Mavis Villiers (born Mavis Clare Cooney; 10 December 190923 February 1976) was an Australian-born British actress of stage, film and television. Her parents were John Cooney and Clara Smythe. Her brother, Cecil Cooney, was a camera operator and cinematographer.Canadian Passenger Lists, 'Niagra' May 1921
Ancestry.com; accessed 25 July 2015. Her stage name, Villiers, was taken from her maternal grandfather.

Life and career

Mavis emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

with her family in 1921, aged 11. The family settled in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, where her father became a technician at a film company. Both Mavis and her brother Cecil began their careers in the silent era. Much of her activity as a child actress in Hollywood is lost or uncredited; her first accredited film role was as 'the Girl' in a 1927 short comedy, ''The Bum's Rush'', featuring expat Australian star

Snub Pollard Harold Fraser (9 November 1889 – 19 January 1962), known professionally as Snub Pollard, was an Australian-born vaudevillian who became a silent film comedian in Hollywood, popular in the 1920s. Career Born in Melbourne, Australia, on 9 No ...

. Following her parents' divorce, Mavis and her mother Clara migrated to London in 1933. Her brother Cecil followed at some stage; her father remained in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

where he died at Ventura in 1960. Her stage roles included that of Mrs Van Mier in the 1962 London production of

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

's '' Sail Away'' at the

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 ...

. She was also in the cast of the 1957 West End production of ''

Damn Yankees ''Damn Yankees'' is a 1955 musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., d ...

'' at the

London Coliseum The London Coliseum (also known as the Coliseum Theatre) is a theatre in St Martin's Lane, City of Westminster, Westminster, built as one of London's largest and most luxurious "family" variety theatres. Opened on 24 December 1904 as the Lond ...

; this production featured Australian actor

Bill Kerr William Henry Kerr (10 June 1922 – 28 August 2014) was a British and Australian actor, comedian and vaudevillian. Born in South Africa, he started his career as a child actor in Australia, before emigrating to Britain after the Second World W ...

as Mr. Applegate. Her sole appearance on the American Broadway stage, was in the role of Aunt Lizzy Sweeney, in the first Broadway production of

Brian Friel Brian Patrick Friel (c. 9 January 1929 – 2 October 2015) was an Irish dramatist, short story writer and founder of the Field Day Theatre Company. He had been considered one of the greatest living English-language dramatists. (subscription requ ...

's ''

Philadelphia Here I Come! ''Philadelphia, Here I Come!'' is a 1964 play by Irish dramatist Brian Friel. Set in the fictional town of Ballybeg, County Donegal, the play launched Friel onto the international stage. The play was first staged at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin on ...

'' at the

Helen Hayes Theatre The Hayes Theater (formerly the Little Theatre, New York Times Hall, Winthrop Ames Theatre, and Helen Hayes Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 240 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. N ...

in 1966; she also played the same role in the 1975 film version of that play, her last role before her death. She had appeared in films from 1927 to 1975. Some of her more prominent film roles were in:''The Bum's Rush''
/span> (1927), '' Saloon Bar'' (1940), '' South American George'' (1941)''One Exciting Night''
/span> (1944), ''

Suddenly, Last Summer ''Suddenly Last Summer'' is a one-act play by Tennessee Williams, written in New York in 1957. It opened off Broadway on January 7, 1958, as part of a double bill with another of Williams' one-acts, '' Something Unspoken'' (written in London in ...

'' (1959), '' Victim'' (1961), and '' Philadelphia, Here I Come!'' (1975). Her television appearances between 1938 and 1972, include roles in various productions, series and episodes. They include the BBC's ''

Sunday Night Theatre ''Sunday Night Theatre'' was a long-running series of televised live television plays screened by BBC Television from early 1950 until 1959. The productions for the first five years or so of the run were re-staged live the following Thursday, ...

'', ''

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents ''Douglas Fairbanks Presents'' is a 1953–1956 Television syndication, syndicated half-hour dramatic anthology series. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was the host, and he sometimes starred in episodes. It was also known as ''Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Present ...

'', '' Educated Evans, ''The Vise'', ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

'', ''

The Saint (TV series) ''The Saint'' is a British crime television series that aired in the United Kingdom on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It was based on the literary character Simon Templar created by Leslie Charteris in the 1920s and featured in many novels over ...

'', '' From a Bird's Eye View'' and ''

Night Gallery ''Night Gallery'' is an American anthology television series that aired on NBC from December 16, 1970, to May 27, 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, '' The Twilight Zon ...

''.

Personal life

Mavis met her future husband, Captain Donald E. Miller, at the American Eagle Club in Charing Cross Road, London, in 1941. She was working at American Eagle Club at the time. Miller was a

Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off or P/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Pilot officer is the lowest ran ...

in the American

Eagle Squadrons The Eagle Squadrons were three fighter squadrons of the Royal Air Force (RAF) formed with volunteer pilots from the United States during the early days of World War II (1940), prior to the United States' entry into the war in December 1941. ...

attached to the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. He was subsequently shot down over

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and taken prisoner for two years until released on

VE day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...

in 1945. The couple were married in London on 16 June 1945 and planned to settle in the United States after Mavis had completed a contractual obligation to appear in a French film, ''Le Battalion du ciel'' (1946) (1946).''Dixon Evening Telegraph'' (7 September 1945), Dixon, Illinois, p. 3
Ancestry.com; accessed 25 July 2015. Before they could be reunited, Donald, now working for

Pan-American Airways Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and more commonly known as Pan Am, was an airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States for ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, died from injuries sustained in a car accident on 4 April 1946, nine months after their marriage. The union was childless; she did not remarry. Mavis Villiers died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

at her Paddington flat in 1976, aged 66.

