Margaret Lockwood

Margaret Lockwood

Born: September 15, 1916
Died: July 15, 1990
in Karachi, British India [now Pakistan]
Margaret Lockwood, CBE (15 September 1916 – 15 July 1990) was an English actress, notable for her performance in the 1945 Gainsborough movie, The Wicked Lady.

Margaret Mary Lockwood Day was born in Karachi, British India (now Karachi, Pakistan), to an English administrator of a railway company and his Scottish wife. Lockwood's family returned to the United Kingdom when she was a child, along with her brother. She attended Sydenham High School for girls, and a ladies school in Kensington, London.

She began studying for the stage at an early age at the Italia Conti, and made her debut in 1928, at the age of 12, at the Holborn Empire, where she played a fairy in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In December of the following year, she appeared at the Scala Theatre in the pantomime The Babes in the Wood. In 1932, she appeared at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in Cavalcade.

Lockwood then trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where she was seen by a talent scout and signed to a contract. In June 1934, she played Myrtle in House on Fire at the Queen's Theatre, and on 22 August 1934 appeared as Margaret Hamilton in Gertrude Jenning's play Family Affairs when it premiered at the Ambassadors Theatre; Helene Ferber in Repayment at the Arts Theatre in January 1936; Trixie Drew in Henry Bernard's play Miss Smith at the Duke of York's Theatre in July 1936; and back at the Queen's in July 1937 as Ann Harlow in Ann's Lapse.

Lockwood entered films in 1934, and in 1935 she appeared in the film version of Lorna Doone. In 1938 she starred in her most successful film, Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, in which she first appeared with Michael Redgrave. In 1940, she played the role of Jenny Sunley, the self-centered, frivolous wife of Michael Redgrave's character in The Stars Look Down. In the early 1940s, Lockwood changed her on-screen image to play villainesses in both contemporary and period films, becoming the most successful actress in British films during that period. Her greatest success was in the title role in The Wicked Lady (1945), a film which was controversial in its day and brought her considerable publicity. In 1946 Lockwood gained the Daily Mail National Film Awards First Prize for most popular British film actress.

She made a return to the stage in a record-breaking national tour of Noel Coward's Private Lives in 1949, and also played Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion at the Edinburgh Festival of 1951, and the title role in Peter Pan in 1949, 1950, and 1957 (the latter with her daughter as Wendy). Her subsequent long-running West End hits include an all-star production of Wilde's An Ideal Husband (1965/66, in which she played the villainous Mrs Cheveley), Somerset Maugham's Lady Frederick (1970), Relative Values (Noel Coward revival, 1973), and the thrillers Spider's Web (1955, written for her by Agatha Christie), Signpost to Murder (1962), and Double Edge (1975).

In 1969, she starred as barrister Julia Stanford in the TV play, Justice is a Woman. This inspired the Yorkshire Television series, Justice, which ran for three seasons (39 episodes) from 1971 to 1974, and featured her real-life partner, John Stone, as fictional boyfriend, Dr Ian Moody. Lockwood's role as the feisty Harriet Peterson won her Best Actress Awards from the TV Times (1971) and The Sun (1973). Her last professional appearance was as Queen Alexandra in Royce Ryton's stage play, Motherdear (Ambassadors Theatre, 1980). She was created a CBE in the New Year Honours of 1981.

Margaret Lockwood had married and been divorced from Rupert Leon. She lived her final years in seclusion and died in the Cromwell Hospital, Kensington, London from cirrhosis of the liver, aged 73. She was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium. She was survived by her daughter, actress Julia Clark (née Margaret Julia Leon, born 1941).

Movies for Margaret Lockwood...

