Phyllis Calvert

{{Infobox person

| name = Phyllis Calvert

| image = Phyllis Calvert.jpg

| caption = Calvert in 1974

| birthname = Phyllis Hannah Bickle

| birth_date = {{birth date|1915|2|18|df=y}}

| birth_place = Chelsea, London, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2002|10|8|1915|2|18|df=y}}

| death_place = London, England

| yearsactive = 1927–2000

| alma_mater = Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

| spouse = {{marriage|Peter Murray-Hill|1941|1957|reason=died}}

| children = 2{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/12/movies/phyllis-calvert-87-virtuous-heroine-of-wartime-melodramas.html |title=Phyllis Calvert, 87, Virtuous Heroine of Wartime Melodramas |first=Paul |last=Lewis |date=12 October 2002 |newspaper=The New York Times |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527210523/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/12/movies/phyllis-calvert-87-virtuous-heroine-of-wartime-melodramas.html |archive-date=27 May 2015}}

}}

Phyllis Hannah Murray-Hill (née Bickle; 18 February 1915 – 8 October 2002), known professionally as Phyllis Calvert, was an English film, stage and television actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1940s such as The Man in Grey (1943) and was one of the most popular movie stars in Britain in the 1940s.{{cite web|last=Brooke|first=Michael|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/446920/ |title=BFI Screenonline: Calvert, Phyllis (1915–2002) Biography |work=BFI Screenonline|date=2003–2014}} She continued her acting career for another 50 years.{{cite web |url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9f4e655e |title=Phyllis Calvert |publisher=BFI |access-date=1 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101114051/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9f4e655e |archive-date=1 January 2016 |url-status=dead}}

In the words of an article by Michael Brooke for the BFI's Screenonline website: "Most of the time she drew what looked like the short straw, playing the 'good girl' in films that revelled in the exploits of her wicked opposite number, and it says much for her talent and charisma that she was able to hold attention in what must have seemed thankless parts – she herself acknowledged that 'I do think it is much more difficult to establish a really charming, nice person than a wicked one – and make it real'."

Biography

Calvert was born in Chelsea, London, and trained at the Margaret Morris School of Dancing. She began performing from the age of ten, appearing with Ellen Terry in Crossings. She gained her first film role at the age of 12, in The Arcadians (1927), also known as The Land of Heart's Desire.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141908423 |title=PHYLLIS CALVERT Britain's Wartime Star |newspaper=The Australasian |volume=CLX |issue=5,065 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=26 January 1946 |access-date=29 August 2017 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}

Calvert performed in repertory theatre in Malvern and Coventry. She made her London stage debut in A Woman's Privilege in 1939.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1409542/Phyllis-Calvert.html |title=Phyllis Calvert |date=9 October 2002 |work=Telegraph.co.uk}} Her early films include Two Days to Live (1939).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article182797334 |title=Phyllis Calvert Featured in Picture |newspaper=Glen Innes Examiner |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=17 March 1948 |access-date=29 August 2017 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}

=Gainsborough Pictures=

Calvert was spotted in a play Punch without Judy, and was signed to a contract by Gainsborough Pictures which gave her the lead in They Came by Night (1940), opposite Will Fyffe.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65855570 |title=Phyllis Calvert. |newspaper=Morwell Advertiser |issue=2850 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=3 July 1941 |access-date=29 August 2017 |page=4 (morning.) |via=National Library of Australia}} She was George Formby's love interest in Let George Do It! (1940) and had a support part in Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt (1940), starring Arthur Askey.{{cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/let-george-do-it-v99403 |title=Let George Do It (1940) – Marcel Varnel – Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related |website=AllMovie}}{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a765646|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309123048/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a765646|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 March 2016|title=Charley's (Big-hearted) Aunt (1940)|website=BFI|accessdate=16 March 2023}} Calvert was championed by the head of Gainsborough, Ted Black.{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-british-film-moguls-ted-black/|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|date=1 December 2024|access-date=1 December 2024|title=Forgotten British Film Moguls: Ted Black}}

