Estelle Winwood
Encyclopedia
Estelle Winwood was an English
stage
and film
actress who moved to the United States
in mid-career and became celebrated for her longevity.
, Kent
in 1883, she decided at the age of five that she wanted to be an actress. With her mother's support, but her father's disapproval, she trained with the Lyric Stage Academy in London, before making her professional debut in Johannesburg
at the age of 20. During the First World War she joined the Liverpool Repertory Company
in Liverpool
, Lancashire
before moving on to a career in the West End theatre
in London
.
début in New York City
; and, until the beginning of the 1930s, she divided her time between New York City and London. Throughout her career, her first love was the theatre; and, as the years passed, she appeared less frequently in London and became a frequent performer on Broadway. Her many successes include A Successful Calamity (1917), A Little Journey (1918), Spring Cleaning (1923), The Distaff Side (1934), The Importance of Being Earnest
(which she also directed, 1939), When We Are Married
(1939), Ladies in Retirement (1940), The Pirate (1942), Ten Little Indians
(1944), Lady Windermere's Fan
(1947), and The Madwoman of Chaillot
(1948).
(1933), and Quality Street (1937) was her first role of note. She made no cinematic films during the 1940s but expressed a willingness to participate in the new medium of television
, starring in a television production of Blithe Spirit
in 1946. During the 1950s, she appeared more frequently in television than she did in film in such series as Robert Montgomery Presents
, Alfred Hitchcock Presents
, and The Donna Reed Show
. Her few films from that period include The Glass Slipper
(1955), The Swan
(1956), and 23 Paces to Baker Street
(1956).
Her other film credits include Darby O'Gill and the Little People
(1959), The Misfits
(1961), The Magic Sword
(1962), The Notorious Landlady
(1962), Dead Ringer
(1964), Camelot
(1967), and The Producers
(1968). She later denigrated the last film, saying she could not imagine why she had done it except for the money; nonetheless, it is now considered a comedy classic.
Her other work for television included guest roles in The Twlight Zone
; Thriller (US TV series)
; Dr. Kildare; Perry Mason
; The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
; The Name of the Game
; Bewitched
; Batman
; Love, American Style
; Cannon
; and Police Story.
Winwood's final film appearance, at age 92 in Murder by Death
(1976), was as Elsa Lanchester
's character's ancient nursemaid; but, in real life, they were rivals who engaged in a vinegary exchange of insults. In this movie, she joined other veteran actors spoofing some of the most popular detective characters in murder mysteries on film and television (Dick and Dora Charleston, Jessica Marbles, etc.).
When she made her final television appearance, in a 1979 episode of Quincy
, she officially became, at age 96, the oldest actor working in the U.S., beating out fellow British actress Ethel Griffies
, who worked until her 90s. Winwood ultimately achieved an eighty-year career on the stage from her début at age 16 until her final appearance at age 100, playing Sir Rex Harrison
's mother in his final My Fair Lady
tour. When she died at age 101, she was the oldest member in the history of the Screen Actors Guild
.
. Arthur Chesney was a brother of the Oscar-winning actor Edmund Gwenn
(The Miracle on 34th Street).
She was very good friends with Tallulah Bankhead
, who died in 1968. She, Bankhead, and actresses Eva Le Gallienne
and Blyth Daly
were dubbed "The Four Riders of the Algonquin" in the early silent film days, because of their appearances together at the "Algonquin Round Table
".
She appears as a character in Answered Prayers, Truman Capote
's final, unfinished, thinly veiled roman à clef
. In the novel, which uses her real name, she attends a drunken dinner party with Bankhead, Dorothy Parker
, Montgomery Clift
, and the novel's narrator, P.B. Jones.
On her 100th birthday
, she was asked how it felt to have lived so long. Her response was, "How rude of you to remind me!" Bette Davis
, a co-star from Dead Ringer, was photographed at Winwood's side on the occasion in Hollywood, California.
Winwood died in her sleep in Woodland Hills, California, in 1984, at age 101. She was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
in Los Angeles
, California
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
stage
Stage (theatre)
In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...
and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
actress who moved to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in mid-career and became celebrated for her longevity.