Title: Justice
Released: April 4, 2011
Type: TV
Justice is a British legal drama starring Robert Pugh as Judge Patrick Coburn. The first episode was originally broadcast on 4 April 2011 on BBC One.
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James Mason: The Star They Loved to Hate
Title: James Mason: The Star They Loved to Hate
Character: Barbara (archive footage)
Released: January 1, 1984
Type: Movie
Retrospective of the life and movie work of British actor James Mason. The documentary presents interview footage interspersed with some movie excerpts, mainly from his pre-hollywood period.
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The Slipper and the Rose
Title: The Slipper and the Rose
Character: Stepmother
Released: March 25, 1976
Type: Movie
Prince Edward wants to marry for love, but the King and court of the kingdom of Euphrania are anxious for the prince to wed no matter what. When the prince meets Cinderella at a ball, he's sure she's the one, and when she loses her slipper upon exiting the dance, the prince is determined to find and marry her.
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Title: Justice
Character: Harriet Peterson
Released: October 8, 1971
Type: TV
Justice is a British drama television series which originally aired on ITV in 39 hour-long episodes between 8 August 1971 and 16 October 1974. Margaret Lockwood stars as Harriet Peterson a female barrister in the North of England. It was made by Yorkshire Television and was based loosely on Justice Is a Woman, an episode of ITV Playhouse broadcast in 1969 in which Lockwood had previously also played a barrister. The theme music was Crown Imperial by William Walton.
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Justice Is a Woman
Title: Justice Is a Woman
Character: Julia Stanford
Released: July 14, 1969
Type: Movie
Julia Stafford is asked to defend a posh youth, an outsider in a conservative Scottish town, who is accused of murdering a girl.
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Title: The Flying Swan
Released: March 27, 1965
Type: TV
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Title: The Human Jungle
Character: Jean Forrest
Released: March 30, 1963
Type: TV
The Human Jungle is a British TV series about a psychiatrist, made for ABC Television by the small production company Independent Artists for transmission on ITV. Starring Herbert Lom, it ran for two series which were first transmitted during 1963 and 1965.
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Title: The Royalty
Released: October 16, 1957
Type: TV
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Cast a Dark Shadow
Title: Cast a Dark Shadow
Character: Freda Jeffries
Released: September 20, 1955
Type: Movie
Edward "Teddy" Bare is a ruthless schemer who thinks he's hit the big time when he kills his older wife, believing he will inherit a fortune. When things don't go according to plan, Teddy sets his sights on a new victim: wealthy widow Freda Jeffries. Unfortunately for the unscrupulous criminal, Freda is much more guarded and sassy than his last wife, making separating her from her money considerably more challenging.
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Spider's Web
Title: Spider's Web
Character: Clarissa Hailsham-Brown
Released: April 4, 1955
Type: Movie
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Trouble in the Glen
Title: Trouble in the Glen
Character: Marissa Mengues
Released: June 15, 1954
Type: Movie
Major Jim "Lance" Lansing, an American ex-pilot of the U.S. Air Corps, returns to Scotland after the war and finds much trouble in the glen where he settles because of the high-handed activities of the local laird, Sandy Mengues, a wealthy South American who, with his daughter Marissa, has returned to the land of his forefathers. Led by Lansing, the people eventually prevail upon Mengues to restore peace to the glen, but not before a brief and unconvincing fight between Lansing and Dukes, the Mengues foreman. Written by Les Adams
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Laughing Anne
Title: Laughing Anne
Character: Laughing Anne
Released: September 1, 1953
Type: Movie
Story of love affair of captain who runs ship in Java Seas and a French saloon singer. From a story "Because of the dollars" by Joseph Conrad.
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Trent's Last Case
Title: Trent's Last Case
Character: Margaret Manderson
Released: September 22, 1952
Type: Movie
When a wealthy business man is found dead reporter Philip Trent is sent to investigate. Against the police conclusions, he suspects the assumed suicide is really a murder, and becomes highly interested in the young widow and the dead man's private secretary.
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Highly Dangerous
Title: Highly Dangerous
Character: Frances Gray
