Pamela Brown (actress)

Brown was born in Hampstead, London, to George Edward Brown, a journalist, and his wife, Helen Blanche (née Ellerton).^[2] Growing up as a Roman Catholic, she attended St Mary's School, Ascot.^[3]

After attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Brown made her stage debut in 1936 as Juliet in a Stratford-upon-Avon production of Romeo and Juliet.^[4] Three of her early film roles were in Powell and Pressburger films: her first screen part in One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), a memorable supporting role in I Know Where I'm Going! (1945), and in the fantasy film-opera The Tales of Hoffmann (1951). She played a bitter spinster in Personal Affair, starring Gene Tierney (1953).

From the early 1950s, Brown's arthritic condition (first appearing when she was sixteen) began to make playing on the stage difficult; her mobility was restricted and she was in great pain, which was kept at bay by drugs.^[5] Nevertheless, she was a notable success as Jennet in the London production of Christopher Fry's The Lady's Not For Burning, opposite Richard Burton, Claire Bloom and John Gielgud (1949), which transferred to Broadway for an extended run (1950–51).^[6][7] Time magazine wrote (20 November 1950): "As the lady, Pamela Brown proves that Fry did not write the part for her in vain. No one has a more gloriously uppity charm; no voice can simultaneously so rasp and thrill; no one ever made standoffishness more come-hitherable."^[8]

Brown's success in film continued as Jane Shore in Laurence Olivier's Richard III (1955) and opposite Kirk Douglas in the Van Gogh biopic Lust for Life (1956). Highlights of her 1960s work include the epic Cleopatra (High Priestess; 1963), Becket (Eleanor of Aquitaine; 1964) and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (High Priestess; 1966). Brown played Lady Bessborough in Lady Caroline Lamb (1972) and Archduchess Sophia of Austria in Fall of Eagles (1974).

In February 1953, Brown divorced her husband, Peter Copley, for infidelity.^[9] They had no children. A devout Roman Catholic, she could not remarry while Copley was still alive but chose to live with her partner Michael Powell, the director who had given her early film roles. They remained together until her death from pancreatic cancer in September 1975, aged 58, in Avening, Gloucestershire.^[5] Brown was buried in Holy Cross churchyard, Avening.^[10]

Brown can be heard as Gwendolyn on the 1953 recording of The Importance of Being Earnest with John Gielgud and Edith Evans,^[11] as Cleopatra in the Caedmon Records production of Antony and Cleopatra,^[12] and reading excerpts from Lady Chatterley's Lover.^[13]