Hilary Dwyer (6 May 1945 – 30 March 2020), also known as Hilary Heath, was an English actress, businessperson, and film producer. She was best known for her acting roles in films such as '' Witchfinder General'' (1968) and ''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is the only novel by the English author Emily Brontë, initially published in 1847 under her pen name "Ellis Bell". It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moors, the Earnshaws and the ...

'' (1970). She also performed on the London stage. In 1974, she married the

talent agent A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds work for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, dancers, and other professionals in various entertainm ...

Duncan Heath, with whom she had two children, and helped to found Duncan Heath Associates, which was later bought by

ICM Partners ICM Partners was a talent and literary agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., and London. The company represented clients in the fields of motion pictures, television, music, publishing, live performance, branded e ...

. They divorced in 1989. Later in her career, under her married name, "Hilary Heath", she produced the feature film '' An Awfully Big Adventure'' (1995), as well as TV remakes of

Daphne du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Gerald du Maurier, Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her gra ...

's ''

Rebecca Rebecca () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. Rebecca's brother was Laban (Bi ...

'' (1997) and

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...

's '' The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone'' (2003). Her final producing role was the 2014 miniseries '' Jamaica Inn''.

Early life

Born on 6 May 1945, in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England, Hilary Dwyer was the daughter of Frederick Dwyer, a South African-born orthopaedic surgeon noted for his pioneering

calcaneal In humans and many other primates, the calcaneus (; from the Latin ''calcaneus'' or ''calcaneum'', meaning heel; : calcanei or calcanea) or heel bone is a bone of the tarsus of the foot which constitutes the heel. In some other animals, it is th ...

osteotomy An osteotomy is a surgical operation whereby a bone is cut to shorten or lengthen it or to change its alignment. It is sometimes performed to correct a hallux valgus, or to straighten a bone that has healed crookedly following a fracture. It i ...

, who married Norah Eileen Milroy in 1940.Royal College of Surgeons Obiturary
Retrieved 19 April 2020 They had two daughters, Hilary and Patricia, the latter of whom would later marry the philosopher

Bernard Williams Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams (21 September 1929 – 10 June 2003) was an English Ethics, moral philosopher. His publications include ''Problems of the Self'' (1973), ''Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy'' (1985), ''Shame and Necessit ...

. As a youth, Hilary practised ballet and became a talented pianist, winning a music scholarship to Lowther College in North Wales. At age 16 she attended the

Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, formerly the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art, was a drama school, and originally a singing school, in London. It was one of the leading drama schools in Britain, and offered comprehen ...

(now part of the

Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, commonly shortened to Central, is a drama school founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for ...

) in London.Savoy Theatre Programme No 37, October 1978 She trained in

repertory theatre A repertory theatre, also called repertory, rep, true rep or stock, which are also called producing theatres, is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation. United Kingdom ...

s and appeared on stage at the

Bristol Old Vic Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a fin ...

Acting career

Dwyer is best known for appearing in several

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

s distributed by

American International Pictures American International Pictures, LLC (AIP or American International Productions) is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution c ...

in the late 1960s and early 1970s, most notably her first feature film, Michael Reeves' '' Witchfinder General'' (1968), starring

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor. He was known for his work in the horror film genre, mostly portraying villains. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price ...

, in which she played Sara Lowes, and gave a "sensitive performance...intelligent and articulate". Of the role, Dwyer later recalled "I don't think that I realised I was the star." Dwyer enjoyed working with Reeves, describing him as "terrific, we became really good friends". In a 2010 interview at the Southend Film Festival, Dwyer described her interview for ''Witchfinder General'' as her "first casting call", in which she was "absolutely terrified" because she "knew no-one".Hilary Dwyer interviewed about 'Witchfinder General' at the Southend Film Festival, May 2010
Retrieved 28 March 2020 Dwyer also appeared in '' The Oblong Box'' (1969) and '' Cry of the Banshee'' (1970), both again featuring Price. Of working with Price, she said "I adored Vincent...I played his mistress, his daughter and his wife. And he said, 'if you ever play my mother, I'll marry you'." Dwyer also performed in Robert Fuest's ''Wuthering Heights'' (1970). ''Cry of the Banshee'' was her final feature film appearance. Her many television roles included ''

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a British television series created by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan portrays Number Six (The Prisoner), Number Six, an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a The Village (The Prisoner), mysteri ...

'', '' The Avengers'', '' Hadleigh'', ''

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 ...