Released: December 6, 1950
Type: Movie
A US newsman and a British entomologist spy on germ-warfare research in a mythical country.
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Madness of the Heart
Title: Madness of the Heart
Character: Lydia Garth
Released: December 20, 1949
Type: Movie
A blind Englishwoman weds a French nobleman and moves into his family's chateau, but she quickly realizes someone there wants her out of the way.
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Cardboard Cavalier
Title: Cardboard Cavalier
Character: Nell Gwynne
Released: March 31, 1949
Type: Movie
Cardboard Cavalier is a 1949 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Sid Field, Margaret Lockwood and Jerry Desmonde.The film depicts a historical romance between Lord Lovelace and Nell Gwyne.
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Pygmalion
Title: Pygmalion
Character: Eliza Doolittle
Released: February 8, 1948
Type: Movie
Can Professor Higgins transform flower-girl Eliza Dolittle into a great lady?
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Look Before You Love
Title: Look Before You Love
Character: Ann Markham
Released: January 6, 1948
Type: Movie
Romance in Rio for a girl of the embassy staff.
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Title: Bambi Awards
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 1, 1948
Type: TV
The Bambi, often called the Bambi Award and stylised as BAMBI, is a German award presented annually by Hubert Burda Media to recognize excellence in international media and television to personalities in the media, arts, culture, sports, and other fields "with vision and creativity who affected and inspired the German public that year", both domestic and foreign. First held in 1948, it is the oldest media award in Germany. The trophy is named after Felix Salten's book Bambi, A Life in the Woods and its statuettes are in the shape of the novel's titular fawn character. They were originally made of porcelain until 1958, when the organizers switched to using gold, with the casting done by the art casting workshop of Ernst Strassacker in Süßen.
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The White Unicorn
Title: The White Unicorn
Character: Lucy
Released: October 29, 1947
Type: Movie
In a home for delinquent girls, the worst offender exchanges reminiscences with the warden.
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Jassy
Title: Jassy
Character: Jassy Woodroofe
Released: August 13, 1947
Type: Movie
In 19th century England, Jassy is a young Gypsy girl blessed with the gift of second sight. Pursued by superstitious villagers, she is rescued by the son of the owner of Mordelaine, a vast stately home. Unfortunately, his father's drinking and gambling threaten the very ownership of the house. Despite her humble origins as a servant girl, Jassy must try to use her talents to climb the social ladder and save Mordelaine for the man whom she loves.
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Hungry Hill
Title: Hungry Hill
Character: Fanny Rosa
Released: January 7, 1947
Type: Movie
Life becomes a tragedy for the wife of an Irish heir to a 19th-century family feud and fortune.
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Bedelia
Title: Bedelia
Character: Bedelia Carrington
Released: July 8, 1946
Type: Movie
Bedelia Carrington is living happily, it appears, in Monte Carlo with her husband Charlie Carrington. But a cultivated young artist, Ben Chaney, begins probing into her past with curious concern. Chaney, who is really a detective, learns that Bedelia's obsession for money has led her, in the past, to husband-poisoning for the insurance money.
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The Wicked Lady
Title: The Wicked Lady
Character: Barbara Worth
Released: November 15, 1945
Type: Movie
A married woman finds new thrills as a masked robber on the highways.
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I'll Be Your Sweetheart
Title: I'll Be Your Sweetheart
Released: July 30, 1945
Type: Movie
In turn-of-the-century London a young music publisher fights both competitors and piracy in a time where author's royalties were still unprotected.
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A Place of One's Own
Title: A Place of One's Own
Character: Annette Allenby
Released: March 20, 1945
Type: Movie
An elderly couple move into an old, supposedly haunted abandoned house. A young girl comes to live with the pair as a companion for the wife. However, soon the girl is possessed by the spirit of another girl, a wealthy woman who had once lived in the house but who had been murdered there.
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Love Story
Title: Love Story
Character: Lissa Campbell
Released: November 20, 1944
Type: Movie