Calvert was in a war movie, Neutral Port (1940), then had a good role as Michael Redgrave's love interest in Kipps (1941), directed by Carol Reed.{{cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/neutral-port-v103754 |title=Neutral Port (1941) – Marcel Varnel – Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related |website=AllMovie}}{{cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/kipps-v27501 |title=Kipps (1941) – Carol Reed – Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related |website=AllMovie}} After a detective film Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It (1941) she had the co-lead in Uncensored (1942), a war movie with Eric Portman.{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6ad296be|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925042927/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6ad296be|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 September 2017|title=Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It (1941)|website=BFI|accessdate=16 March 2023}}{{cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/uncensored-v114978 |title=Uncensored (1942) – Anthony Asquith – Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related |website=AllMovie}} Reed used her again in The Young Mr. Pitt (1942), playing Eleanor Eden.{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6bb6c9a7|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170503072227/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6bb6c9a7|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 May 2017|title=The Young Mr. Pitt (1942)|website=BFI|accessdate=16 March 2023}}

In 1942, she had the lead role as Patricia Graham in the West End production of Terence Rattigan's play Flare Path.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/oct/09/guardianobituaries.filmnews |title=Obituary: Phyllis Calvert |author=Eric Shorter |newspaper=The Guardian |date=9 October 2002}}

=Stardom=

Calvert was by now well established in British films. She did not become a star, however, until given one of the four leading roles in the Gainsborough melodrama The Man in Grey (1943).{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/artist/phyllis-calvert-p10341|title=Phyllis Calvert – Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos |website=AllMovie}} The movie was a huge success, making her and her three co-stars – Stewart Granger, James Mason and Margaret Lockwood – genuine box office stars in Britain.{{cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-man-in-grey-v31175/review |title=The Man in Grey (1943) – Leslie Arliss – Review |website=AllMovie}}

Calvert followed it with Fanny by Gaslight (1944), co-starring Granger and Mason, which was another big hit.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cIELDgAAQBAJ&q=fanny+by+gaslight+1944+big+hit&pg=PT48 |title=Heartthrobs: A History of Women and Desire |first=Carol |last=Dyhouse |date=9 February 2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |via=Google Books |isbn=9780191078392}} Also popular was Two Thousand Women (1944), made by Launder and Gilliat, about British women interned in occupied France.{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/440851/index.html |title=BFI Screenonline: Two Thousand Women (1944) |website=www.screenonline.org.uk}} It co-starred Patricia Roc, who appeared with Calvert and Granger in Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945), another Gainsborough melodrama, and another hit. Calvert's successful run at the box office continued when she and Mason were reunited in They Were Sisters (1945), a more contemporary-set Gainsborough melodrama.{{cite web |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/440876/index.html |title=BFI Screenonline: They Were Sisters (1945) |website=www.screenonline.org.uk}} Exhibitors voted her the fifth-most popular star of 1945 in Britain.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26173215 |title=CROSBY and HOPE try their luck in Alaska |newspaper=The Mercury |volume=CLXIII |issue=23,475 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=2 March 1946 |access-date=9 August 2017 |page=3 (The Mercury Magazine) |via=National Library of Australia}}

She was one of Stewart Granger's loves in The Magic Bow (1946) and had the female lead in a drama about colonialism in Africa Men of Two Worlds (1946), made a few years before being released.{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/441045/index.html|title=BFI Screenonline: Magic Bow, The (1946)|website=www.screenonline.org.uk}} It was a success, though not profitable because of its high cost.{{cite web|url=http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/node/1845|title=MEN OF TWO WORLDS – colonialfilm|website=www.colonialfilm.org.uk}} The Root of All Evil (1947) was one of the last of the Gainsborough melodramas.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tAGGFKeyXvsC&q=the+root+of+all+evil+1947+last+of+gainsborough+melodramas&pg=PA66|title=Women in British Cinema: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know|first=Sue|last=Harper|date=14 September 2000|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|via=Google Books|isbn=9780826447333}} She was voted the sixth most popular British star at the box office in 1946.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46266039 |title=FILM WORLD. |newspaper=The West Australian |volume=63 |issue=18,916 |location=Western Australia |date=28 February 1947 |access-date=9 August 2017 |page=20 (SECOND EDITION.) |via=National Library of Australia}}