'', and '' Van der Valk''. Her last TV appearance was in a 1976 episode of '' Space: 1999''. Dwyer also had a successful career on the stage. In 1970 she appeared in ''

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, a Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde, the last of his four drawing-room plays, following ''Lady Windermere's Fan'' (1892), ''A Woman of No Importance'' (1893) and ''An Ideal Husban ...

'' and in '' Arms and the Man'' at the Theatre Royal, Bath, and later on tour with the

. In 1978 Dwyer performed in the play '' Whose Life Is It Anyway?'' alongside

Tom Conti Tommaso Antonio Conti (born 22 November 1941) is a Scottish actor. Conti has received numerous accolades including a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and two Golden Globe Awards ...

at the

Mermaid Theatre The Mermaid Theatre was a theatre encompassing the site of Puddle Dock and Curriers' Alley at Blackfriars in the City of London, and the first built in the City since the time of Shakespeare. It was, importantly, also one of the first new th ...

in London, and later 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 ...

Duncan Heath Associates, marriage and children

In 1973, she helped set up the talent agency Duncan Heath Associates with her then husband-to-be, Duncan Heath, working long hours to set up the business and even taking business calls on her wedding day. Duncan Heath Associates became a successful talent agency, and was later bought by

. Today, Duncan Heath is co-chairman of the Independent Talent Group Ltd.The Times, Obituary, 18 April 2020 In a 2002 interview in the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'', Heath said of Dwyer "She introduced me to a lot of people – if it wasn't for her it wouldn't have happened." Dwyer married Heath in 1974; they had two children, Laura and Daniel.Article on Duncan and Laura Heath in 'Relative Values' in the ''Sunday Times'', 2009
Retrieved 29 August 2010 However, working with her husband was not always easy. The relationship was later described by Duncan Heath as "a nightmare", in part because of her strong personality and also because she had begun to drink heavily.

Producing career

She began a career as a producer in the mid-1980s under her married name Hilary Heath. In 1988 she won a CableAce Award for the TV movie ''

The Worst Witch ''The Worst Witch'' is a series of children's books written and illustrated by English author Jill Murphy. The series are primarily about a girl named Mildred Hubble who attends a witch school and fantasy stories, with eight books published. ...

'' (1986). Unfortunately her marriage did not prosper and she and her husband Duncan separated, and were divorced in 1989. Despite the divorce, she retained a relationship with her ex-husband, which continued to be the most important in her life, and the two continued to speak and meet regularly. She also embraced sobriety, giving up alcohol. Heath is credited as either producer or executive producer for a number of feature films, including ''

Criminal Law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

'' (1988) and '' An Awfully Big Adventure'' (1995), starring

Hugh Grant Hugh John Mungo Grant (born 9 September 1960) is an English actor. He established himself early in his career as a charming and vulnerable romantic leading man, and has since transitioned into a character actor. He has received List of awards ...

and

Alan Rickman Alan Sidney Patrick Rickman (21 February 1946 – 14 January 2016) was an English actor and director. Known for his distinctive deep, wikt:languid#Etymology 1, languid voice, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and b ...

. She co-produced Gary Oldman's 1997 film '' Nil by Mouth''. She also produced TV-remakes of

's ''

'' (1997) and

's '' The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone'' (2003). In 2014 she executive produced the miniseries '' Jamaica Inn''. As a producer, she was skilled at managing talent. Jonathan Powell, former controller of BBC 1, said of her: "Everybody knew Hilary. And if they didn't, they couldn't stop her from getting to know them. She had a complete incapacity to understand what the word 'no' meant".

Addiction counselling

In her mid 60s Dywer returned to education, studying cognitive behaviour therapy for a master's degree 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 ...

, and forging a new career as an addiction counsellor. She was reportedly a good counsellor, thanks to her frankness, and her openness about her own past struggles with addiction.

Death and legacy

Dwyer died on 30 March 2020, aged 74, from complications related to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. The health crisis caused by the virus meant that Dwyer's funeral did not take place as she had hoped or planned. The only individuals present were her daughter Laura and the presiding vicar.''How covid-19 is changing funerals'' at www.economist.com
Retrieved 14 April 2020 She was survived by her two children, Laura and Daniel. Laura Heath founded the Hope-Martin Animal Foundation in

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

. Daniel Heath is a Los Angeles-based film composer, writing songs for artists such as

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Lana Del Rey discography, Her music is noted for its melancholic exploration of Glamour (presentation), glamor and Romanc ...

Filmography

Feature films

Television (incomplete)

Notes

References

Savoy Theatre The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy ...

Programme No 37, October 1978 *The Times, Obituary Saturday 18 April 2020