Brenda Ethel Davies (née Mathews) (January 17, 1917 – January 9, 2013) was an Australian actress and stage manager. She was the wife and literary executor of Canadian novelist

Robertson Davies William Robertson Davies (28 August 1913 – 2 December 1995) was a Canadian novelist, playwright, critic, journalist, and professor. He was one of Canada's best known and most popular authors and one of its most distinguished " men of letters" ...

. Mathews was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, and met Davies at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. Sharing an interest in

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

, they became engaged at the

Old Vic Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...

in 1939 and married in 1940. Returning to Canada, they settled in

Peterborough, Ontario Peterborough ( ) is a city on the Otonabee River in Ontario, Canada, about 125 kilometres (78 miles) northeast of Toronto. According to the 2021 Census, the population of the City of Peterborough was 83,651. The population of the Peterborough ...

, and had three daughters. Brenda gave up her career in the theatre. Her influence on Davies extended to persuading him to begin writing novels after some success as a playwright and to become principal of

Massey College Massey College is the postgraduate University of Toronto#Colleges, college of the University of Toronto located at the University of Toronto#St. George campus, St. George campus in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The college was established, built and ...

. After Davies' death in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, she and one of their daughters, Jennifer Surridge, became

literary executor The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film rights, film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially ...

s for his estate, and formed the company Pendragon Ink for this purpose. Together they edited one volume of Davies' criticism. She was the sister of Maisie Purves Smith, who became the second wife of the painter Sir

Russell Drysdale Sir George Russell Drysdale (7 February 1912 – 29 June 1981), also known as Tass Drysdale, was an Australian artist. He won the prestigious Wynne Prize for ''Sofala (Drysdale), Sofala'' in 1947, and represented Australia at the Venice Biennal ...

.Graeme Skinner, "Pete and Tass: Sculthorpe and Drysdale", ''

ABC Radio 24 Hours ''Limelight'' is an Australian digital and print magazine focusing on music, arts and culture. It is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Originally published in 1976 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), as ''ABC Radio 24 Hours'', or ...

'', August 1997, p. 34

Bibliography

*Davies, Robertson, ''

Happy Alchemy ''Happy Alchemy'', first published by McClelland and Stewart in 1997, is a collection of writings by Canadian novelist Robertson Davies. The collection was edited after Davies' death in 1995 by his literary executors: his wife Brenda and daughter ...

'' (1997) (edited by Jennifer Surridge and Brenda Davies)

References

1917 births 2013 deaths Australian emigrants to Canada Canadian editors Canadian expatriates in England Australian expatriates in England Australian editors Australian women editors Canadian women editors Australian expatriate actresses in the United Kingdom {{Canada-bio-stub