Early life and early career
Born Estelle Ruth Goodwin in LeeLee, London
Lee is a district of south London, England, located mostly in the London Borough of Lewisham and partly in the London Borough of Greenwich. The district lies to the east of Lewisham, one mile west of Eltham, and one mile south of Blackheath village...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
in 1883, she decided at the age of five that she wanted to be an actress. With her mother's support, but her father's disapproval, she trained with the Lyric Stage Academy in London, before making her professional debut in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
at the age of 20. During the First World War she joined the Liverpool Repertory Company
Liverpool Playhouse
The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actresses, some of which went on to achieve...
in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
before moving on to a career in the West End theatre
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Broadway and West End career
She moved to the U.S. in 1916 and made her BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
début in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
; and, until the beginning of the 1930s, she divided her time between New York City and London. Throughout her career, her first love was the theatre; and, as the years passed, she appeared less frequently in London and became a frequent performer on Broadway. Her many successes include A Successful Calamity (1917), A Little Journey (1918), Spring Cleaning (1923), The Distaff Side (1934), The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
(which she also directed, 1939), When We Are Married
When We Are Married
When We Are Married is a 1938 play by English dramatist, J. B. Priestley. It is the first play ever to be televised unedited from a theatre.-Productions:* 1938 World premiere, London, England* 16 November 1938 BBC live telecast...
(1939), Ladies in Retirement (1940), The Pirate (1942), Ten Little Indians
Ten Little Indians
"Ten Little Indians" is a children's rhyme. The song is usually performed to the Irish folk tune "Michael Finnegan". It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13512.-Lyrics:The modern lyrics are believed to be public domain and are as follows:...
(1944), Lady Windermere's Fan
Lady Windermere's Fan
Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman is a four act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first produced 22 February 1892 at the St James's Theatre in London. The play was first published in 1893...
(1947), and The Madwoman of Chaillot
The Madwoman of Chaillot
The Madwoman of Chaillot is a play, a poetic satire, by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux, written in 1943 and first performed in 1945, after his death. The play has two acts and follows the convention of the classical unities...
(1948).
A reluctant film and television actress
Like many stage actors of her era, she expressed a distaste for films and resisted the offers she received during the 1920s. Finally, she relented and made her film début in Night Angel (1931), but her scenes were cut before the film's release. Her official film début came in The House of TrentThe House of Trent
The House of Trent is a 1933 British drama film directed by Norman Walker and starring Anne Grey, Wendy Barrie, Moore Marriott and Peter Gawthorne. A doctor faces both a scandal and a moral dilemma when a patient of his dies while he is making love to a press magnate's daughter. It was also...
(1933), and Quality Street (1937) was her first role of note. She made no cinematic films during the 1940s but expressed a willingness to participate in the new medium of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, starring in a television production of Blithe Spirit
Blithe Spirit (play)
Blithe Spirit is a comic play written by Noël Coward which takes its title from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To a Skylark" . The play concerns socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati, to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to...
in 1946. During the 1950s, she appeared more frequently in television than she did in film in such series as Robert Montgomery Presents
Robert Montgomery Presents
Robert Montgomery Presents is an American dramatic television series which was produced by NBC from January 30, 1950 until June 24, 1957. The live show had several sponsors during its seven-year run, and the title was altered to feature the sponsor, usually Lucky Strike cigarettes, for example,...
, Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
, and The Donna Reed Show
The Donna Reed Show
The Donna Reed Show is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the upper middle class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz appears as her pediatrician husband Alex, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children Mary and Jeff. The show originally aired on ABC at 10 pm from September...
. Her few films from that period include The Glass Slipper
The Glass Slipper
The Glass Slipper is a musical film adaptation of Cinderella, made by MGM, directed by Charles Walters and produced by Edwin H. Knopf from a screenplay by Helen Deutsch. The music score is by Bronislau Kaper, the cinematography by Arthur E. Arling, the art direction by Daniel B...
(1955), The Swan
The Swan (film)
The Swan is a 1956 remake by MGM of a 1925 Paramount film with the same title. . The film is a romantic comedy directed by Charles Vidor, produced by Dore Schary from a screenplay by John Dighton based on the play by Ferenc Molnár...
(1956), and 23 Paces to Baker Street
23 Paces to Baker Street
23 Paces to Baker Street is a 1956 American drama film released by 20th Century Fox. The Hitchcockian mystery thriller, filmed in Cinemascope on location in London, focuses on Philip Hannon, a blind playwright who overhears a partial conversation he believes is related to the planning of a kidnapping...
