Mona Washbourne

Mona Washbourne was born in Sparkhill, Birmingham, and began her entertaining career training as a concert pianist.{{cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0913332/|title=Mona Washbourne|website=IMDb}}{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/880752/index.html|title=BFI Screenonline: Washbourne, Mona (1904–1988) Biography|publisher=screenonline.org.uk}}{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/202340%7C114272/mona-washbourne#biography|title=Education for Mona Washbourne|website=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=22 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923113806/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/202340%7C114272/Mona-Washbourne/education.html|archive-date=23 September 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}} Her sister Kathleen Washbourne was a violinist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Adrian Boult.

Washbourne was performing professionally from the early 1920s. She married the actor Basil Dignam. Her brother-in-law Mark Dignam was also a stage and film actor.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/mark-dignam-p19165|title=Mark Dignam – Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos – AllMovie|website=AllMovie}} In 1948, after numerous stage musical performances, Washbourne began appearing in films.{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/mona-washbourne-p74827|title=Mona Washbourne – Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos – AllMovie|website=AllMovie}} Her film credits include the horror movie The Brides of Dracula, Billy Liar (1963) and The Collector (1965).{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/mona-washbourne-p74827/filmography|title=Mona Washbourne – Movies and Filmography – AllMovie|website=AllMovie}} She is probably best known to American audiences for her role as housekeeper Mrs. Pearce in My Fair Lady (1964). She also appeared as the stern and caustic Mrs. Bramson in the remake of Night Must Fall (also 1964), and the Matron in the film, If.... (1968).

She appeared at both the Royal Court Theatre in London and on Broadway in 1970 in David Storey's Home.{{cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/home-3565|title=Home – Broadway Play – Original – IBDB|first=The Broadway|last=League|publisher=ibdb.com}} She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play.{{cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/home-3565/#awards|title=Home – Broadway Play – Original – IBDB|first=The Broadway|last=League|publisher=ibdb.com}} In 1975 she appeared on the West End stage with James Stewart in a revival of Mary Chase's play Harvey, in the role originally taken by Josephine Hull.{{cite web|url=http://britishtheatre.com/harvey-with-james-dreyfus-heads-into-the-west-end/|title=Harvey With James Dreyfus Heads into The West End|publisher=britishtheatre.com}} Washbourne won the 1981 New York Film Critics' Circle Awards for Best Supporting Actress in Stevie (1978).{{cite web|url=http://www.nyfcc.com/awards/?awardyear=1981|title=Awards – New York Film Critics Circle|publisher=nyfcc.com}}

In 1981, Washbourne appeared in Granada Television's TV miniseries adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited as Nanny Hawkins.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b9b0cff|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923061644/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b9b0cff|url-status=dead|archive-date=23 September 2017|title=Brideshead Revisited Episode 11 (1981)|website=BFI|access-date=4 August 2020}} One of her last television appearances was in Where's the Key? (1983),{{cite web|url=http://www.bbcactivevideoforlearning.com/1/TitleDetails.aspx?TitleID=988|title=BBC Active: Video for Learning|publisher=Bbcactivevideoforlearning.com|date=14 September 2010|access-date=3 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402034622/http://www.bbcactivevideoforlearning.com/1/TitleDetails.aspx?TitleID=988|archive-date=2 April 2016|url-status=dead}} a BBC play about Alzheimer's disease.

She died in 1988, aged 84, in London.{{cite book|author=Frederick Maurice Speed|title=Film Review. 1989-90|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lg0IAQAAMAAJ|year=1989|publisher=W.H. Allen|isbn=978-1-85227-166-4|page=171}}

