Margaret Maud Tyzack (9 September 193125 June 2011)
was an English actress. Her television roles included ''
The Forsyte Saga'' (1967) ''
I, Claudius'' (1976), and
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...
's ''
Young Indiana Jones'' (1992–1993). She won the 1970
BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
serial ''
The First Churchills'', and the 1990
Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for ''
Lettice and Lovage'', opposite
Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith (28 December 1934 – 27 September 2024) was a British actress. Known for her wit in both comedic and dramatic roles, she had List of Maggie Smith performances, an extensive career on stage and screen for over seve ...
. She also won two
Olivier Awards
The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply The Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognize excellence in West End theatre, professional theatre in London. The awards were originally known as the Society of We ...
—in 1981 as
Actress of the Year in a Revival and in 2009 as
Best Actress in a Play. Her film appearances included
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
's ''
2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968) and ''
A Clockwork Orange'' (1971). As well as ''
Prick Up Your Ears'' (1987) and ''
Match Point'' (2005).
Early life
Tyzack was born in
Essex
Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
, England, the daughter of Doris (née Moseley) and Thomas Edward Tyzack.
[Margaret Tyzack Biography (1931–2011)]
/ref> She grew up in Plaistow, West Ham
West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross.
The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...
(now Greater London
Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...
). She attended the all-girls' St Angela's Ursuline School, Newham
The London Borough of Newham () is a London boroughs, London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of County Borough of West Ham, West Ham and County ...
, and was a graduate of RADA.
Career
Tyzack was noted for her classical stage roles, having joined 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 ...
to play Vassilissa in Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an aut ...
's '' The Lower Depths'' in 1962, and had major roles in their 1972 Roman Season as Volumnia in '' Coriolanus'', Portia in ''Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
'' and Tamora in ''Titus Andronicus
''The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus'', often shortened to ''Titus Andronicus'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first t ...
''. She appeared in another Gorky play, as Maria Lvovna in '' Summerfolk RSC 1974''. In 1977 she joined the acting company of the Stratford Festival in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, where she played Mrs Alving in Ibsen's ''Ghosts
In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...
'', Queen Margaret in ''Richard III
Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...
'' and the Countess of Roussillon in '' All's Well That Ends Well''. In a feature of Stratford's 1977 season, ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' writer Richard Eder noted "One of the main excitements was the discovery of Margaret Tyzack ..her work here has been a revelation". Tyzack had been engaged on short notice by the Festival when Canadian actress Kate Reid dropped out, which initially spurred some protests from Canadian nationalists. Theatre critic Robert Cushman later wrote that had the protests succeeded "Canadian audiences would have been deprived of three great performances", noting of her performance in ''Richard III'', "there can never have been a better (Queen) Margaret".[Robert Cushman, Stratford Festival of Canada. Fifty Seasons at Stratford. Madison Press Books. ] She played the Countess role again for the Royal Shakespeare Company on Broadway in 1983.
She received her first Olivier award as Actress of the Year in a Revival in 1981 for the National Theatre revival of '' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' in which she played Martha, replacing Joan Plowright who was ill. In 1990, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Lotte Schoen in the play '' Lettice and Lovage'', in which she appeared in both the London and Broadway productions opposite Dame Maggie Smith
Dame Margaret Natalie Smith (28 December 1934 – 27 September 2024) was a British actress. Known for her wit in both comedic and dramatic roles, she had List of Maggie Smith performances, an extensive career on stage and screen for over seve ...
. The American Actors' Equity initially refused permission for Tyzack to join the New York production, but Smith refused to appear without Tyzack because of the "onstage chemistry" she believed the two women had created in their roles.[Bruce Webe]
"Margaret Tyzack, Award-Winning Actress, Dies at 79"
''New York Times'', 27 June 2011 In 1994, she played Sybil Birling in the Royal National Theatre production of '' An Inspector Calls''. In 2008, she was acclaimed for her portrayal of Mrs St Maugham in a revival of Enid Bagnold's '' The Chalk Garden'' at the Donmar Warehouse
The Donmar Warehouse is a 251-seat, not-for-profit Off-West End theatre in Covent Garden, London, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977.