(1956).
Her other film credits include Darby O'Gill and the Little People
Darby O'Gill and the Little People
Darby O'Gill and the Little People is a 1959 Walt Disney Productions feature film starring Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro, Sean Connery and Jimmy O'Dea, in a tale about a wily Irishman and his battle of wits with leprechauns. The film was directed by Robert Stevenson and its screenplay written by...
(1959), The Misfits
The Misfits (film)
The Misfits is a 1961 American drama film written by Arthur Miller, directed by John Huston, and starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomery Clift, Thelma Ritter, and Eli Wallach. It was the final film appearance for both Gable and Monroe...
(1961), The Magic Sword
The Magic Sword (film)
The Magic Sword is a 1962 live action fantasy film, mainly aimed at children, based loosely on the medieval legend of St. George and the Dragon.The film appeared on a 1992 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000...
(1962), The Notorious Landlady
The Notorious Landlady
The Notorious Landlady is a 1962 comedy/mystery American film starring Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, and Fred Astaire. The film was directed by Richard Quine, with a script by Blake Edwards.-Plot:...
(1962), Dead Ringer
Dead Ringer (1964 film)
Dead Ringer, also known as Who is Buried in my Grave? is a 1964 thriller film made by Warner Bros. It was directed by Paul Henreid and produced by William H. Wright from a screenplay by Oscar Millard and Albert Beich from the story La Otra by Rian James...
(1964), Camelot
Camelot (film)
Camelot is a 1967 film adaptation of the musical of the same name. Richard Harris stars as Arthur, Vanessa Redgrave as Guinevere, and Franco Nero as Lancelot. The film was directed by Joshua Logan.-Plot:...
(1967), and The Producers
The Producers (1968 film)
The Producers is a 1968 American satirical dark comedy cult classic film written and directed by Mel Brooks. The film is set in the late 1960s and it tells the story of a theatrical producer and an accountant who want to produce a sure-fire Broadway flop...
(1968). She later denigrated the last film, saying she could not imagine why she had done it except for the money; nonetheless, it is now considered a comedy classic.
Her other work for television included guest roles in The Twlight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
; Thriller (US TV series)
Thriller (US TV series)
Thriller is an anthology television series that aired during the 1960–61 and 1961–62 seasons on NBC. The show featured host Boris Karloff introducing a mix of macabre horror tales and suspense thrillers....
; Dr. Kildare; Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
; The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
; The Name of the Game
The Name of the Game (TV series)
The Name of the Game is an American television series starring Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry, and Robert Stack that ran from 1968 to 1971 on NBC, totaling 76 episodes of 90 minutes. It was a pioneering wheel series, setting the stage for the likes of The Bold Ones and the NBC Mystery Movie in the 1970s...
; Bewitched
Bewitched
Bewitched is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for eight seasons on ABC from 1964 to 1972, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Dick York and Dick Sargent , Agnes Moorehead, and David White. The show is about a witch who marries a mortal and tries to lead the life of a typical suburban...
; Batman
Batman (TV series)
Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
; Love, American Style
Love, American Style
Love, American Style is an hour-long TV anthology produced by Paramount Television and originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974...
; Cannon
Cannon (TV series)
Cannon is a CBS detective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from March 26, 1971 to March 3, 1976.The primary protagonist was the title character, Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad....
; and Police Story.
Winwood's final film appearance, at age 92 in Murder by Death
Murder by Death
Murder by Death is a 1976 comedy film with a cast featuring Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, Nancy Walker, and Estelle Winwood, written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore.The plot is a spoof of...
(1976), was as Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Lanchester
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester was an English-American character actress with a long career in theatre, film and television....
's character's ancient nursemaid; but, in real life, they were rivals who engaged in a vinegary exchange of insults. In this movie, she joined other veteran actors spoofing some of the most popular detective characters in murder mysteries on film and television (Dick and Dora Charleston, Jessica Marbles, etc.).
When she made her final television appearance, in a 1979 episode of Quincy
Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M.E., also called Quincy, is a United States television series from Universal Studios that aired from October 3, 1976, to September 5, 1983, on NBC...