Selected filmography

* ''

Little Lord Fauntleroy ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' is a children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was published as a serial in ''St. Nicholas Magazine'' from November 1885 to October 1886, then as a book by Charles Scribner's Sons, Scribner's (the publisher of ...

'' (1921) - Little Girl (uncredited) * '' Tess of the Storm Country'' (1922) - Girl in Church (uncredited) * '' Old Age Handicap'' (1928) * '' A Lady's Morals'' (1930) - Selma * '' King of the Castle'' (1936) - Billie * '' Double Alibi'' (1937) - Miss Grant * '' It's Never Too Late to Mend'' (1937) - Betty * '' The Nursemaid Who Disappeared'' (1939) * '' An Englishman's Home'' (1940) - Dolly * '' Saloon Bar'' (1940) - Joan * '' Sailors Don't Care'' (1940) - Blondie * '' Gasbags'' (1941) - American Girl (uncredited) * '' South American George'' (1941) - Mts. Durrant * '' Hi Gang!'' (1941) - Botticelli's Secretary * '' Went the Day Well?'' (1942) - Violet (uncredited) * '' One Exciting Night'' (1944) - Mabel * ''

Corridor of Mirrors ''Corridor of Mirrors'' is Prometheus's ( Benji Vaughan) second album. Track listing # Arcadia Magik (8:51) # One Cell Short of a Brain (6:50) # Drug Sock (7:37) # The Logic of the Polyphonic (8:19) # 9th (The Man Who Swam Through a Speaker) ...

'' (1948) - Babs * ''

I Was a Male War Bride ''I Was a Male War Bride'' is a 1949 screwball comedy film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan. The film was based on "Male War Bride Trial to Army", a biography of Henri Rochard (pen name of Roger Charlier), a ...

'' (1949) - Dependents' Hotel Reception Clerk (uncredited) * ''

Pool of London The Pool of London is a stretch of the River Thames from London Bridge to below Limehouse. Part of the Tideway of the Thames, the Pool was navigable by tall-masted vessels bringing coastal and later overseas goods—the wharves there were t ...

'' (1951) - Drinking Club Blonde (uncredited) * ''

Cheer the Brave ''Cheer the Brave'' is a 1951 British second feature ('B') comedy film directed and written by Kenneth Hume and starring Elsie Randolph, Jack McNaughton and Geoffrey Keen. It was made at Southall Studios. Plot A mild-mannered man gets marri ...

'' (1951) * '' I Believe in You'' (1952) - Prostitute (uncredited) * ''

Time Is My Enemy ''Time Is My Enemy'' is a 1954 British crime film directed by Don Chaffey and starring Dennis Price, Renée Asherson and Patrick Barr. Plot Small-time crook Radley returns after a long absence to discover his wife Barbara has remarried, believi ...

'' (1954) - Gladys * '' The Mouse That Roared'' (1959) - Telephone Operator (uncredited) * ''

'' (1959) - Miss Foxhill * ''

A Touch of Larceny ''A Touch of Larceny'' is a 1959 black-and-white comedy film produced by Ivan Foxwell, directed by Guy Hamilton, and starring James Mason, George Sanders and Vera Miles. The film co-stars Harry Andrews, Rachel Gurney and John Le Mesurier, and i ...

'' (1959) - Adele Parrish * '' Victim'' (1960) - Madge * '' The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone'' (1961) - Mrs. Coogan * '' The Boys'' (1962) - Celia Barker * '' The Haunting'' (1963) - Landlady (uncredited) * ''

Promise Her Anything ''Promise Her Anything'' is a 1965 romantic comedy film directed by Arthur Hiller and starring Warren Beatty and Leslie Caron. The screenplay by William Peter Blatty is based on a story by Arne Sultan and Marvin Worth. The supporting cast fea ...

'' (1966) - Rusty's Mother * '' Straight On till Morning'' (1972) - Indian Princess * ''

Baxter! ''Baxter!'' is a 1973 drama film directed by Lionel Jeffries and starring Patricia Neal, Jean-Pierre Cassel and Britt Ekland. The film follows a young boy called Roger Baxter who struggles to overcome his speech problem ( rhotacism) and his s ...

'' (1973) - Woman in Aircraft * ''

No Sex Please, We're British ''No Sex Please, We're British'' is a British farce written by Alistair Foot and Anthony Marriott, which premiered in London's West End on 3 June 1971 at the Strand Theatre. It was panned by critics, but ran until 5 September 1987, transferr ...

'' (1973) - American Lady * '' Philadelphia, Here I Come!'' (1975) - Liz Sweeney (final film role)

External links

* * *
BFI.org

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villiers, Mavis 1911 births 1976 deaths Actresses from Sydney Australian emigrants to England Australian emigrants to the United States Australian film actresses Australian stage actresses Australian television actresses British film actresses British stage actresses British television actresses Deaths from pneumonia in England Actresses from London People from Paddington 20th-century British actresses Actors from the City of Westminster