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• Evergreen (1934) – Barmaid (uncredited)
• The Winslow Boy (1948) – Miss Barnes
• Once Upon a Dream (1949) – Vicar's Wife
• The Huggetts Abroad (1949) – Lugubrious Housewife (uncredited)
• Adam and Evelyne (1949) – Mrs. Salop – Lady Gambler (uncredited)
• Maytime in Mayfair (1949) – Lady Leveson
• Double Confession (1950) – Fussy Mother
• Dark Interval (1950) (unspecified role){{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a874131|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160618030928/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a874131|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 June 2016|title=Dark Interval (1950)|website=BFI}}
• The Gambler and the Lady (1952) – Miss Minter
• Johnny on the Run (1953) – Mrs. MacGregor
• Adventure in the Hopfields (1954) – Mrs. McBain
• The Million Pound Note (1954) – Mum with Pram (uncredited)
• Star of My Night (1954) – Bit Part (uncredited)
• Doctor in the House (1954) – Midwifery Sister (uncredited)
• Betrayed (1954) – Waitress (uncredited)
• Child's Play (1954) – Miss Emily Goslett
• To Dorothy a Son (1954) – Mid Wife Appleby.
• John and Julie (1955) – Miss Rendlesham
• Cast a Dark Shadow (1955) – Monica Bare
• Alias John Preston (1955) – (uncredited)
• The Vise (1955) – Supporting Role (episode "Count of Twelve")
• Lost (1956) – Library Manageress (uncredited)
• Yield to the Night (1956) – Mrs. Thomas, landlady
• Loser Takes All (1956) – Nurse (uncredited)
• Circus Friends (1956) – Miss Linstead{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1c7eCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA641|title=British Film Catalogue: Two Volume Set – The Fiction Film/The Non-Fiction Film|first=Denis|last=Gifford|date=1 April 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317740636}}
• It's Great to Be Young (1956) – Miss Morrow, School Mistress
• The Good Companions (1957) – Mrs. Joe Brundit
• Stranger in Town (1957) – Agnes Smith
• Son of a Stranger (1957)
• Dunkirk (1958) – Worker Who Speaks to Holden (uncredited)
• A Cry from the Streets (1958) – Mrs. Daniels
• Count Your Blessings (1959) – Nanny
• The Brides of Dracula (1960) – Frau Lang
• No Love for Johnnie (1961) – Well-wisher at Railway Station (uncredited)
• Billy Liar (1963) – Alice Fisher
• Night Must Fall (1964) – Mrs. Bramson
• My Fair Lady (1964) – Mrs. Pearce
• Ferry Cross the Mersey (1965) – Aunt Lil
• One Way Pendulum (1965) – Aunt Mildred
• The Collector (1965) – Aunt Annie
• The Third Day (1965) – Catherine Parsons
• Casino Royale (1967) – Tea Lady (uncredited)
• Two a Penny (1968) – Mrs. Duckett
• Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter (1968) – Mrs. Brown
• If.... (1968) – Matron: Staff
• The Bed Sitting Room (1969) – Mother
• The Games (1970) – Mrs. Hayes
• Fragment of Fear (1970) – Mrs. Gray
• What Became of Jack and Jill? (1972) – Gran Alice Tallent
• O Lucky Man! (1973) – Neighbour / Usher / Sister Hallett
• Identikit (1974) – Mrs. Helen Fiedke
• The Old Curiosity Shop (1975) – Mrs. Jarley
• The Blue Bird (1976) – Grandmother
• Stevie (1978) – Aunt
• The London Connection (1979) – Aunt Lydia
• Shillingbury Tales ('The Shillingbury Daydream', episode) (1981) - Marjorie Cavendish
• Brideshead Revisited (1981) – Nanny Hawkins
• Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story (1982) – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother

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{{Reflist}}

• {{IMDb name|id=0913332|name=Mona Washbourne}}
• {{IBDB name|77106}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160330163648/http://www.bris.ac.uk/theatrecollection/search/people_sub_plays?forename=Mona&surname=WASHBOURNE&job=Actor&pid=2529&image_view=Yes&x=19&y=17 Performances listed in the Theatre Archive University of Bristol]
• {{screenonline name|id=880752}}

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|title = Awards for Mona Washbourne

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{{Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress}}

{{OlivierAward PlayActress SupportingPerformance 1976–2000}}

{{Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress}}

{{National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress}}

{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress}}

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Category:1903 births

Category:1988 deaths

Category:People from Solihull

Category:English film actresses

Category:English stage actresses

Category:English television actresses

Category:Actresses from London

Category:Actresses from Birmingham, West Midlands

Category:20th-century English actresses

Category:20th-century English classical pianists

Category:20th-century English musicians

Category:20th-century English women pianists