=Hollywood=

Calvert's success had been noticed in the US, although her films had not been as popular there. Universal-International signed her to star in Time Out of Mind (1947), which was a box office disappointment.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26405124 |title=PHYLLIS CALVERT Makes Her Hollywood Delrit |newspaper=The Mercury |volume=CLXVI |issue=23,915 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=2 August 1947 |access-date=29 August 2017 |page=3 (The Mercury Magazine) |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52599861 |title=FILMS AND FILM STARS |newspaper=The Examiner |volume=CVI |issue=121 |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=2 August 1947 |access-date=29 August 2017 |page=1 (WEEK-END MAGAZINE SECTION) |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137125748 |title=Hollywood can't get along without British stars |newspaper=The World's News |issue=23[?] |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=4 October 1947 |access-date=4 September 2017 |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia}} She received several offers from studios and eventually decided to sign a six-picture deal with Paramount.{{cite news |title=PARAMOUNT SIGNS PHYLLIS CALVERT: British Actress to Be Seen in Six Films, With 'Make You a Fine Wife' as First Waugh to Adapt His Book of Local Origin |date=13 December 1946 |work=The New York Times |page=29}}{{cite news |title=PHYLLIS CALVERT – RED-HEAD WITHOUT TEMPER |author=GRADY JOHNSON. |date=7 September 1947 |work=The New York Times |page=X3}}

She returned to Britain to make Broken Journey (1948) playing a role written especially for her, but the film failed at the box-office.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sY1LGFNtCOEC&dq=sydney+box+film+producer&pg=PA232|title=Sydney Box|first=Andrew|last=Spicer|date=5 September 2006|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=9780719059995 |accessdate=16 March 2023|via=Google Books}}

Calvert went to Hollywood to make two films, both for Paramount: My Own True Love (1949), with Melvyn Douglas, and Appointment with Danger (1951 but made two years earlier) with Alan Ladd, in which she played a nun.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/my-own-true-love-v103393|title=My Own True Love (1948) – Compton Bennett – Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related|website=AllMovie}} She did Peter Pan on stage in Britain.{{cite news |title=Phyllis Calvert Off To London for New Stage Job |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=26 October 1947 |page=L2}}

=Producer=

Back in Britain she made two films with director Ladislao Vajda, neither particularly successful: Golden Madonna (1950), shot in Italy, and The Woman with No Name (1950). She invested her own money in the latter.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46455501 |title=Phyllis Calvert talks of home and career |newspaper=The Australian Women's Weekly |volume=17 |issue=50 |date=20 May 1950 |access-date=29 August 2017 |page=52 |via=National Library of Australia}} She wanted to produce other films: Eastward Ho, about an Englishwoman who romances a cowboy, and Equilibrium, about a trapeze artist, as well as star in a third film for Paramount but none of these were made.{{cite news |title=PHYLLIS CALVERT RETAINS 'INTERNATIONAL' RATING |author=Strong, Edwin J. |work=Los Angeles Times|date=18 September 1949 |page=D1}}{{cite news |title=Phyllis Calvert Maps International Features; Italian Woos Medea |author=Scheuer, Philip K. |date=30 August 1949 |work=Los Angeles Times|page=A7}}

Calvert was in a thriller Mr. Denning Drives North (1951) with John Mills and a BBC TV production The Holly and the Ivy (1951).{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/mr-denning-drives-north-v103033/cast-crew|title=Mr. Denning Drives North (1951) – Anthony Kimmins – Cast and Crew|website=AllMovie}}{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b727d3e9a|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925002800/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b727d3e9a|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 September 2017|title=The Holly and the Ivy (1951)|website=BFI|accessdate=16 March 2023}} She had her first big hit in a while, Mandy (1952).

