Barbara Mullen

Barbara Mullen

Born: June 9, 1914
Died: March 9, 1979
in Boston, Massachusetts, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Barbara Mullen (9 June 1914, Boston, Massachusetts – 9 March 1979, London, England) was an American actress well known in the UK for playing the part of Janet the housekeeper in Dr Finlay's Casebook. Although the role of Janet brought her fame in later years, she had already made her mark in the theatre.

Mullen's parents, Pat and Bridget, were from a fishing family on Inishmore island off the coast of Co. Clare, Ireland. The family had emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, where Mullen was born. She made her stage debut at the age of three as a dancer. When her father returned to Aran, becoming famous as the 'Man of Aran', in the classic documentary film by Robert Flaherty, her mother stayed in America to bring up the ten children. Mullen sang and danced in various theatres all over America, before crossing the Atlantic in 1934 and training at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

At the age of 24, she wrote her autobiography, Life is my Adventure. A year later she made her London debut, acting the title role in the London West End production of Jeannie, a comedy about a Scottish girl taking a European holiday after coming into money. She became an overnight star.

She later succeeded Celia Johnson as Mrs De Winter in the Daphne Du Maurier classic Rebecca and played Maggie in a revival of What Every Woman Knows by J M Barrie and as the aged sleuth Miss Marple in The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie.

Mullen repeated the role of 'Jeannie' on television and in the 1941 British film, which was her cinema debut, alongside Michael Redgrave, and she followed this with appearances in 20 further films, including A Place of One's Own, Corridor of Mirrors and Innocent Sinners. She also played a notable role in the 1942 film version of Robert Ardrey's Thunder Rock, as Ellen Kirby, the feminist who is jailed for her "subversive" ideas. She was the daughter of Pat Mullen, star of Robert Flaherty's Man of Aran. She was married to the film's cameraman, documentary film-maker John Taylor. and they had two daughters - Briged and Susannah.

She appeared on television in America and Britain, in programmes such as Juno and the Paycock and The Danny Thomas Show before being offered the role in Dr Finlay's Casebook, which began on the BBC in 1962. Her character, Janet, was the ever efficient housekeeper to Doctors Finlay and Cameron at Arden House, in the fictional Scottish village of Tannochbrae. When the series finished on television nine years later, it transferred to radio, running until 1978.

Barbara Mullen died of a heart attack in London, England on 9 March 1979.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Barbara Mullen, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies for Barbara Mullen...

