Rachel Thomas

OBE 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 ...

(10 February 1905 – 8 February 1995), was a Welsh

character actress A character actor is an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric, or interesting characters in supporting roles, rather than leading ones.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014 ...

Early life

Rachel Thomas was born in the Welsh village of

Alltwen Alltwen (or Allt-wen; translates to "white wooded slope") is a village in the Swansea Valley (Welsh: ''Cwmtawe'') in Wales. Alltwen forms part of the community of Cilybebyll and is administered separately from adjoining Pontardawe on the opposit ...

, near

Pontardawe Pontardawe () is a town and a community (Wales), community in the lower Swansea Valley (). it had a population of approximately 7,172 in the 2021 Census for Pontardawe Parish, and forms part of the county borough of Neath Port Talbot. On the opp ...

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

,"Obituary: Rachel Thomas"
''The Independent'', 10 February 1995. Accessed 5 September 2015 the daughter of Emily Thomas. She was raised by her aunt and uncle, Mary Thomas Roberts and David Roberts; her uncle was a tinworker and coal miner.

Career

Thomas taught school as a young woman, competed in ''

eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...

au'', and was a reader at her church in Cardiff. She came to wider attention when her voice was heard on a BBC radio broadcast in 1933, reading from the Bible. She was cast in the first Welsh-language radio comedy, ''Y Practis'', the following year. As an actress Thomas worked mainly in Wales, and appeared in such classic films as ''

The Proud Valley ''The Proud Valley'' is a 1940 Ealing Studios film starring Paul Robeson. Filmed in the South Wales coalfield, the principal Welsh coal mining area, the film is about an African American seaman who joins a mining community. It includes their ...

'' (1940) with

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional American football, football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for h ...

, '' Blue Scar'' (1949) ''

Valley of Song ''Valley of Song'' (U.S.: ''Men Are Children Twice'' ) is a 1953 British second feature ('B') comedy drama film directed by Gilbert Gunn and starring Mervyn Johns, Clifford Evans, Maureen Swanson and the London Welsh Association Choral Societ ...

'' (1953), and ''

Tiger Bay Tiger Bay () was the local name for an area of Cardiff which covered Butetown and Cardiff Docks. Following the building of the Cardiff Barrage, which dams the tidal rivers, Ely and Taff, to create a body of water, it is referred to as Car ...

'' (1959). In 1943, she appeared as Maria Petrovitch in the

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

war film ''

Undercover A cover in foreign, military or police human intelligence or counterintelligence is the ostensible identity and role or position in an infiltrated organization assumed by a covert agent during a covert operation. Official cover In espionage, a ...

'', an account of the guerrilla resistance movement in

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

during the

Second World War 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 ...

. In 1954 she was part of the original

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

cast of

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Un ...

' radio play ''

Under Milk Wood ''Under Milk Wood'' is a 1954 radio drama by Welsh people, Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. The BBC commissioned the play, which was later adapted for the stage. The first public reading was in New York City in 1953. A Under Milk Wood (1972 film), f ...

'', playing the roles of Rosie Probert, Mary Ann Sailors and Mrs. Willy Nilly. She played Mary Ann Sailors in the 1972 film version. She appeared on television, in a lost 1960 production of ''

How Green Was My Valley ''How Green Was My Valley'' is a 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn, narrated by Huw Morgan, the main character, about his Welsh family and the mining community in which they live. The author had claimed that he based the book on his own experi ...

'', in another production of the same work in 1975, and in a soap opera, ''

Pobol y Cwm ''Pobol y Cwm'' (''People of the Valley''; ) is a Welsh-language soap opera produced by the BBC since October 1974. The longest-running television soap opera produced by the BBC, ''Pobol y Cwm'' was originally transmitted on BBC Cymru (now B ...

'' (People of the Valley). In 1978 she played Betty Parry in 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 ...

series '' Off to Philadelphia in the Morning''. Thomas almost always played the stereotypical

Welsh mam The Welsh Mam (''mam'' means "mother" in Welsh language, Welsh) was an archetypal image of Wales, Welsh married women, especially popular in 19th-century industrial South Wales, and depictions of that place and era. The mythologised Welsh Mam was ...

, a miner's wife or mother (or grandmother in her later years) and appeared in both Welsh and English-language productions. In 1968 she was awarded the

for her services to

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. She received a special

BAFTA Cymru BAFTA Cymru (or BAFTA in Wales) is the Welsh branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and was founded in 1987.

Personal life

Rachel Thomas married educator Howell John Thomas in 1931; they had a daughter, Delyth Mariel Thomas (1937–2006). Rachel Thomas died two days before her 90th birthday, following a fall in her home in

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

References

External links

*
Rachel Thomas
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, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Rachel 1905 births 1995 deaths Accidental deaths from falls Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Pontardawe Welsh film actresses Welsh television actresses 20th-century British actresses Welsh-speaking actors