair Theatre	[11]
	A Holiday Abroad	Sylvia Bates	TV play, episode of ITV Television Playhouse
	Probation Officer	Ella Rhodes	1 episode
	Flag Fall	Maud – Taxi Dispatcher	TV play, episode of Armchair Mystery Theatre
1962	Maigret	Madame Machére	1 episode
	Reunion Day	Grace	TV play	[12]
	The Slaughter of St. Teresa's Day	Oola Maguire	TV play	[13]
	The One Day of the Year	Dot Cook	TV play	[14]
1963	Anna Christie	Marthy Owen	TV play
1963; 1964	First Night	Various roles	3 episodes
1964	The Avengers	Mrs Eve Turner	1 episode
	Love Story	Marion	1 episode
	Emergency Ward 10	May Gorton	2 episodes
	Summer of the Seventeenth Doll	Pearl Cunningham	TV play, episode of Thursday Theatre
1965; 1970	Thirty-Minute Theatre	Mrs Purgold / Janet Harford	TV plays, 2 episodes
1965; 1971	Public Eye	Mrs Sutton-Piper / Rose Mason	2 episodes
1966	Defection! The Case of Colonel Petrov	Dusya	TV play, episode of BBC Play of the Month
	The Saint	Mrs Bertha Noversham	1 episode
1968	Sherlock Holmes	Lady Morcar	Episode: "The Blue Carbuncle"
	The Shifting Heart	Momma	TV play	[9][15]
1969	Parkin's Patch	Mrs Kenny	1 episode
	Dixon of Dock Green	Nancy Proctor	1 episode
1969; 1971	Paul Temple	Genine Dalton / Linda Burgess	2 episodes
1970	Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)	Mrs Roden	1 episode
	Manhunt	Celestine Moussac	1 episode
	The Best Things in Life	Miss Rossiter	1 episode
1971	Budgie	Connie	1 episode
	Now Look Here	Mother	7 episodes
	Zinotchka	Madame Sorin	TV short play, episode of Full House
1971–1977	Play for Today	Elizabeth/ Mother	TV plays, 2 episodes
1972	The Man and the Snake	Mrs Druring	TV short
1969; 1973	ITV Saturday Night Theatre	Jean's Mother / Simone / Mrs Pearce	3 episodes
1974	The Protectors	Mrs Apsimon	1 episode
	Cakes and Ale	Mrs Barton Trafford	2 episodes
1975	Crown Court	Bridget Behan	3 episodes
	Anne of Avonlea	Rachel Lynde	Miniseries, 6 episodes	[6]
	Going, Going, Gone... Free?	Mrs Dean	Episode of Comedy Playhouse
	Moll Flanders	Mrs Oliver	TV movie	[6]
1976	Katy	Bridget	3 episodes
	Beasts	Florence Raymount	1 episode
	Angels	Mrs Dutton	1 episode
1977	Beryl's Lot	Miss Quillet	2 episodes
	London Belongs to Me	Mrs Vizzard	7 episodes
1978	All Creatures Great and Small	Miss Harbottle	2 episodes	[16]
	A Horseman Riding By	Arabella Codsall	4 episodes	[6]
	Shadows	Nanny	1 episode
1979	S.O.S. Titanic	Violet Jessop	TV movie	[6]
1982	Cymbeline	Mother	TV movie
1983	Bergerac	Mrs Van Stratton	1 episode
	Nanny	Lydia Crawford	4 episodes
	Events in a Museum	Narrator	TV movie
	Heartattack Hotel	Mrs Todd	TV movie
1988	Hills End	Miss Elaine Godwin	TV movie
1990	Families	Ruby Davidson
1992	Screenplay	Beattie	1 episode
	Casualty	Doreen Phillips	1 episode
1993	Comedy Playhouse	Gloria	1 episode
	The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries	Lucy Lorrimer	1 episode

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