Sheila Gish

Sheila Gish

Born: April 23, 1942
Died: March 9, 2005
in Lincoln, England, United Kingdom
Sheila Gish (23 April 1942 – 9 March 2005) was a British stage and television actress. She was born Sheila Anne Gash in Lincoln, studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and made her stage debut with a repertory company. Her first starring role in the West End was as Bella in Robert and Elizabeth. She continued to be best known for her stage work, but she also appeared in many television dramas, from The First Churchills (in which she played Mary of Modena) to the successful adaptation of Love in a Cold Climate (2001) in which she played the eccentric and outrageous Lady Montdore. She had two daughters: the actresses Kay Curram and Lou Gish (1967–2006) by her first husband, the actor Roland Curram. While filming That Uncertain Feeling for BBC2 in 1985, she met actor Denis Lawson, who was to become her second husband. She rarely appeared on film, her most notable performances being as Anna in the Merchant-Ivory film Quartet (1981) and as Mrs Norris in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park (1999). She is also known for her appearance in the 1986 film Highlander as Rachel Ellenstein. She took the part of the alcoholic Joanne in Stephen Sondheim's musical Company, directed by Sam Mendes at the Donmar Warehouse and in the West End, in 1995. The following year, she won the Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical. In 1999 she played Miss Venable in Tennessee Williams's Suddenly Last Summer, directed by Sean Mathias with Rachel Weisz at the Comedy Theatre, London. One of her last stage roles was as Arkadina in the Chichester Festival Theatre's production of The Seagull in 2003. By this time she had been diagnosed with cancer and had lost an eye as a result of surgery. She died in Camden, London. Her final performance was for BBC Radio. She is Ewan McGregor's mother's sister-in-law. Her daughter, Lou, also died of cancer less than a year after her mother.

Movies for Sheila Gish...

Title: Love in a Cold Climate
Character: Lady Montdore
Released: February 4, 2001
Type: TV
Dramatization of Nancy Mitford's novel about three aristocratic young girls' adventures in love.
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Mansfield Park
Title: Mansfield Park
Character: Mrs. Norris
Released: November 12, 1999
Type: Movie
When spirited young woman, Fanny Price is sent away to live on the great country estate of her rich cousins, she's meant to learn the ways of proper society. But while Fanny learns 'their' ways, she also enlightens them with a wit and sparkle all her own.
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Title: Jonathan Creek
Character: Serena Shale
Released: May 9, 1997
Type: TV
Working from his home in a converted windmill, Jonathan Creek is a magician with a natural ability for solving puzzles. He soon puts this ability to the use of solving impossible crimes and mysterious murders.
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Company
Title: Company
Character: Joanne
Released: December 10, 1996
Type: Movie
Filmed live at the Donmar Warehouse in London's West End, Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's classic musical comes to life through the direction of Sam Mendes. Set in modern upper-crust Manhattan, an exploration of love and commitment as seen through the eyes of a charming perpetual bachelor questioning his single state and his enthusiastically married, slightly envious friends.
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Seasick
Title: Seasick
Character: Martina Schaffer
Released: April 5, 1996
Type: Movie
Eco-terrorists attack a ship carrying toxic waste.
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Title: The Thin Blue Line
Released: November 13, 1995
Type: TV
The Thin Blue Line is a British sitcom starring Rowan Atkinson set in a police station that ran for two series on the BBC from 1995 to 1996. It was written by Ben Elton.
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The Perfect Match
Title: The Perfect Match
Character: Helen
Released: September 6, 1995
Type: Movie
Guy proposes to his girlfriend by putting a notice on the half time scoreboard at the FA cup final. The entire crowd at wembley stadium cheer them on as he holds up the ring. The TV cameras pick it up. it becomes wedding of the year, but she doesn't want to marry him.
