Sheila Betty Mercier ('' née'' Rix; 1 January 1919 – 4 December 2019) was an English

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

, of stage and television, best known for playing

Annie Sugden Annie Sugden (also Pearson, Kempinski and Brearly) is a fictional character from the British television soap opera ''Emmerdale''. She was played by Sheila Mercier as a regular character between 1972 and 1994, with occasional guest appearances in ...

in the soap opera ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, ...

'' for over 20 years, from the programme's first episode in 1972 until the mid-1990s, with a guest return in 2009.

Early life and education

Mercier was born in Hull,

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, the daughter of Herbert Rix (of J.R. Rix & Sons Ltd) and his wife Fanny. She was their third child and second daughter; her younger brother was the actor and campaigner Brian Rix. After education at the French Convent (Hull) and at Hunmanby Hall (both

), she trained for the stage at the Stratford-upon-Avon College of Drama under Randle Ayrton.

Career

Mercier had a long career on stage before her television career.

Donald Wolfit Sir Donald Wolfit, KBE (born Donald Woolfitt; Harwood, Ronald"Wolfit, Sir Donald (1902–1968)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, January 2008; accessed 14 July 2009 20 April 1902 ...

had talent spotted her and she toured with Wolfit's own Shakespeare company in 1939. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

she joined the

WAAF WAAF may refer to: * w3af, (short for web application attack and audit framework), an open-source web application security scanner * Women's Auxiliary Air Force, a British military service in World War II ** Waaf, a member of the service * WAAF (AM ...

division of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

, serving in fighter command, eventually becoming adjutant. After the war, she worked in repertory theatre until 1951, receiving positive reviews from critics. One review said of her performance in '' The Enchanted Cottage'' in 1948, "Sheila Rix is outstanding as the witch-like housekeeper." In Noël Coward's '' Hay Fever'' at the Tonbridge Repertory Theatre the same year, a review said, "Sheila Rix superbly portrays the ex-actress, extremely emotional mother of the family." About Cocteau's ''

The Eagle with Two Heads ''The Eagle with Two Heads'' (French title ''L'Aigle à deux têtes'') is a French film directed by Jean Cocteau released in 1948. It was adapted from his own play ''L'Aigle à deux têtes'' which was first staged in 1946, and it retained the pri ...

'', another review said, "The number of repertory companies who have dealt with this striking play has been very small. Notable in the cast was Sheila Rix as the tragic Queen, who held her audience throughout." From 1951 until 1972, she worked with her brother Brian Rix in the

Whitehall farce The Whitehall farces were a series of five long-running comic stage plays at the Whitehall Theatre in London, presented by the actor-manager Brian Rix, in the 1950s and 1960s. They were in the low comedy tradition of British farce, following the ...

s, both at the

Whitehall Theatre Trafalgar Theatre is a new West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London. It is set to open in spring 2021 following a major multi-million pound restoration project aiming to reinstate it back to its ...

itself, on tour to regional theatres, and in televised performances on BBC Television. Critics commented, "Sheila Mercier .. sup to the second in tempo and sense of fun;" "In ''Chase Me, Comrade!'', Jacqueline Ellis and Helen Jesson as well as Sheila Mercier, all contribute mightily to the fun with excellent work;" and "Sheila Mercier is refreshingly sane as the commander's wife." She also appeared in the television series ''Dial RIX'' (1963) alongside her husband, Peter Mercier. In 1972, she was cast in the role she is best known for, the

matriarch Matriarchy is a social system in which women hold the primary power positions in roles of authority. In a broader sense it can also extend to moral authority, social privilege and control of property. While those definitions apply in general En ...

, one of the principal characters in the new British

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

''Emmerdale Farm'' (later simply ''

''). She appeared as a main cast member until 1994 with rare occasional appearances later including the funeral for on-screen son Joe in June 1995, along with screen husband Amos Brearly. In 1979,

Hazel Holt Hazel Holt (nee Young, 3 September 1928 – 23 November 2015) was a British novelist. She studied at King Edward VI High School for Girls in Birmingham, England, and then Newnham College, Cambridge. She went on to work at the International Afric ...

in ''

The Stage ''The Stage'' is a British weekly newspaper and website covering the entertainment industry and particularly theatre. It was founded in 1880. It contains news, reviews, opinion, features, and recruitment advertising, mainly directed at those wh ...

'' wrote: "I never cease to admire the sheer consistency of Sheila Mercier's performance as Annie Sugden in Yorkshire's Emmerdale Farm. ... Every Tuesday and Friday, week in and week out she is never less than convincing." Mercier later reprised her role several times following the character's 1994 retirement.

Personal life and death

In 1951, Mercier married actor Peter Mercier. They were married for 42 years until his death in 1993. The couple's son, Nigel Mercier (6 December 1954 – 6 January 2017), also worked in the TV industry, initially with BBC Television News at Television Centre as a videotape editor and then at

LWT London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

. In 1994 Mercier's autobiography, ''Annie's Song: My Life & Emmerdale'', written with

Anthony Hayward Anthony Hayward (born 26 October 1959) is a British journalist and author. He is a regular contributor to ''The Guardian'', ''The Daily Telegraph'' and ''The Independent'', and has written more than 20 books about television and film. The subje ...

, was published. In it, she disclosed that she had been raped by an officer early in the war, had become pregnant and given her baby daughter up for adoption, and had been contacted by her daughter thirty years later. The two women became close friends. Mercier's nephew is children's author,

Jamie Rix Jamie Rix (born 27 April 1958) is an English children's author, television comedy writer, and media producer. He is best known for the book series '' Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids'' and '' The War Diaries of Alistair Fury''; both were adapted ...

, the son of her brother, Brian Rix. Mercier turned 100 on 1 January 2019 and died on 4 December 2019.

Filmography

Selected stage performances

Selected Whitehall farces

Selected filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mercier, Sheila 1919 births 2019 deaths English centenarians English film actresses English memoirists English soap opera actresses English stage actresses English television actresses People from Hunmanby British women in World War II British women memoirists Women centenarians 20th-century English actresses