Megs Jenkins
Encyclopedia
Muguette Mary "Megs" Jenkins (21 April 1917 - 5 October 1998) was an English
character actress who appeared in British films and television programmes.
, the daughter of a construction engineer. She originally trained to be a ballet dancer. Although born in England, she often played Welsh characters.
She made her film debut in 1943, and appeared in such classics as Green for Danger
(1946), in which she turned out to be the twin sister of a Nazi collaborator, The History of Mr. Polly
(1949), The Cruel Sea
(1953), and Oliver!
(1968). She played the housekeeper Mrs Grose in two adaptations of Henry James
's The Turn of the Screw
: the 1961 film The Innocents, and a 1974 TV adaptation. She frequently played comic roles, and in later life was a regular in the sitcom, Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt!
, and the children's series, Worzel Gummidge
.
Beginning in 1933, Jenkins also had a long stage career, and appeared in several plays by Emlyn Williams
. In 1956 she won the Clarence Derwent Award for best supporting performance in Arthur Miller
's A View from the Bridge
.
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...
character actress who appeared in British films and television programmes.
Life and career
Jenkins was born in BirkenheadBirkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
, the daughter of a construction engineer. She originally trained to be a ballet dancer. Although born in England, she often played Welsh characters.
She made her film debut in 1943, and appeared in such classics as Green for Danger
Green for Danger (film)
Green for Danger is a 1946 British thriller film, based on the popular 1944 detective novel by Christianna Brand.The book Green for Danger was praised for its clever plot, interesting characters, and wartime hospital setting. The film version, starring Alastair Sim and Trevor Howard, with Sally...
(1946), in which she turned out to be the twin sister of a Nazi collaborator, The History of Mr. Polly
The History of Mr. Polly (film)
The History of Mr. Polly is a 1949 British film, based on the 1910 comic novel The History of Mr. Polly by H.G. Wells. It was directed by Anthony Pelissier and stars John Mills, Betty Ann Davies, Megs Jenkins and Finlay Currie...
(1949), The Cruel Sea
The Cruel Sea (film)
The Cruel Sea is a 1953 British film from Ealing Studios starring Jack Hawkins and Donald Sinden, with Denholm Elliott, Stanley Baker, Liam Redmond, Virginia McKenna and Moira Lister...
(1953), and Oliver!
Oliver! (film)
Oliver! is a 1968 British musical film directed by Carol Reed. The film is based on the stage musical Oliver!, with book, music and lyrics written by Lionel Bart. The screenplay was written by Vernon Harris....
(1968). She played the housekeeper Mrs Grose in two adaptations of Henry James
Henry James
Henry James, OM was an American-born writer, regarded as one of the key figures of 19th-century literary realism. He was the son of Henry James, Sr., a clergyman, and the brother of philosopher and psychologist William James and diarist Alice James....
's The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw is a novella written by Henry James. Originally published in 1898, it is ostensibly a ghost story.Due to its ambiguous content, it became a favourite text of academics who subscribe to New Criticism. The novella has had differing interpretations, often mutually exclusive...
: the 1961 film The Innocents, and a 1974 TV adaptation. She frequently played comic roles, and in later life was a regular in the sitcom, Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt!
Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt!
Oh No, It's Selwyn Froggitt! was a popular ITV situation comedy which ran from 1974 to 1977.It starred Bill Maynard as the council labourer, Scarsdale Working Men’s Club secretary, hapless handyman and all-round public nuisance Selwyn Froggitt. It was created by Roy Clarke, who wrote the pilot...
, and the children's series, Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge
Worzel Gummidge is a British children's fictional character who originally appeared in a series of books by the novelist Barbara Euphan Todd. A walking, talking scarecrow, Gummidge has a set of interchangeable turnip, mangel worzel and swede heads, each of which suit a particular occasion or endow...
.
Beginning in 1933, Jenkins also had a long stage career, and appeared in several plays by Emlyn Williams
Emlyn Williams
George Emlyn Williams, CBE , known as Emlyn Williams, was a Welsh dramatist and actor.-Biography:He was born into a Welsh-speaking, working class family in Mostyn, Flintshire....
. In 1956 she won the Clarence Derwent Award for best supporting performance in Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
's A View from the Bridge
A View from the Bridge
A View from the Bridge is a play by American playwright Arthur Miller that was first staged on September 29, 1955 as a one-act verse drama with A Memory of Two Mondays at the Coronet Theatre on Broadway. The play was unsuccessful and Miller subsequently revised the play to contain two acts; this...