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Title: Pie in the Sky
Character: Julia Sutton
Released: March 13, 1994
Type: TV
Pie in the Sky is a British offbeat police comedy drama programme starring Richard Griffiths and Maggie Steed, created by Andrew Payne and first broadcast in five series on BBC1 between 13 March 1994 and 17 August 1997 as well as being syndicated on other channels in other countries, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The series departs slightly from other police dramas in that the protagonist, Henry Crabbe, while still being an on-duty policeman, is also the head chef of the title restaurant set in the fictional town of Middleton and county of Westershire.
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Resnick: Rough Treatment
Title: Resnick: Rough Treatment
Character: Maria Roy
Released: July 25, 1993
Type: Movie
A kilo of cocaine. Hardly what two small-time crooks were expecting to find when they broke into TV director Harold Roy's shabby mansion. But nor was Harold's frustrated wife expecting to fall in love with one of the intruders. Now she's going to make a deal with him - for both her husband and the drugs. But the precious powder belongs to someone else. And he wants it back. So if he feels he's been double-crossed, there's no telling what might happen. Detective Inspector Resnick has a hunch that there's more to this story than meets the eye. And as his investigations lead him down the mean streets of the TV industry and an inner-city drugs ring, it's obvious that more than one person is dancing on thin ice
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Title: Brighton Belles
Character: Bridget
Released: March 9, 1993
Type: TV
On her husband's demise, attractive Bridget suddenly finds she can't meet the financial demand of her Sussex country house in Brighton without his income. Her solution: take in lodgers. Two other "belles" answer her offer. Annie, also a widow, is a dim but friendly, likable farmer's daughter from a small village; Frances is a sardonic, sarcastic teacher whose husband Gilbert left her for a younger woman, taking the house. Later, Frances' tactless, overprotective mother Josephine moves in as well, to hover over and generally annoy her daughter. The women bond and Bridget shows her seductive side and she searches for a new mate.
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Title: Jewels
Character: Victoria Thompson
Released: October 18, 1992
Type: TV
Sarah Thompson, an American visiting England, meets and marries William Whitfield, the Duke of Whitfield. They settle in a chateau in France and begin a family. World War II interrupts their happiness and alters their future. After the war, the family helps war survivors by buying their jewelry and eventually opens a jewelry store, which rapidly becomes a success. But conflicts abound as new generations arise and forces from both outside and within threaten the store and the family.
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Title: Stanley and the Women
Character: Nowell Hutchinson
Released: November 28, 1991
Type: TV
The life of Stanley Duke, a fortysomething advertising executive, is thrown into turmoil when his son is diagnosed a schizophrenic. Making matters worse, Stanley's quiet home is suddenly besieged by a plethora of women, among them his past and current wives.
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Title: The House of Eliott
Character: Yolande Hermane
Released: August 31, 1991
Type: TV
Two sisters who set up a London fashion house for society of the early 1920s.
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Title: Inspector Morse
Character: Gwladys Probert
Released: January 6, 1987
Type: TV
Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, as well as a large cast of notable actors and actresses.
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Highlander
Title: Highlander
Character: Rachel Ellenstein
Released: March 7, 1986
Type: Movie
He fought his first battle on the Scottish Highlands in 1536. He will fight his greatest battle on the streets of New York City in 1986. His name is Connor MacLeod. He is immortal.
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Quartet
Title: Quartet
Character: Anna
Released: October 25, 1981
Type: Movie
When her husband's arrest leaves her penniless, a woman accepts an invitation to move in with a strange couple.
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Title: Tales of the Unexpected
Character: Mary Hitchman
Released: March 24, 1979
Type: TV
A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars.
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Title: Tales of the Unexpected
Character: Frances
Released: March 24, 1979
Type: TV
A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars.
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Title: Tales of the Unexpected
Character: Laura Parker
Released: March 24, 1979
Type: TV
A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars.
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Title: Anna Karenina
Released: September 25, 1977
Type: TV
Anna Karenina was a 1977 BBC television adaptation of Tolstoy's novel.
