Carla Lehmann (26 February 1917 – 1 December 1990) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

stage Stage, stages, or staging may refer to: Arts and media Acting * Stage (theatre), a space for the performance of theatrical productions * Theatre, a branch of the performing arts, often referred to as "the stage" * ''The Stage'', a weekly Brit ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

and

television actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

Career

Born in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, Manitoba in Canada, Lehmann was the youngest of the five children of Dr Julius Lehmann and Elsa Hillerns. She was educated at Riverbend School (now Balmoral Hall), where she edited the school newspaper, and from the age of fifteen appeared at the Little Theatre, Winnipeg. Gaining a place to train for an acting career at

RADA The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central Lond ...

in London, she then joined the Croydon Repertory Company for a year before first appearing in the West End. Her stage work included appearances in several Aldwych farces. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

she starred in war films opposite

Stewart Granger Stewart Granger (born James Lablache Stewart; 6 May 1913 – 16 August 1993) was a British film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s, rising to fame thr ...

and

James Mason James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes (winning once) and two ...

. She also played in Cottage to Let opposite

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portray ...

and

Alistair Sim Alastair George Bell Sim (9 October 1900 – 19 August 1976) was a Scottish actor. He began his theatrical career at the age of thirty and quickly became established as a popular West End performer, remaining so until his death in 1976. S ...

in 1941. Lehmann notably played Susan Foster in the film ''

Candlelight in Algeria ''Candlelight in Algeria'' is a 1944 British war film directed by George King and starring James Mason, Carla Lehmann and Raymond Lovell. The story is loosely based on an October 1942 secret conference in Cherchell, Algeria between American gen ...

'' (1944) and Lady Mary Hannay in the BBC television series ''

The Three Hostages ''The Three Hostages'' is the fourth of five Richard Hannay novels by the Scottish author John Buchan, first published in July 1924 by Hodder & Stoughton, London. Hannay had previously appeared in '' The Thirty Nine Steps'' (1915), his most fa ...

'' (1952).

Private life

Lehmann spent most of her adult life living in England. In 1941 she married George Anderson McDowell Elliot, a former Royal Marine officer recently commissioned into the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and do ...

, but they later divorced. In 1947 she married her second husband, John R. Townsend, an insurance broker, in

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, and they had three sons, John Anthony (born 1948), Nicholas (born 1949),Carla Lehmann: From Winnipeg Little Theatre to London's Stage UPDATE
accessed 3 October 2016 and Alain (1954).Register of Births for Ealing registration district: Jan-Mar 1948, volume 5e, p. 201; July-Sept 1949, volume 5e, p. 152; April–June 1954, volume 5e, p. 151 She died in Berkshire in 1990.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lehmann, Carla 1917 births 1990 deaths 20th-century Canadian actresses Actresses from Winnipeg Canadian stage actresses Canadian film actresses Canadian television actresses Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Balmoral Hall School alumni