Sheila Mary Mitchell (born 1925) is a British actress and author.

Early years

Born in 1925, Sheila Mitchell was a teenager 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 ...

and spent the last two years of that time in the WRNS ( Women's Royal Navy Service) working at

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and Bletchley Park estate, estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Allies of World War II, Allied World War II cryptography, code-breaking during the S ...

. She then trained at 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 ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Lucky enough to work for

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 ...

while she was still a student, broadcasting remained a substantial part of her work, moving into recording

Audio Books An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

Career

She found employment both in theatre –

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, Strat ...

, Prospect at

the Old Vic The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, nonprofit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. It was established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...

, West End productions working with stars like

Donald Sinden Sir Donald Alfred Sinden (9 October 1923 – 12 September 2014) was an English actor. Sinden featured in the film ''Mogambo'' (1953), and achieved early fame as a Rank Organisation film star in the 1950s in films including '' The Cruel Sea'' ( ...

, John Mills and Derek Jacobi as well as in TV – among other programmes, Jeeves and Wooster, All Creatures Great and Small and countless sitcoms. Writing has been a late addition and she was very nearly 95 before appearing in print for the first time with the publication of ''H.R.F. Keating: A Life of Crime''.

Personal life

On leaving drama school she spent a few years working in theatre and it was while she was a member of the

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

repertory company that she met H.R.F. (Harry) Keating who was employed by the local newspaper not only as a reporter and sub-editor but also as their theatre reviewer. They married in 1953 and after the birth of their first child in 1955 her career was put on hold and not resumed until the 1970s by which time they had four children.

Awards

At the

Mystery Readers International Mystery Readers International is a fan/reader organization open to all readers, fans, critics, editors, publishers, and writers of Mystery fiction. It was founded by Janet A. Rudolph in Berkeley, California. It publishes the ''Mystery Readers Jo ...

, she won

Macavity awards The Macavity Awards, established in 1987, are a group of literary awards presented annually to mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the " mystery cat" of T. ...

in 2020/21 in the Best Mystery Critical/Biography category for H.R.F. Keating: A Life of Crime published by Level Best Books of America.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Sheila 1925 births Living people British television actresses British film actresses British theatre critics British women theatre critics Actresses from Surrey Actors from the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames People from Kingston upon Thames