.
Filmography
- The Silent BattleThe Silent BattleThe Silent Battle is a 1939 British thriller film directed by Herbert Mason and starring Rex Harrison, Valerie Hobson and John Loder. It is also known by the alternative titles Continental Express and Peace in our Time. It was inspired by the novel Le Poisson Chinois by Jean Bommart...
(1939) - Secret JourneySecret Journey (film)Secret Journey is a 1939 British thriller film directed by John Baxter and starring Basil Radford, Silvia St. Claire and Thorley Walters. A British agent travels to Berlin to recover a top-secret invention that has been stolen by German intelligence.-Cast:...
(1939) - Poison PenPoison Pen (film)Poison Pen is a 1939 British psychological drama, directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Flora Robson, Reginald Tate and Ann Todd. The film is an adaptation of a novel by Welsh author Richard Llewellyn...
(1939) - Luck of the Devil (1939, TV film)
- Inspector Hornleigh on HolidayInspector Hornleigh on HolidayInspector Hornleigh on Holiday is a 1939 British detective film directed by Walter Forde and starring Gordon Harker, Alastair Sim, Linden Travers and Edward Chapman...
(1939) - Millions Like UsMillions Like UsMillions Like Us is a 1943 British propaganda film, showing life in a wartime aircraft factory in documentary detail. It stars Patricia Roc, Eric Portman, Megs Jenkins, and Anne Crawford, was written by Sidney Gilliat, and directed by Gilliat and Frank Launder...
(1943) - The Lamp Still BurnsThe Lamp Still BurnsThe Lamp Still Burns is a 1943 British drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Rosamund John, Stewart Granger, Godfrey Tearle and Sophie Stewart. An architect retrains as a nurse...
(1943) - It's in the BagIt's in the Bag (1944 film)It's in the Bag is a 1944 British comedy film directed by Herbert Mason and starring Elsie Waters, Doris Waters and Ernest Butcher. Gert and Dasie try to recover a valuable lost dress...
(1944) - 29 Acacia Avenue29 Acacia Avenue29 Acacia Avenue is a play by Denis and Mabel Constanduros, and its 1945 film adaptation, directed by Henry Cass and released in the U.S. as The Facts of Love.-Plot:...
(19451945 in filmThe year 1945 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* Paramount Studios releases theatrical short cartoon titled The Friendly Ghost, featuring a ghost named Casper.* With Rossellini's Roma Città aperta, Italian neorealist cinema begins....
) - Painted BoatsPainted BoatsPainted Boats is a black-and-white British film directed by Charles Crichton and released by Ealing Studios in 1945. Painted Boats, one of the lesser-known Ealing films of the period, is brief , uses a little-known cast and has a slight storyline...
(1945) - Green for DangerGreen for Danger (film)Green for Danger is a 1946 British thriller film, based on the popular 1944 detective novel by Christianna Brand.The book Green for Danger was praised for its clever plot, interesting characters, and wartime hospital setting. The film version, starring Alastair Sim and Trevor Howard, with Sally...
(1946) - The BrothersThe Brothers (1947 film)The Brothers is a British film melodrama of 1947, starring Patricia Roc and John Laurie, from a novel of the same name by L.A.G. Strong. It is set in the Western Isles of Scotland, and the long and murderous grudge between two clans there, the Macraes and McFarishes...
(1947) - The Monkey's PawThe Monkey's Paw (1948 film)The Monkey's Paw is a 1948 British horror film directed by Norman Lee and starring Milton Rosmer, Michael Martin Harvey, Joan Seton and Megs Jenkins. A magic Monkey's Paw grants its owner three wishes before a disaster befalls them. It is based on the 1902 story The Monkey's Paw by W. W....
(1948) - Saraband for Dead LoversSaraband for Dead LoversSaraband for Dead Lovers is a 1948 British historical drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Stewart Granger and Joan Greenwood. It is based on the novel by Helen Simpson...
(1948) - A Boy, a Girl and a Bike (1949)
- The History of Mr. PollyThe History of Mr. Polly (film)The History of Mr. Polly is a 1949 British film, based on the 1910 comic novel The History of Mr. Polly by H.G. Wells. It was directed by Anthony Pelissier and stars John Mills, Betty Ann Davies, Megs Jenkins and Finlay Currie...