Sam Mendes, Michael Grandage, Josie Rourke and Michael Longhurst have all served as artistic direc ...
, London, for which she won the Best Actress award in the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and the Olivier award for Best Actress in a Play in 2009. In 2009, she also appeared alongside Helen Mirren in '' Phedre'' at the Royal National Theatre.
She appeared in two films directed by Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
, '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'' (1968) and '' A Clockwork Orange'' (1971). Tyzack also appeared in '' Ring of Spies'' (1964), '' The Whisperers'' (1967), '' A Touch of Love'' (1969), '' The Legacy'' (1978), '' The Quatermass Conclusion'' (1979), '' Mr. Love'' (1985), '' Prick Up Your Ears'' (1987), '' The King's Whore'' (1990), ''Mrs Dalloway
''Mrs Dalloway'' is a novel by Virginia Woolf published on 14 May 1925. It details a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a fictional upper-class woman in post-First World War England.
The working title of ''Mrs Dalloway'' was ''The Hours ...
'' (1997), '' Bright Young Things'' (2003), and the Woody Allen
Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen, accolade ...
films '' Match Point'' (2005) and '' Scoop'' (2006).
It was as a television actress that Tyzack became a household name. She is remembered for her leading roles in BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
television productions. She came to notice as Winifred, Soames's sister, in the well received BBC adaptation of Galsworthy's '' The Forsyte Saga'' in 1967, a series shown internationally. She portrayed the character of Gladys King in Dennis Potter's ''The Bone Grinder'' (1968), a metaphor for the decline of the British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
and rise of American power in the post-war world. Tyzack played Queen Anne in '' The First Churchills''; Bette in '' Cousin Bette''; and Antonia, mother of the Emperor Claudius, in '' I, Claudius''. She also played Clotilde Bradbury-Scott in the BBC adaptation of the Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...
story ''Nemesis
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Nemesis (; ) also called Rhamnousia (or Rhamnusia; ), was the goddess who personified retribution for the sin of hubris: arrogance before the gods.
Etymology
The name ''Nemesis'' is derived from the Greek ...
'' in 1987 in Miss Marple.
In the 1990s, she played a major role in George Lucas
George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...
's '' Young Indiana Jones'' television series as the young Indiana Jones
''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise consisting of five films and a prequel television series, along with games, comics, and tie-in novels, that depicts the adventures of Indiana Jones (character), Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, ...
' strict Oxford
Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town.
The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...
-educated tutor, Miss Helen Seymour. In the 2000s, she made two appearances in ''Midsomer Murders
''Midsomer Murders'' is a British Mystery fiction, mystery television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the ''Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series created by Caroline Graham (writer), Caroline Graham. ...
''. In 2011, she joined the cast of soap opera ''EastEnders
''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...
'', playing Lydia Simmonds. On 13 April 2011, it was announced that for personal reasons she had departed ''EastEnders'' and that her role had been recast to Heather Chasen as a result of the nature of the large storyline needing to continue.
Honours
Tyzack was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(OBE) in the 1970 Birthday Honours and Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(CBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours, both for services to drama.
Personal life
Tyzack married mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...
Alan Stephenson in 1958 and together they had one son, Matthew. Tyzack died on 25 June 2011, at the age of 79, following a brief battle with cancer.[Ben Hodges & Scott Denny. ''Theatre World'', volume 68 (2011-2012). ©2013; ISBN 978-1-47688-677-0]
Filmography
Television
Discography
* Jerome Kern: ''Show Boat'', conducted by John McGlinn, EMI, 1988
References
External links
*
*
Selected performances in Theatre Archive, University of Bristol
Obituary in ''The Guardian''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyzack, Margaret
1931 births
2011 deaths
Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Best Actress BAFTA Award (television) winners
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Critics' Circle Theatre Award winners
English film actresses
English radio actresses
English stage actresses
English soap opera actresses
English television actresses
Laurence Olivier Award winners
Actors from the London Borough of Newham
Royal Shakespeare Company members
English Shakespearean actresses
Tony Award winners
Actresses from Essex
People from West Ham
People from Plaistow, Newham