Sonia Dresdel (5 May 1909 – 18 January 1976) was an English actress, whose career ran between the 1940s and 1970s.

Life

She was born Lois Obee in

Hornsea Hornsea is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The settlement dates to at least the early medieval period. The town was expanded in the Victorian era with the coming of the Hull and Hornsea Railway in 186 ...

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, often abbreviated to the East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, S ...

, England, and was educated at Aberdeen High School for Girls and

RADA The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also known by its abbreviation RADA (), is a drama school in London, England, which provides vocational conservatoire training for theatre, film, television, and radio. It is based in Bloomsbury, Central Lond ...

Career

Her performance in the lead role of

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

's ''

Hedda Gabler ''Hedda Gabler'' () is a play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The world premiere was staged on 31 January 1891 at the Residenztheater in Munich. Ibsen himself was in attendance, although he remained back-stage.Meyer, Michael Lever ...

'' at the Westminster Theatre in 1942 "was legendary. It was the performance on which her reputation was founded.

James Agate James Evershed Agate (9 September 1877 – 6 June 1947) was an English diarist and theatre critic between the two world wars. He took up journalism in his late twenties and was on the staff of ''The Manchester Guardian'' in 1907–1914. He late ...

was ecstatic..."N. de J., 'Obituary: Sonia Dresdel', ''The Guardian'', 19 January 1976 For a decade Dresdel was regarded as one of England's foremost stage actresses. Her leading role in the 1947 film '' While I Live'' also gained her a great deal of acclaim. In the film she plays Julia Trevelyan, a spinster living in a lonely cliff top house in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

and haunted by the death of her sister 25 years earlier. Her best remembered role is as Mrs. Baines in the film version of

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a re ...

's '' The Fallen Idol'' (1948), which starred

Ralph Richardson Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He wo ...

Michèle Morgan Michèle Morgan (; born Simone Renée Roussel; 29 February 1920 – 20 December 2016) was a French film actress, who was a leading lady for three decades in both French cinema and Hollywood features. She is considered one of the greatest Fren ...

and Bobby Henrey. The film received

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

nominations for Best Director ( Sir Carol Reed) and Best Screenplay. In the 1950s, as well as appearing increasingly on television, Dresdel moved more to the management side of things, becoming a theatre director under the aegis of the ''New White Rose Players'', directing plays including the thriller ''Night of the Shoot''. In the 1970s she played the Witch in BBC Television series '' Lizzie Dripping'', and played Lady Dorothy in the series “Sykes” series 2 episode 5 “Rolls”.

Death

She died of lung cancer, aged 66. The critic Philip Hope-Wallace, said Dresdel was "an actress of high definition with a real power to take an audience by the wrist and give them the works. She had terrific personality and was terribly underused and misused. She would have been the Lady Macbeth of all Lady Macbeths."

Partial filmography

* '' The World Owes Me a Living'' (1945) as Eve Heatherley * '' While I Live'' (1947) as Julia Trevelyan * '' This Was a Woman'' (1948) as Sylvia Russell * '' The Fallen Idol'' (1948) as Mrs. Baines * '' The Clouded Yellow'' (1951) as Jess Fenton * '' The Third Visitor'' (1951) as Steffy Millington * '' Now and Forever'' (1956) as Miss Fox * '' The Secret Tent'' (1956) as Miss Mitchum-Browne *''

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield''Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work; see is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to matur ...

'' (1956) as Betsey Trotwood * '' Death Over My Shoulder'' (1958) as Miss Upton * ''

The Trials of Oscar Wilde ''The Trials of Oscar Wilde'', also known as ''The Man with the Green Carnation'' and ''The Green Carnation'', is a 1960 British drama film based on the libel and subsequent criminal cases involving Oscar Wilde and the Marquess of Queensberry. I ...

'' (1960) as Lady Wilde * '' George and the Dragon'' (1967–1968, TV Series) as Priscilla * '' The Break'' (1962) as Sarah * ''

Jane Eyre ''Jane Eyre'' ( ; originally published as ''Jane Eyre: An Autobiography'') is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The firs ...

'' (1963, TV series) as Mrs. Reed * '' Public Eye'' (1968, TV Series) as Mrs. Briggs * ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' is a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 1955 ...

'' (1968) as Mrs. Dewar * '' The Caesars'' (1968) as Livia * '' Last of the Long-haired Boys'' (1968) as Miss Dearborn * '' Bachelor Father'' (1970–1971, TV Series) as Mother * '' Paul Temple'' (1971, TV Series) as Agnes Armadyne * '' Wives and Daughters'' (1971, TV Mini-Series) as Lady Cumnor * '' The Strauss Family'' (1972, TV Mini-Series) as Lucari * '' Lady Caroline Lamb'' (1972) as Lady Pont * ''

The Onedin Line ''The Onedin Line'' is a BBC television drama series that ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham. The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886 and covers the rise of a fictional shipping company, the Onedin Line, nam ...

'' (1972, TV Series) as Lady Lazenby * '' Lizzie Dripping'' (1973-1975, TV Series) as The Witch * '' The Pallisers'' (1974, TV Mini-Series) as the Marchioness of Auld Reekie

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dresdel, Sonia 1909 births 1976 deaths British film actresses People from Hornsea People educated at Harlaw Academy British stage actresses Actresses from the East Riding of Yorkshire 20th-century English actresses