(1949) - No Place for JenniferNo Place for JenniferNo Place for Jennifer is a 1950 British film directed by Henry Cass and starring Leo Genn, Rosamund John, Guy Middleton and Janette Scott.In the film, a young girl experiences trauma when her parents divorce.It was based on a novel by Phyllis Hambleton....
(1950) - Mr. Gillie (1950, TV film)
- White CorridorsWhite CorridorsWhite Corridors is a 1951 British drama film directed by Pat Jackson and based on a novel by Helen Ashton. It starred Googie Withers, Godfrey Tearle, James Donald and Petula Clark. The film is set in a hospital shortly after the establishment of the National Health Service. At the 1951 BAFTAS it...
(1951) - Jenny Meade (1951, TV film)
- Dark Summer (1951, TV film)
- The Secret PeopleThe Secret People (film)The Secret People is a 1952 British drama film directed by Thorold Dickinson and starring Valentina Cortese, Audrey Hepburn and Serge Reggiani. Hepburn's appearance was her first major starring role in a film . In this suspenseful film, Hepburn plays a ballerina, making use of her extensive training...
(1952) - IvanhoeIvanhoe (1952 film)Ivanhoe is a 1952 historical film made by MGM. It was directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman. The cast featured Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Emlyn Williams, Finlay Currie and Felix Aylmer...
(1952) - Rough ShootRough ShootRough Shoot is a 1953 British thriller film directed by Robert Parrish and starring Joel McCrea, Evelyn Keyes and Herbert Lom. A retired American army officer living in the English countryside shoots at a man he takes to be a poacher. Believing he has killed him he goes on the run from the British...
(1953) - The Cruel SeaThe Cruel Sea (film)The Cruel Sea is a 1953 British film from Ealing Studios starring Jack Hawkins and Donald Sinden, with Denholm Elliott, Stanley Baker, Liam Redmond, Virginia McKenna and Moira Lister...
(1953) - Trouble in StoreTrouble in StoreTrouble in Store is a 1953 British comedy film starring Norman Wisdom as a department store clerk in his screen debut. For his performance, Wisdom won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer. The film broke box office records at 51 out of the 67 London cinemas in which it played...
(1953) - Personal AffairPersonal AffairPersonal Affair is a 1953 British drama film directed by Anthony Pelissier and starring Gene Tierney, Leo Genn, and Glynis Johns.-Plot summary:...
(1953) - The Gay DogThe Gay DogThe Gay Dog is a 1954 British comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Wilfred Pickles, Petula Clark and Megs Jenkins. A family acquire ownership of a greyhound which they plan to enter into a race.-Cast:* Wilfred Pickles - Jim Gay...
(1954) - John and JulieJohn and JulieJohn and Julie was a 1955 British comedy film. It featured Peter Sellers and Sid James in early screen roles-Plot:John and Julie are two children who personally want to see The Queen's coronation in spite of the fact that their parents have no intention of going. The two decide to run off to...
(1955) - Out of the CloudsOut of the CloudsOut of the Clouds is a 1955 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden, and starring Anthony Steel, Sid James and James Robertson Justice. An Ealing Studios film, it follows the lives of the passengers and crew on a day at an airport that was filmed in Heathrow Airport.-Description:The film was...
(1955) - The Passionate StrangerThe Passionate StrangerThe Passionate Stranger is a 1957 British drama film, directed by Muriel Box and starring Margaret Leighton and Ralph Richardson. It uses the film within a film device, with the "real" part of the plot shot in black-and-white and the "fictional" element in colour...
(1957) - Man in the SkyMan in the SkyMan in the Sky is a 1957 film produced by Ealing Studios and starring Jack Hawkins.-Plot:...
(1957) - The Story of Esther CostelloThe Story of Esther CostelloThe Story of Esther Costello is a 1957 British drama film starring Joan Crawford, Rossano Brazzi, and Heather Sears . The film is an exposé of large-scale fundraising. The Story of Esther Costello was produced by David Miller and Jack Clayton with Miller directing...
(1957) - Indiscreet (1958)
- Tiger BayTiger Bay (film)Tiger Bay is a 1959 British crime drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson and produced and co-written by John Hawkesworth. It stars John Mills as a police superintendent who investigates a murder, his daughter Hayley Mills, in her first major film role, as a girl who witnesses the murder, and Horst...
(1959) - Jet StormJet StormJet Storm is a 1959 British thriller film, where Richard Attenborough plays Ernest Tilley, a man who lost his daughter in a hit-and-run accident. He tracks down the man responsible for the accident and boards the same plane, threatening to blow up himself and everyone on board as an act of...
(1959) - Friends and NeighboursFriends and NeighboursFriends and Neighbours is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Gordon Parry and starring Arthur Askey, Megs Jenkins and Peter Illing. At the height of the Cold War, a working-class British family have to entertain two visitors from Russia.-Cast:...
(1959) - Conspiracy of HeartsConspiracy of HeartsConspiracy of Hearts is a 1960 British film. It stars Lilli Palmer, Sylvia Syms and Albert Lieven. Its plot involves Italian nuns smuggling Jewish children out of an internment camp near their convent to save them from the Holocaust. It was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Film Promoting...
(1960) - The Green HelmetThe Green HelmetThe Green Helmet is a 1961 British film starring Bill Travers, Ed Begley and Sid James. The film is centred around a British motor racing team. It is based on a novel by Australian author Jon Cleary.-Cast:* Bill Travers as Rafferty...
(1961) - The Innocents (1961)
- Life for RuthLife for RuthLife for Ruth is a 1962 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Michael Craig, Patrick McGoohan and Janet Munro.-Plot:John Harris finds himself ostracized and placed on trial for allowing his daughter Ruth to die. His religious beliefs forbade him to give consent for a blood...
(1962) - The Wild and the WillingThe Wild and the WillingThe Wild and the Willing is a 1962 British romantic drama film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Virginia Maskell, Paul Rogers, Ian McShane, Samantha Eggar and John Hurt. It marked the film debut of McShane, who later became famous for his television roles in Lovejoy and Deadwood...
(1962) - The Barber of Stamford Hill (1962)
- Murder Most FoulMurder Most FoulMurder Most Foul is the third of four films made by MGM loosely based on novels by Agatha Christie and starring Margaret Rutherford as Miss Jane Marple, Bud Tingwell as Inspector Craddock, and Stringer Davis as Mr Stringer. The story is ostensibly based on the novel Mrs McGinty's Dead, but notably...
(1964) - Bunny Lake Is MissingBunny Lake Is MissingBunny Lake Is Missing is a 1965 British psychological thriller film directed and produced by Otto Preminger, who filmed it in black and white widescreen format in London. It was based on the novel of the same name by Merriam Modell. The score is by Paul Glass and the opening theme is often heard as...
(1965) - Stranger in the HouseStranger in the House (1967 film)Stranger In The House is a 1967 crime drama directed and written by Pierre Rouve , produced by Anatole de Grunwald, and starring James Mason, Geraldine Chaplin, and Bobby Darin. The movie is also known as Cop-Out and is a remake of the 1942 French film Strangers in the House...
(1967) - Oliver!Oliver! (film)Oliver! is a 1968 British musical film directed by Carol Reed. The film is based on the stage musical Oliver!, with book, music and lyrics written by Lionel Bart. The screenplay was written by Vernon Harris....
(1968) - The Smashing Bird I Used to KnowThe Smashing Bird I Used to KnowThe Smashing Bird I Used to Know is a 1969 British drama/sexploitation film, directed by Robert Hartford-Davis and starring Madeleine Hinde, Maureen Lipman, Patrick Mower and Dennis Waterman. As with other Hartford-Davis films, The Smashing Bird I Used to Know contains elements from different...
(1969) - David CopperfieldDavid Copperfield (1969 film)David Copperfield is a 1969 American television film directed by Delbert Mann based on the novel of the same name by Charles Dickens adapted by Jack Pulman, who later went on to adapt the Roman saga I, Claudius for BBC Television. The film was made in the UK for 20th Century Fox Television.The film...
(1969, TV film) - The BefriendersThe BefriendersThe Befrienders is a British television series produced by the BBC in 1972.The series dealt with the work of the Samaritans organisation, and the individual cases its staff came across...
(1970, TV film) - AsylumAsylum (1972 film)Asylum is a 1972 British horror film made by Amicus Productions. The film was directed by Roy Ward Baker, produced by Milton Subotsky, and scripted by Robert Bloch .It is a horror portmanteau film, one of several produced by Amicus during the 1960s to...
(1972) - The Amorous MilkmanThe Amorous MilkmanThe Amorous Milkman is a 1975 British comedy film directed by Derren Nesbitt and starring Julie Ege, Diana Dors and Brendan Price. A young milkman enjoys a number of adventures with bored woman on his round.-Cast:* Julie Ege as Diana* Diana Dors as Rita...
(1975)