After discovering that she has only a short time left to live, concert pianist Lissa travels to Cornwall for the final fling of her life. While there, she falls in love with young mineral prospector Kit, a man whose dark secret prevents him from fighting in the War. Unbeknownst to Lissa, however, Kit's affections are also much in demand from a rival of hers.
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Give Us the Moon
Title: Give Us the Moon
Character: Nina
Released: July 31, 1944
Type: Movie
Set just after the end of WWII (but filmed in the middle of it) in a time of general euphoria at having won the war, with full employment and general happiness for all (or nearly all). Peter, the young wastrel son of a hard working hotel owner doesn't like the idea of having to work for a living. He discovers a society of "White Elephants" who are quite willing to be poor as long as they don't have to work. They are protected and guided by Nina (Margaret Lockwood) and her precocious sister Heidi (Jean Simmons).
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Dear Octopus
Title: Dear Octopus
Character: Penny Randolph
Released: September 20, 1943
Type: Movie
Three generations of a family gather together to celebrate a golden wedding anniversary, while the family secretary has the unenviable task of smoothing out all the deep-set hostilities and jealousies.
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The Man in Grey
Title: The Man in Grey
Character: Hesther Shaw Barbary
Released: August 6, 1943
Type: Movie
After marrying a dour and disinterested lord for status, a young woman falls in love with a stage actor while her best friend from boarding school enters an affair with her husband.
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Alibi
Title: Alibi
Character: Helene Ardouin
Released: August 10, 1942
Type: Movie
In 1930s France a bar hostess helps a man prove himself innocent of murder.
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Quiet Wedding
Title: Quiet Wedding
Character: Janet Royd
Released: April 19, 1941
Type: Movie
A young couple become engaged, but enjoy a number of comedic aventures before their wedding day.
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Night Train to Munich
Title: Night Train to Munich
Character: Anna Bomasch
Released: August 31, 1940
Type: Movie
Czechoslovakia, March 1939, on the eve of World War II. As the German invaders occupy Prague, inventor Axel Bomasch manages to flee and reach England; but those who need to put his knowledge at the service of the Nazi war machine, in order to carry out their evil plans of destruction, will stop at nothing to capture him.
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Girl in the News
Title: Girl in the News
Character: Anne Graham
Released: August 28, 1940
Type: Movie
An elderly lady manages to sneak some pills away from her nurse and dies of an overdose. The nurse is tried for murder and acquitted. Some time later the nurse, under a new name and identity, cares for a patient who also dies of an overdose. When her real identity comes out, suspicions arouses.
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The Stars Look Down
Title: The Stars Look Down
Character: Jenny Sunley
Released: January 22, 1940
Type: Movie
Davey Fenwick leaves his mining village on a university scholarship intent on returning to better support the miners against the owners. But he falls in love with Jenny who gets him to marry her and return home as local schoolteacher before finishing his degree.
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Rulers of the Sea
Title: Rulers of the Sea
Character: Mary Shaw
Released: November 8, 1939
Type: Movie
The struggle of a man to build a steam ship to take him across the Atlantic in spite of all setbacks, and his win against a crack sailing boat in the early 19th century.
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A Girl Must Live
Title: A Girl Must Live
Character: Leslie James
Released: September 24, 1939
Type: Movie
A run-away school-girl falls among chorus girls planning to marry into the nobility.
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Susannah of the Mounties
Title: Susannah of the Mounties
Character: Vicky Standing
Released: June 13, 1939
Type: Movie
This classic family drama stars Shirley Temple as young orphan Susannah Sheldon, the sole survivor of a brutal Indian attack who's befriended by Canadian Mountie Angus Montague (Randolph Scott) and his girlfriend, Vicky (Margaret Lockwood). The couple takes Susannah under their wing and soon learn that having a precocious child around can come in handy; when the Indians return, the girl uses her charm to broker peace.Shirley is the orphaned survivor of an Indian attack in the Canadian West. A Mountie and his girlfriend take her in...
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The Lady Vanishes
Title: The Lady Vanishes
Character: Iris Matilda Henderson