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The Lifeswappers
Title: The Lifeswappers
Character: Dinah/Miss Trevor
Released: April 12, 1976
Type: Movie
Who would you be if you could choose? Princess Anne? Linda Lovelace? The Prime Minister? Since things are already so bad for Trevor – rotten job, bitchy wife – he decides to answer a "life-swapping" ad in the local paper. But once the swapping starts, who knows where it could end?
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Title: The Sweeney
Character: June
Released: January 2, 1975
Type: TV
Jack Regan, an unethical officer of the Flying Squad, uses unorthodox methods to pursue criminals with the help of his partner, George Carter.
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Title: Helen: A Woman of Today
Released: September 21, 1973
Type: TV
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Hitler: The Last Ten Days
Title: Hitler: The Last Ten Days
Character: Frau Christian
Released: April 19, 1973
Type: Movie
Hitler: The Last Ten Days takes us into the depths of der Furher’s Berlin bunker during his final days. Based on the book by Gerhard Boldt, it provides a bleak look at the goings-on within, and without.
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Title: Crown Court
Character: Erika Brabazon
Released: October 11, 1972
Type: TV
Crown Court is an afternoon television courtroom drama produced by Granada Television for the ITV network that ran from 1972, when the Crown Court system replaced Assize courts and Quarter sessions in the legal system of England and Wales, to 1984.
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Title: The Adventurer
Character: Laura
Released: September 29, 1972
Type: TV
The Adventurer is an ITC Entertainment TV adventure series created by Dennis Spooner that ran for one season from 1972 to 1973. It premiered in the UK on 29 September 1972. The show starred Gene Barry as Gene Bradley, a government agent of independent means who poses as a glamorous American movie star.
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A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
Title: A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
Character: Pam
Released: May 1, 1972
Type: Movie
A couple uses extremely black comedy to survive taking care of a daughter who is nearly completely brain dead. They take turns doing the daughter's voice and stare into the eyes of death and emotional trauma with a humour that hides their pain.
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Funny
Title: Funny
Character: Phyl
Released: November 16, 1971
Type: Movie
In London, Tom and Phyl are self-assured and in control of the situation whenever they meet their friends Huw and Tegwen. But when they're not on home ground and when they accept an invitation to visit Huw and Tegwen’s home in Wales, relationships change more than a little Huw, a London barrister, whose heart is in the Welsh hills, is truly king of his castle, and shocks and excites Phul with some of his "Cassanova" qualities. And Tegwen's relationship with her husband intrigues Tom, whose marriage is more of an easy companionship. But why have they been invited for the weekend?
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Title: The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
Character: Mrs. Chalmers
Released: September 20, 1971
Type: TV
Adaptations of mystery stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's contemporary rivals in the genre.
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Title: Play for Today
Character: Jane Elkinson
Released: October 15, 1970
Type: TV
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.
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Every Home Should Have One
Title: Every Home Should Have One
Character: Mother in Commercial
Released: March 5, 1970
Type: Movie
Teddy works for a large advertising company. Given the seemingly impossible task of selling frozen porridge, he decides to produce commercials that make the product seem sexy. This leads him to confrontation with the "Keep Television Clean" movement, of which his wife is a senior member.
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The Reckoning
Title: The Reckoning
Character: Mrs Garner
Released: January 31, 1970
Type: Movie
Michael Marler, a successful business man in London, is about to make his way to the top. The death of his father brings him – after 37 years – back to his hometown Liverpool, where he is confronted with his lost Irish roots. He finds out that his father died because of a fight with some anglo-saxon teddy boys. It becomes "a matter of honour" for him, to take his revenge without involving the British police
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Title: The First Churchills
Released: September 27, 1969
Type: TV
The lives of the Duke of Marlborough and his wife Sarah, from their meeting in 1673 to the duke's death in 1722.
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Darling
Title: Darling
Character: Cameo (uncredited)
Released: August 3, 1965
Type: Movie
The swinging London, early sixties. Beautiful but shallow, Diana Scott is a professional advertising model, a failed actress, a vocationally bored woman, who toys with the affections of several men while gaining fame and fortune.