Miss MacTaggart Won't Lie Down
Title: Miss MacTaggart Won't Lie Down
Character: Jean MacTaggart
Released: February 1, 1966
Type: Movie
Everyone thinks Jeannie MacTaggart is a ghost when she arrives back in town after a visit to Glasgow. Her visiting twin who died during a visit and they thought it was her. So she goes about proving who she is and restoring her name.
bee
Title: The Saint
Character: Violet Warshed
Released: October 4, 1962
Type: TV
Simon Templar is The Saint, a handsome, sophisticated, debonair, modern-day Robin Hood who recovers ill-gotten wealth and redistributes it to those in need.
bee
Title: Dr. Finlay's Casebook
Character: Janet MacPherson
Released: August 16, 1962
Type: TV
Dr Finlay's Casebook is a television series that was broadcast on the BBC from 1962 until 1971. Based on A. J. Cronin's novella ‘Country Doctor’, the storylines centred on a general medical practice in the fictional Scottish town of Tannochbrae during the late 1920s. Cronin was the primary writer for the show between 1962 and 1964.
bee
The Challenge
Title: The Challenge
Character: Ma Piper
Released: May 17, 1960
Type: Movie
Jailed for his role in a gang heist and ditched by its female leader (Jayne Mansfield), a widower (Anthony Quayle) decides to keep the loot.
bee
The Siege of Pinchgut
Title: The Siege of Pinchgut
Character: Mrs. Fulton
Released: August 1, 1959
Type: Movie
An escaped prisoner is trying to clear his name.
bee
Title: One Step Beyond
Character: Mrs. Jones
Released: January 20, 1959
Type: TV
Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond is an American anthology series created by Merwin Gerard. The original series ran for three seasons on ABC from January 1959 to July 1961.
bee
Innocent Sinners
Title: Innocent Sinners
Character: Mrs. Vincent
Released: March 25, 1958
Type: Movie
A neglected girl in post-World War II London befriends street urchins who help her build a tiny garden in a bombed-out church.
bee
Title: The Adventures of Robin Hood
Character: Elsbeth
Released: September 26, 1955
Type: TV
The legendary character Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding vicinity. While some episodes dramatised the traditional Robin Hood tales, most episodes were original dramas created by the show's writers and producers.
bee
A Journal of the Outdoors No. 11
Title: A Journal of the Outdoors No. 11
Character: Narrator
Released: March 1, 1953
Type: Movie
Wildfowl and wallabies in the wild, exotic animals in the office.
bee
The Gentle Gunman
Title: The Gentle Gunman
Character: Molly Fagan
Released: October 23, 1952
Type: Movie
The relationship between brothers Terry and Matt, both active in the IRA, comes under strain when Terry begins to question the use of violence.
bee
So Little Time
Title: So Little Time
Character: Anna
Released: April 18, 1952
Type: Movie
During World War II, German soldiers occupy the home of a beautiful Belgian girl and her mother.
bee
Talk of a Million
Title: Talk of a Million
Character: Bessie Murnahan
Released: March 12, 1951
Type: Movie
A family reduced to imminent poverty by the father's disinclination to work; an American lawyer looking for the heir to half a million pounds; the scene is set for a hilarious tale of creative deception!
bee
My Sister and I
Title: My Sister and I
Character: Hypatia Foley
Released: August 2, 1948
Type: Movie
A family is in need of a new house help so they employ a mysterious young woman. They soon realise all is not as it seems as the past comes back to haunt the woman of the house.
bee
Corridor of Mirrors
Title: Corridor of Mirrors
Character: Veronica
Released: February 23, 1948
Type: Movie
A man falls in love with a beautiful young woman and begins to suspect that he may have also loved her in a previous life.
bee
The Trojan Brothers
Title: The Trojan Brothers
Character: Margie Castelli
Released: February 4, 1946
Type: Movie
Opposing ends of a pantomime horse where the 'head' dates a society lady while the 'tail' is unhappily married.
bee
A Place of One's Own
Title: A Place of One's Own
Character: Emilie Smedhurst
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.
bee
Welcome, Mr Washington
Title: Welcome, Mr Washington
Character: Jane Willoughby
Released: May 18, 1944
Type: Movie
Based on a story by author Noel Streatfeild, the film trells the story of two sisters who are left penniless by their father's sudden death and lease their estate as an airbase to US forces in Britain to help the war effort. Both eventually fall for American servicemen.
bee
Thunder Rock
Title: Thunder Rock
Character: Ellen Kirby
Released: December 4, 1942
Type: Movie
David Charleston, once a world renowned journalist, now lives alone maintaining the Thunder Rock lighthouse in Lake Michigan. He doesn't cash his paychecks and has no contact other than the monthly inspector's visit. When alone, he imagines conversations with those who died when a 19th century packet ship with some 60 passengers sank. He imagines their lives, their problems, their fears and their hopes. In one of these conversations, he recalls his own efforts in the 1930s when he desperately tried to convince first his editors, and later the public, of the dangers of fascism and the inevitability of war. Few would listen. One of the passengers, a spinster, tells her story of seeking independence from a world dominated by men. There's also the case of a doctor who is banished for using unacceptable methods. David has given up on life, but the imaginary passengers give him hope for the future.
bee
Jeannie
Title: Jeannie
Character: Jeannie McLean
Released: September 6, 1941
Type: Movie
Based on Aimee Stuart's play. Little Scots girl decides to use her inheritance for a "grand tour" of the Continent.