Calvert was a wife in The Net (1953), then was off screen for a while. She acted on stage in It's Never Too Late (1956), then appeared in the film version.{{cite news |title=OBSERVATIONS ON THE BRITISH SCREEN SCENE |author=S. W. |date=25 September 1955 |work=The New York Times |id={{ProQuest|113205684}}}} She followed it with Child in the House (1956).{{cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/artist/phyllis-calvert-p10341/filmography |title=Phyllis Calvert – Movies and Filmography |website=AllMovie}}

On TV she was in Strindberg's The Father for ITV's Television Playhouse, and played the lead in Tatiana, the Czar's Daughter. She also played Mrs March in a six-part BBC adaptation of Little Women.{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7df5c94d|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924051947/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7df5c94d|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 September 2017|title=Little Women Part 6 (1958)|website=BFI|accessdate=16 March 2023}}

Calvert had a support part in the Hollywood-financed Indiscreet (1958), then played a concerned mother in The Young and the Guilty (1958) and a wacky spinster in A Lady Mislaid (1959).{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/indiscreet-v24772|title=Indiscreet (1958) – Stanley Donen – Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related|website=AllMovie}}{{cite web|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/film/mwqjh/a-lady-mislaid/|title=A Lady Mislaid – review – cast and crew, movie star rating and where to watch film on TV and online|website=Radio Times}} On TV she was in "The Break" for Armchair Theatre (1959) and played Katharine O'Shea in Parnell for Play of the Week (1959), then reprised her role as Mrs March for the BBC in Good Wives (1959). She was Constance Wilde in Oscar Wilde (1960) with Robert Morley and A Righteous Woman on Play of the Week (1962).

The only time people recall Calvert risking loss of sympathy for an apparent lapse of taste, grace or charm was during her stage career at the Lyric in 1963, and at the Duke of York's in 1964. In the first, as the wife in Ronald Duncan's Ménage à Trois, she condoned his misconduct – as long as it took place off the premises, herself departing as a lesbian with his mistress as the curtain fell. Then, as the cold, insensitive stepmother in James Saunders's A Scent Of Flowers, she left no trace of "the rose that sings". [https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/oct/09/guardianobituaries.filmnews Phyllis Calvert]

=Later career=

In all, Calvert acted in over 40 films, her later work including The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (1965), Twisted Nerve (1968), Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) and The Walking Stick (1970).

From 1970 to 1972, she starred in her own TV series, Kate, playing the part of an agony aunt with problems of her own.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}

She made TV appearances in programmes such as Crown Court, Ladykillers, Tales of the Unexpected, Boon, After Henry, Victoria Wood and Limelight: The Film Years – The Lime Grove Story.{{cite web|url=http://www.tv.com/people/phyllis-calvert/|title=Phyllis Calvert|last=TV.com|website=TV.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7b5c40dd|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170926061116/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7b5c40dd|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 September 2017|title=Limelight – The Film Years (1991)|website=BFI|accessdate=16 March 2023}} She also played D.I. Barnaby's Aunt Alice (Alice Bly) in a Midsomer Murders episode "Blue Herrings" in 2000.{{Cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8419489b|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924053524/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8419489b|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 September 2017|title=Blue Herring (2000)|website=BFI|accessdate=16 March 2023}}{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/midsomer-murders-blue-herrings-v274567|title=Midsomer Murders: Blue Herrings (2000) – Peter Smith – Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related|website=AllMovie}} She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1972 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}

Personal life

She was married to the actor and antiquarian bookseller Peter Murray-Hill until his sudden death in 1957.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2311321.stm|title=BBC NEWS – Entertainment – Actress Phyllis Calvert dies|work=bbc.co.uk|date=9 October 2002}} The couple had two children, Ann Murray-Hill (born 1943) and Piers Murray-Hill (born 1954). Calvert never remarried. She died in her sleep in London in 2002 from natural causes, aged 87.

Partial filmography

The Arcadians (1927) – Young Girl (uncredited)
Discord (1933) – (uncredited)
Anne One Hundred (1933) – (uncredited)
School for Stars (1935) – (uncredited)
They Came by Night (1940) – Sally
Let George Do It! (1940) – Mary Wilson
Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt (1940) – Betty Forsythe
Neutral Port (1940) – Helen Carter
Kipps (1941) – Ann Pornick – as a woman
Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It (1941) – Mrs. Wilkinson
Uncensored (1942) – Julie Lanvin
The Young Mr. Pitt (1942) – Eleanor Eden
The Man in Grey (1943) – Clarissa Marr
Fanny by Gaslight (1944) – Fanny
Two Thousand Women (1944) – Freda Thompson
Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945) – Maddalena
They Were Sisters (1945) – Lucy Moore
The Magic Bow (1946) – Jeanne de Vermond
Men of Two Worlds (1946) – Dr. Caroline Munro
The Root of All Evil (1947) – Jeckie Farnish
Time Out of Mind (1947) – Kate Fernald
Broken Journey (1948) – Mary Johnstone
My Own True Love (1949) – Joan Clews
Golden Madonna (1949) – Patricia Chandler
The Woman with No Name (1950) – Yvonne Winter
Appointment with Danger (1951) – Sister Augustine
Mr. Denning Drives North (1951) – Kay Denning
Mandy (1952) – Christine
The Net (1953) – Lydia Heathley
It's Never Too Late (1956) – Laura Hammond
Child in the House (1956) – Evelyn Acheson
Indiscreet (1958) – Mrs. Margaret Munson
The Young and the Guilty (1958) – Gladys Connor
A Lady Mislaid (1958) – Esther Williams
Oscar Wilde (1960) – Constance Wilde
The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (1965) – Margot
Twisted Nerve (1968) – Enid Durnley
Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) – Lady Dorothy Haig
The Walking Stick (1970) – Erica Dainton
Mr. Bean (1991) – Old Woman
Mrs Dalloway (1997) – Aunt Helena
Midsomer Murders (2000) – Alice Bly

Box office ranking

For a number of years, British film exhibitors voted her among the top ten British stars at the box office via an annual poll in the Motion Picture Herald.

1945 – 5th{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article26173215 |title=CROSBY and HOPE try their luck in Alaska. |newspaper=The Mercury |location=Hobart, Tasmania |date=2 March 1946 |access-date=24 April 2012 |page=3 Supplement: The Mercury Magazine |via=National Library of Australia}}
1946 – 6th{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46266039 |title=FILM WORLD. |newspaper=The West Australian |location=Perth |date=28 February 1947 |access-date=27 April 2012 |page=20|edition=SECOND |via=National Library of Australia}}

References

{{cite news |title=Phyllis Calvert |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1074777.ece |work=The Times |date=9 October 2002 |access-date=28 October 2009}}{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
{{cite news |last=Lewis |first=Paul |title=Phyllis Calvert, 87, Virtuous Heroine of Wartime Melodramas |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/12/movies/phyllis-calvert-87-virtuous-heroine-of-wartime-melodramas.html |work=The New York Times |date=12 October 2002 |access-date=28 October 2009}}
{{cite news |title=Actress Phyllis Calvert dies |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/2311321.stm |work=BBC News |date=9 October 2002 |access-date=28 October 2009}}
{{cite news |title=Phyllis Calvert |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1409542/Phyllis-Calvert.html |work=The Telegraph|date=9 October 2002 |access-date=28 October 2009}}
{{cite news |title=Modest star a symbol of womanhood |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/10/21/1034561443577.html |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=22 October 2002 |access-date=28 October 2009}}

External links

{{Screenonline name|id=446920|name=Phyllis Calvert biography and filmography}}
{{IMDb name|0130829}}
[http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=5537 Photographs and literature]

Category:1915 births

Category:2002 deaths

Category:20th-century English actresses

Category:Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

Category:English film actresses

Category:English stage actresses

Category:English television actresses

Category:Actresses from London

Category:People from Chelsea, London

Category:Actors from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea