Edith MacArthur (8 March 1926 – 25 April 2018) was a Scottish actress noted for her elegant screen presence.

Early life

MacArthur was born in

Ardrossan Ardrossan (; ) is a town on the North Ayrshire coast in southwestern Scotland. The town has a population of 10,670 and forms part of a conurbation with Saltcoats and Stevenston known as the 'Three Towns#Scotland, Three Towns'. Ardrossan is loca ...

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire (, ) is one of 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and s ...

, the daughter of Donald MacArthur and Minnie Ross MacArthur. She studied at Ardrossan Academy and the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

. During

World War II 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 worked at the Admiralty Map Correction station in

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

Career

MacArthur began acting with the amateur Ardrossan & Saltcoats Players. She made her professional stage debut with the Wilson Barrett Company at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. She worked in various Scottish stage companies, including Perth Rep, the

Edinburgh Gateway Edinburgh Gateway station is a railway station and interchange at Gogar in Edinburgh, Scotland, which opened on 11 December 2016. It is served by ScotRail and Edinburgh Trams, and serves both Gogar and Edinburgh Airport, to which it is connect ...

and the Glasgow Citizens, before moving to London in 1960. She made her London stage debut that year, in

Alec Coppel Alec Coppel (17 September 1907 – 22 January 1972) was an Australian-born screenwriter, novelist and playwright. He spent the majority of his career in London and Hollywood, specialising in light thrillers, mysteries and sex comedies. He is best ...

's '' The Gazebo,'' at the

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

. With the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...

in the 1960s, she played Lady Montague in ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

''. She was twice in London productions of '' The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'', in different roles, in 1966 and in 1994–1995. She and Tom Fleming were known for ''Carlyle and Jane,'' their staged readings of the letters of

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian, and philosopher. Known as the "Sage writing, sage of Chelsea, London, Chelsea", his writings strongly influenced the intellectual and artistic culture of the V ...

and

Jane Welsh Carlyle Jane Baillie Carlyle (' Welsh; 14 July 1801 – 21 April 1866) was a Scottish writer and the wife of Thomas Carlyle. She did not publish any work in her lifetime, but she was widely seen as an extraordinary letter writer. Virginia Woolf ca ...

.Inventory Acc.13182 Edith Macarthur
National Library of Scotland. She was long associated with the

Pitlochry Festival Theatre The Pitlochry Festival Theatre is a large performing arts theatre located in the town and burgh of Pitlochry in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The idea of a performance space in the area was conceived in the late 1940s by John Stewart, a leading ...

. MacArthur was frequently seen on television, with a long list of credits including ''

Z-Cars ''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police and CID detectives in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by ...

'', ''

The Borderers ''The Borderers'' is a British television series produced by the BBC between 1968 and 1970. Setting A historical drama series, ''The Borderers'' was set during the 16th century and chronicled the lives of the Ker family, who lived in the Scot ...

'', '' The Troubleshooters'', ''

Sutherland's Law ''Sutherland's Law'' is a television series made by BBC Scotland between 1973 and 1976. The series had originated as a stand-alone edition of the portmanteau programme ''Drama Playhouse'' in 1972 in which Derek Francis played Sutherland and wa ...

'', '' The Standard'', '' The Omega Factor'', ''

The Sandbaggers ''The Sandbaggers'' is a British spy thriller television series created by Ian Mackintosh, about men and women on the front lines of the Cold War. Set contemporaneously with its original broadcast on ITV from 1978 to 1980, ''The Sandbaggers'' e ...

'', ''

Doctor Finlay ''Doctor Finlay'' is a British television series based on A. J. Cronin's stories about the fictional medical hero, Dr. Finlay. It was first broadcast on 5 March 1993 on ITV. It is a follow-up to ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook'', the successful BBC ...

'', ''

Hamish Macbeth Hamish Macbeth is the police constable of the fictional Scottish Highlands, Scottish Highland town of Lochdubh, in a series of murder mystery novels created by M. C. Beaton (Marion Chesney). Considered by many to be a useless, lazy moocher, M ...

'', ''

Casualty Casualty may refer to: *Casualty (person), a person who is killed or rendered unfit for service in a war or natural disaster **Civilian casualty, a non-combatant killed or injured in warfare * The emergency department of a hospital, also known as ...

'' and ''

Sea of Souls ''Sea of Souls'' is a BBC paranormal drama series, recounting the fictional activities of a group of investigators into psychic and other paranormal events. Produced in-house by BBC Scotland and for the final season by Carnival Films, initially ...

''. In 1972, she played the tragic Scottish mother Jean Guthrie in '' Sunset Song'', the television adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's novel. Her best-known role was the Lady

Laird Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scotland, Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a Baronage of ...

Elizabeth Cunningham in ''

Take the High Road ''Take the High Road'' (renamed ''High Road'' from 1994 to 2003) was a Scottish soap opera produced by Scottish Television, which started in February 1980 as an ITV (TV network), ITV daytime programme, and was broadcast until 2003. It was set in ...

'', which she portrayed from the first episode in 1980, until December 1986 when the character was killed off in a car crash. MacArthur was said to have discovered the future ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' actor

David Tennant David John Tennant (; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying the Tenth Doctor, tenth and Fourteenth Doctor, fourteenth incarnations of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Docto ...

. After seeing his first performance at age 10 in Paisley, she told his parents he would become a successful stage actor. Tennant went on to play MacArthur's son twice on stage, in ''

Long Day's Journey into Night ''Long Day's Journey into Night'' is a play in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939–1941 and first published posthumously in 1956. It is widely regarded as his magnum opus and one of the great American plays of the ...

'' and ''Hay Fever''. In 2000, MacArthur was made an MBE for her contribution to the dramatic arts.

Personal life

MacArthur died 25 April 2018 at the age of 92, in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. In her obituary in ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

,'' she was described as "an actress whose breathtaking elegance and beauty – and uncompromising dedication to the craft she loved – was matched by a brilliant intelligence, and wicked, earthy sense of humour." Her papers are archived at the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS; ; ) is one of Scotland's National Collections. It is one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom. As well as a public programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, and tours, the National Library of ...

Theatre

References

External links

*
Edith MacArthur
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

A 1996 photograph of Edith MacArthur
by Robert Trotter, in the

National Galleries of Scotland The National Galleries of Scotland (, sometimes also known as National Galleries Scotland) is the executive non-departmental public body that controls the three national galleries of Scotland and two partner galleries, forming one of the Nation ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Macarthur, Edith 1926 births 2018 deaths Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Ardrossan Scottish television actresses Scottish stage actresses 20th-century Scottish actresses 21st-century Scottish actresses Alumni of the Royal College of Music People educated at Ardrossan Academy