, she officially became, at age 96, the oldest actor working in the U.S., beating out fellow British actress Ethel Griffies
Ethel Griffies
Ethel Griffies was an English actress of stage, screen, and television....
, who worked until her 90s. Winwood ultimately achieved an eighty-year career on the stage from her début at age 16 until her final appearance at age 100, playing Sir Rex Harrison
Rex Harrison
Sir Reginald Carey “Rex” Harrison was an English actor of stage and screen. Harrison won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards.-Youth and stage career:...
's mother in his final My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
tour. When she died at age 101, she was the oldest member in the history of the Screen Actors Guild
Screen Actors Guild
The Screen Actors Guild is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide...
.
Personal life
Winwood was married four times but bore no children. Guthrie McClintic had also been married to actress Katharine CornellKatharine Cornell
Katharine Cornell was an American stage actress, writer, theater owner and producer. She was born to American parents and raised in Buffalo, New York.Cornell is known as the greatest American stage actress of the 20th century...
. Arthur Chesney was a brother of the Oscar-winning actor Edmund Gwenn
Edmund Gwenn
Edmund Gwenn was an English theatre and film actor.-Background:Born Edmund John Kellaway in Wandsworth, London , and educated at St. Olave's School and later at King's College London, Gwenn began his acting career in the theatre in 1895...
(The Miracle on 34th Street).
She was very good friends with Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...
, who died in 1968. She, Bankhead, and actresses Eva Le Gallienne
Eva Le Gallienne
Eva Le Gallienne was a well-known actress, producer, and director, during the first half of the 20th century.-Early life and early career:...
and Blyth Daly
Blyth Daly
Blyth Daly, also spelled Blythe Daley was an actress who appeared in stage productions on Broadway and who appeared in several silent and sound films. She is better known for her relationships and friendships in the underworld of the Hollywood and New York City lesbian acting community than for...
were dubbed "The Four Riders of the Algonquin" in the early silent film days, because of their appearances together at the "Algonquin Round Table
Algonquin Round Table
The Algonquin Round Table was a celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929...
".
She appears as a character in Answered Prayers, Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
's final, unfinished, thinly veiled roman à clef
Roman à clef
Roman à clef or roman à clé , French for "novel with a key", is a phrase used to describe a novel about real life, overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship between the nonfiction and the fiction...
. In the novel, which uses her real name, she attends a drunken dinner party with Bankhead, Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker
Dorothy Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th century urban foibles....
, Montgomery Clift
Montgomery Clift
Edward Montgomery Clift was an American film and stage actor. The New York Times’ obituary noted his portrayal of "moody, sensitive young men"....
, and the novel's narrator, P.B. Jones.
On her 100th birthday
Centenarian
A centenarian is a person who is or lives beyond the age of 100 years. Because current average life expectancies across the world are less than 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. Much rarer, a supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more, something only...
, she was asked how it felt to have lived so long. Her response was, "How rude of you to remind me!" Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
, a co-star from Dead Ringer, was photographed at Winwood's side on the occasion in Hollywood, California.
Winwood died in her sleep in Woodland Hills, California, in 1984, at age 101. She was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
The Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery is a cemetery in the Westwood Village area of Los Angeles, California. It is located at 1218 Glendon Avenue in Westwood....
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.
Selected filmography
- The House of TrentThe House of TrentThe House of Trent is a 1933 British drama film directed by Norman Walker and starring Anne Grey, Wendy Barrie, Moore Marriott and Peter Gawthorne. A doctor faces both a scandal and a moral dilemma when a patient of his dies while he is making love to a press magnate's daughter. It was also...
(1933) - Alive and KickingAlive and Kicking (film)Alive and Kicking is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Sybil Thorndike, Kathleen Harrison, Estelle Winwood and Stanley Holloway. Three woman grow dissatisfied with their lives in a retirement home and decide to search for fresh enjoyment and adventure...
(1959)
External links
- Eva Le Gallienne, Estelle Winwood
- Estelle Winwood lithograph from magazine The Theater 1918
- Estelle Winwood 'holding a cigarette' in March 1923 Vanity Fair portrait by Nickolas MurayNickolas MurayNickolas Muray was a Hungarian-born American photographer and Olympic fencer.-Biography:...
