Gwyneth Powell

Powell was born on 5 July 1946 in Levenshulme, Manchester, and attended Cheadle County Grammar School for Girls, during which time she appeared to some acclaim as Fat Urs in the National Youth Theatre's production of Ben Jonson's Bartholemew Fair.{{cite news |last1=Sansome |first1=Jessica |title=Grange Hill actress Gwyneth Powell dies aged 76 after surgery complications |url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/showbiz-news/grange-hill-actress-gwyneth-powell-24999235 |access-date=13 September 2022 |work=Manchester Evening News |date=12 September 2022}} She originally trained as a teacher at Goldsmiths, University of London, but instead chose to act in repertory theatre.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/content/articles/2006/08/15/gwyneth_powell_interview_feature.shtml |title=BBC Beds Herts and Bucks – Entertainment – School's out for Gwyneth! |publisher=BBC |accessdate=10 December 2009 }}

Powell's first major television role was in the 1971 LWT dystopian drama series, The Guardians. She was a regular, if minor, player in many television dramas until being cast in Grange Hill, in which she played the "firm but fair" headmistress Bridget ("The Midget") McClusky for eleven years. Of her role, she said in 2008:

{{blockquote|At first Mrs McClusky was written as a 'twin set and pearls' role but I was quite young at the time and didn't want to play it like that. We started with the clothes and she was quite fashion conscious and chic. I was told by lots of people she was a great fillip to young women teachers who started applying for headships. The show had repercussions in all kinds of ways and the character did too. My period did coincide with the Thatcher years. I think Mrs McClusky became memorable because we had a prime minister like that.{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7231367.stm |title= Mrs McClusky remembers her school |accessdate=10 December 2009 | date=6 February 2008 | publisher=BBC News}}}}

Eventually, however, Powell wanted to pursue other interests and gave the Grange Hill producers and writers a year to write McClusky out of the series. She bought the rights to E. M. Delafield's Diary of a Provincial Lady and adapted it as a self-financed one-woman show in Edinburgh, also touring the production.

Powell went on to appear in other television programmes such as Heartbeat, A Touch of Frost, Holby City, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates and Father Brown, and in 2008, Echo Beach.{{Cite web|url=https://news.sky.com/story/grange-hill-star-gwyneth-powell-who-played-headmistress-mrs-mcclusky-dies-after-surgery-complications-12695952|title=Grange Hill star Gwyneth Powell, who played headmistress Mrs McClusky, dies after surgery complications|website=Sky News}} She played the role of a school teacher in a Victorian School Day in an episode of the BBC Schools TV series Watch.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/sep/12/gwyneth-powell-actor-grange-hill-dies|title=Gwyneth Powell, actor who played Grange Hill's headteacher, dies aged 76|first=P. A.|last=Media|date=12 September 2022|website=the Guardian}}{{Cite web|url=https://metro.co.uk/2022/09/12/gwyneth-powell-dead-grange-hill-actress-dies-aged-76-17359152/|title=Grange Hill actress Gwyneth Powell dies aged 76|first=Alicia|last=Adejobi|date=12 September 2022}} In 2009, using archive footage, coupled with some newly recorded lines, Powell reprised her Grange Hill role as Mrs McClusky for a cameo appearance in an episode of Ashes to Ashes, set in 1982.{{cite web |url=http://tv.sky.com/ashes-resurrects-grange-hill |title=Ashes Resurrects Grange Hill – Sky TV |publisher=Sky UK |accessdate=10 December 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027223259/http://tv.sky.com/ashes-resurrects-grange-hill |archivedate=27 October 2009 }} She also appeared in Arsenic and Old Lace at the Salisbury Playhouse.{{cite web |url=http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/leisure/entertainments/4711840.Why_comedy_is_simply_the_best_form_of_theatre/ |title=Why comedy is simply the best form of theatre |work=Salisbury Journal |publisher=salisburyjournal.co.uk |accessdate=10 December 2009 }} In 2010, Powell starred as Nana in The Gemma Factor. Subsequently, in 2011–2013, she became a support character in the teen programme House of Anubis, playing the role of Nina Martin's gran who ends up in hospital but is later released. She featured in seven episodes.{{Cite web|url=https://www.entertainmentdaily.co.uk/news/grange-hill-gwyneth-powell-mrs-mcclusky-death/|title=Grange Hill legend Gwyneth Powell - known for her role as Mrs McClusky - has died at the age of 76|first=Helen|last=Fear|date=12 September 2022|website=Entertainment Daily}} In 2013 she took the role of Greg Davies' mother Polly Davies in the Channel 4 comedy Man Down.{{Cite web|url=https://www.channel4.com/press/news/man-down-interview-gwyneth-powell|title=Man Down - Interview with Gwyneth Powell | Channel 4|website=www.channel4.com}}

Powell married actor Alan Leith in 1971. She lived in Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex, where she was a patron of a local drama group, the Hurstpierpoint Players.{{cite web |url=http://www.hurstplayers.org.uk/ |title=Hurstpierpoint Players |publisher=hurstplayers.org.uk |accessdate=10 December 2009 }}

She died in Brighton on 8 September 2022, aged 76. Her death was attributed to complications following surgery for a perforated colon.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-62879845|title=Grange Hill's Mrs McClusky actress Gwyneth Powell dies aged 76|work=BBC News |date=12 September 2022}}{{cite news|url = https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/national/21325385.grange-hill-actress-gwyneth-powell-dies-aged-76/|title = Grange Hill actress Gwyneth Powell dies aged 76|newspaper = The Press|agency = Press Association|date = 12 September 2022|accessdate = 12 September 2022}}

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• {{IMDb name|id=0694129|name=Gwyneth Powell}}

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Category:1946 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:Actresses from Manchester

Category:Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London

Category:English television actresses

Category:People from Hurstpierpoint

Category:People from Levenshulme

Category:20th-century English actresses

Category:21st-century English actresses