Released: October 7, 1938
Type: Movie
On a train headed for England a group of travelers is delayed by an avalanche. Holed up in a hotel in a fictional European country, young Iris befriends elderly Miss Froy. When the train resumes, Iris suffers a bout of unconsciousness and wakes to find the old woman has disappeared. The other passengers ominously deny Miss Froy ever existed, so Iris begins to investigate with another traveler and, as the pair sleuth, romantic sparks fly.
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Bank Holiday
Title: Bank Holiday
Character: Catherine Lawrence
Released: January 27, 1938
Type: Movie
A 1930s British summer Bank Holiday starts at midday on Saturday with a rush for the trains to the seaside. Doreen and Milly are off to a beauty contest, Geoffrey and Catherine are having an illicit weekend in the Grand Hotel and May and the kids are set for a more straightforward holiday of sea, sand, and pub. Meanwhile, the manager and performers on the pier are praying for rain.
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Owd Bob
Title: Owd Bob
Character: Jeannie McAdam
Released: January 26, 1938
Type: Movie
Adam McAdam is an old, dour sheepherder whose life is devoted to his faithful dog, the whiskey bottle and his daughter, Jeannie. And a conflict that arises when the other sheep-men of the district try every means within their power to have his dog, accused of being a sheep-killer, destroyed.
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Doctor Syn
Title: Doctor Syn
Character: Imogene Clegg
Released: August 25, 1937
Type: Movie
A highly respected clergyman is actually a former pirate who exacts vigilante justice in this British production.
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The Street Singer
Title: The Street Singer
Character: Jenny Green
Released: March 1, 1937
Type: Movie
Following an argument with his co-star during the rehearsals for a new stage show, famous singer Richard King walks out of the theatre, still wearing his ragged stage costume. Mistaken for a beggar, he’s taken in by a pair of street entertainers and joins their act incognito.
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The Beloved Vagabond
Title: The Beloved Vagabond
Character: Blanquette
Released: August 24, 1936
Type: Movie
Flying from one charming lady---eluding another---and almost losing both!
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The Amateur Gentleman
Title: The Amateur Gentleman
Character: Georgina Huntstanton
Released: April 26, 1936
Type: Movie
A former boxing champion, now an innkeeper, is accused of stealing a watch from a party of guests at his inn, who happen to be members of English royalty. The old man is arrested and thrown in prison. His son, knowing that his father didn't steal the watch and suspecting a frame-up, follows the royal party to London, where he poses as a wealthy "gentleman" and insinuates himself into the English court in an effort to find out who framed his father and why.
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Jury's Evidence
Title: Jury's Evidence
Character: Betty Stanton
Released: January 1, 1936
Type: Movie
'Foreman of Old Bailey jury refuses to accept circumstantial evidence and helps solve murder case.' (British Film Catalogue)
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Midshipman Easy
Title: Midshipman Easy
Character: Donna Agnes
Released: November 1, 1935
Type: Movie
Set during the Peninsular Campaign of the Napoleonic War, Mr Midshipman Easy has just joined the Royal Navy. He is very keen to do well but luckily he has an understanding captain to pull him out of the various adventures he seems to get involved in.
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Man of the Moment
Title: Man of the Moment
Character: Vera Barton
Released: September 1, 1935
Type: Movie
Love blossoms after a young man rescues a pretty girl who attempted to drown herself.
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Honours Easy
Title: Honours Easy
Character: Ann
Released: July 31, 1935
Type: Movie
Unhinged art dealer William Barton seeks revenge on a man who ruined his career years ago. He does so by attempting to frame the man's son for the theft of $2,500 from the safe in his gallery. However the son has an alibi in Barton's wife, with whom he is having an affair.
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The Case of Gabriel Perry
Title: The Case of Gabriel Perry
Character: Mildred Perry
Released: April 30, 1935
Type: Movie
An unstable Victorian doctor murders a woman.
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Lorna Doone
Title: Lorna Doone
Character: Annie Ridd
Released: December 9, 1934
Type: Movie
High drama, set in the English moorland of the 1600s. John Ridd wants revenge on the criminal Doone family, but falls in love with the daughter of the family, Lorna.