Hannah Margaret Marriott-Watson (31 December 1899 – 28 August 1982), known professionally as Nan Marriott-Watson, was an English actress and dramatist. She appeared on Broadway.

Biography

Early life

Hannah Margaret Marriott-Watson was born in

West Derby West Derby ( ) is an area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, in the east of the city. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382. History West Derby Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', West Derby achieved significance far earlier tha ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England on 31 December 1899, as the only child to Frank McDonald Watson (1865–1944), an actor, and his wife, Florence Reviere (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Brown; 1872–1956), also known by her stage surname, Edwin. She was born on the last day of the 19th century. She was baptised at St Mary's, Grassendale on 26 January 1900. Her paternal uncle was H. B. (Henry Brereton) Marriott Watson, an author, and his wife, Rosamund Marriott Watson, a poet, was her aunt, by marriage.

Death

Marriott-Watson died in Puttenham,

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

on 28 August 1982. She was 82.

Career

Marriott-Watson volunteered with the Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment during

World War One World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in Europe and th ...

. She worked at

military hospitals A military hospital is a hospital owned or operated by a military. They are often reserved for the use of military personnel and their dependents, but in some countries are made available to civilians as well. They may or may not be located on a m ...

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

and

Bishop Auckland Bishop Auckland ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the confluence of the River Wear and the River Gaunless in County Durham, England. It is northwest of Darlington and southwest of Durham, England, Durham. M ...

. She also worked in

nursing Nursing is a health care profession that "integrates the art and science of caring and focuses on the protection, promotion, and optimization of health and human functioning; prevention of illness and injury; facilitation of healing; and alle ...

at Victoria Hospital in

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford, n ...

. Marriott-Watson began her professional career in

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

in July 1920. She appeared on Broadway. She co-wrote ''Lass o' Laughter'', with Edith Carter. The original production opened at the Comedy Theatre in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on 8 January 1925 and ran until 1 February. She played A Lady in Fashion in ''If''. The original production opened at the Little Theatre in Rochester, New York on 25 October 1927 and ran until 1 November. She played Mabs Kellet in ''Diversion''. The original production opened at the 49th Street Theatre in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

on 11 January 1928 and ran until 1 March. Marriott-Watson started working 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 ...

on 1 September 1930. She appeared in numerous

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

productions. The script for the

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

'' Miss Tulip Stays the Night'' (1955) was based on a

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

by Marriott-Watson that had been performed on Australian radio in 1948. Marriott-Watson was the original choice to play Ena Sharples in the ITV

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

''. She appeared in the second unaired

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...

in 1960. The character was recast to Violet Carson prior to the recording of the first episode. Notably, she earlier originated another core soap character, voicing matriarch Doris Archer in the

BBC Home Service The BBC Home Service was a national and regional radio station that broadcast from 1939 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 4. History 1922–1939: Interwar period Between the early 1920s and the outbreak of World War II, the BBC ...

soap opera ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word Radio broadcasting, channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now pr ...

'', for the pilot episode on 29 May 1950. This character was also recast, with Gwen Berryman going on to voice Doris for almost three decades. Marriott-Watson retired in 1978, after 62 years in the industry.

Filmography

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marriott-Watson, Nan 1899 births 1982 deaths Actresses from Merseyside English dramatists and playwrights English television actresses English film actresses English women dramatists and playwrights People from West Derby Writers from Merseyside Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses