Rachel Thomas (actress)
{{Short description|Welsh actress (1905–1995)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Rachel Thomas
| honorific_suffix = OBE
| image = Actress_Rachel_Thomas.jpg
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1905|02|10}}
| birth_place = Alltwen, Wales
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1995|02|08|1905|02|10}}
| death_place = Cardiff, Wales
| restingplace =
| othername = Rachel o'r Allt (bardic name)
| occupation = Actress
| yearsactive =
| spouse =
| website =
| awards = OBE (1968); BAFTA Cymru Award (1991)
}}
Rachel Thomas OBE (10 February 1905 – 8 February 1995), was a Welsh character actress.
Early life
Rachel Thomas was born in the Welsh village of Alltwen, near Pontardawe, Glamorgan,[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaryrachel-thomas-1572351.html "Obituary: Rachel Thomas"], The Independent, 10 February 1995. Accessed 5 September 2015 the daughter of Emily Thomas. She was raised by her aunt and uncle, Mary Thomas Roberts and David Roberts; her uncle was a tinworker and coal miner.Hughes, Nerys. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qmy7v Welsh Greats: Rachel Thomas] BBC One series (2010).
Career
Thomas taught school as a young woman, competed in eisteddfodau, and was a reader at her church in Cardiff. She came to wider attention when her voice was heard on a BBC radio broadcast in 1933, reading from the Bible. She was cast in the first Welsh-language radio comedy, Y Practis, the following year.
As an actress Thomas worked mainly in Wales, and appeared in such classic films as The Proud Valley (1940) with Paul Robeson, Blue Scar (1949) Valley of Song (1953), and Tiger Bay (1959). In 1943, she appeared as Maria Petrovitch in the Ealing war film Undercover, an account of the guerrilla resistance movement in Yugoslavia during the Second World War. In 1954 she was part of the original BBC Radio cast of Dylan Thomas' radio play Under Milk Wood, playing the roles of Rosie Probert, Mary Ann Sailors and Mrs. Willy Nilly. She played Mary Ann Sailors in the 1972 film version.[https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/10/obituaries/rachel-thomas-actress-90.html "Rachel Thomas; Actress, 90"], The New York Times, 10 February 1995. Accessed 5 September 2015 She appeared on television, in a lost 1960 production of How Green Was My Valley, in another production of the same work in 1975, and in a soap opera, Pobol y Cwm (People of the Valley). In 1978 she played Betty Parry in the BBC series Off to Philadelphia in the Morning.
Thomas almost always played the stereotypical Welsh mam, a miner's wife or mother (or grandmother in her later years)Ffrancon, Gwenno. "'The Angel in the Home?: Rachel Thomas, Siân Phillips and the on-screen embodiment of the Welsh Mam'" The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion 2009, vol. 16 (2010), 110-22. and appeared in both Welsh and English-language productions.{{cite DWB|last=Ffrancon|first=Gwenno|date=2016|title=Rachel Thomas|id=s10-THOM-RAC-1905}} In 1968 she was awarded the OBE for her services to Wales.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V7vPDQAAQBAJ&q=rachel+thomas+The+Encyclopedia+of+British+Film:+Fourth+edition&pg=RA3-PA1995|title=The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition|first=Brian|last=McFarlane|date=16 May 2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9781526111968|via=Google Books}} She received a special BAFTA Cymru award for her body of work in 1991, and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Music and Drama in Cardiff in 1993.
Personal life
Rachel Thomas married educator Howell John Thomas in 1931; they had a daughter, Delyth Mariel Thomas (1937–2006). Rachel Thomas died two days before her 90th birthday, following a fall in her home in Cardiff.{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/1995/scene/people-news/rachel-thomas-99124135/|title=Rachel Thomas|author=Variety Staff|date=20 March 1995}}
References
External links
- {{IMDb name|0859383}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20160720194059/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f8f3d19 Rachel Thomas] at the British Film Institute{{better source needed|reason=Help request: a live link can be searched for at https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/search/expert - if available, replace the archive URL with the live link. Or if none found, remove this 'better source needed' template. | date=October 2023}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Rachel}}
Category:Accidental deaths from falls
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:People from Pontardawe
Category:Welsh television actresses