Shirley Anne Field
Encyclopedia
Shirley Anne Field is a British actress who has performed on stage, film and television since 1955.
and Titbits. She was subsequently spotted by Bill Watts, who ran a theatrical agency, who obtained a number of uncredited extra roles in various late fifties British films. Her first appearance in a film was as an extra in Simon and Laura (1955). Her movie breakthrough was when she was chosen by Laurence Olivier
to play the prime female role in The Entertainer
, 1960. The same year she appeared in probably her best known role as Doreen, the would-be girlfriend of rebellious Arthur Seaton (played by Albert Finney
) in the influential British New Wave
film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
(Her co-star Finney previously had a small role in The Entertainer
). During the 1970s she spent some time on the stage before returning to films and TV appearances, in both the US and UK Television, in the 1980s, 90s, and 2000s.
Early Life
Shirley Anne Field was born Shirley Broomfield. She was the third of four children with two elder sisters and a younger brother. At the age of six she was placed in the National Children's Home at Edgeworth, near Bolton and four years later was moved to another children's home in Blackburn, where she attended Blakely Moor School for Girls. She subsequently returned to Edgeworth until she was 15 when she moved to a Children's Home hostel in London training as a typist while still attending school.Acting Career
After a course at the Lucy Clayton School and Model Agency she became a photographic model for pin-up magazines like ReveilleReveille
"Reveille" is a bugle call, trumpet call or pipes call most often associated with the military or summer camp; it is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise...
and Titbits. She was subsequently spotted by Bill Watts, who ran a theatrical agency, who obtained a number of uncredited extra roles in various late fifties British films. Her first appearance in a film was as an extra in Simon and Laura (1955). Her movie breakthrough was when she was chosen by Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
to play the prime female role in The Entertainer
The Entertainer (film)
The Entertainer is a 1960 film adaptation of the stage play of the same name by John Osborne, which told the story of a failing third-rate music hall stage performer who tried to keep his career going even as his personal life fell apart....
, 1960. The same year she appeared in probably her best known role as Doreen, the would-be girlfriend of rebellious Arthur Seaton (played by Albert Finney
Albert Finney
Albert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
) in the influential British New Wave
British New Wave
The British New Wave is the name given to a trend in filmmaking among directors in Britain in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The label is a translation of Nouvelle Vague, the French term first applied to the films of François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard among others.There is considerable overlap...
film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is the first novel by British author Alan Sillitoe and won the Author's Club First Novel Award.It was adapted by Sillitoe into a 1960 film starring Albert Finney, directed by Karel Reisz, and in 1964 was adapted by David Brett as a play for the Nottingham...
(Her co-star Finney previously had a small role in The Entertainer
The Entertainer (film)
The Entertainer is a 1960 film adaptation of the stage play of the same name by John Osborne, which told the story of a failing third-rate music hall stage performer who tried to keep his career going even as his personal life fell apart....
). During the 1970s she spent some time on the stage before returning to films and TV appearances, in both the US and UK Television, in the 1980s, 90s, and 2000s.
Personal Life
She married the aristocratic RAF pilot and racing driver Charles Crichton-Stuart (1939 - 2001) on 7 July 1967 and they had one daughter, Nicola Crichton-Stuart, who was born the same year. The marriage subsequently ended in divorce during the late 1970s. She wrote her autobiography A Time for Love (1991).Selected filmography
- Simon and LauraSimon and LauraSimon and Laura is a 1955 British drama film directed by Muriel Box and starring Peter Finch, Kay Kendall and Muriel Pavlow. A married couple are hired for a television programme to portray domestic happiness, although in real life their marriage is breaking down.-Cast:* Peter Finch - Simon Foster*...
(1955) - LostLost (1956 film)Lost is a 1956 British thriller film directed by Guy Green. It is set in 1950s London, and revolves around the apparent kidnapping of a young American couple's baby.-Plot:...
(1956) - The Flesh Is WeakThe Flesh Is WeakThe Flesh Is Weak is a 1957 British film directed by Don Chaffey. It stars John Derek and Milly Vitale.-Cast:* John Derek as Tony Giani* Milly Vitale as Marissa Cooper* William Franklyn as Lloyd Buxton* Martin Benson as Angelo Giani...
(1957) - as Susan - Horrors of the Black MuseumHorrors of the Black MuseumHorrors of the Black Museum is a British horror film starring Michael Gough and directed by Arthur Crabtree.It was the first film in what film critic David Pirie dubbed Anglo-Amalgamated's "Sadian trilogy" , with an emphasis on sadism, cruelty and violence , in contrast to the supernatural...
(1959) - Upstairs and DownstairsUpstairs and DownstairsUpstairs and Downstairs is a 1959 British comedy drama film directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Michael Craig, Anne Heywood, Mylène Demongeot, Claudia Cardinale, James Robertson Justice, Joan Sims, Joan Hickson and Sid James...
(1959) - Man in the MoonMan in the Moon (film)Man in the Moon is a 1960 comedy film directed by Basil Dearden. It stars Kenneth More and Shirley Anne Field.-Plot:William Blood is a man who appears to be immune to all known diseases, and possesses extraordinary resistance to heat and cold - a fact he puts down to his carefree, single life,...
(1960) - as Polly - Beat GirlBeat GirlBeat Girl is a 1960 British film about late-fifties youth-rebellion. The title character is played by starlet Gillian Hills, who later went on to have numerous small roles in 1960s and 1970s films, such as Blowup and A Clockwork Orange, and became a successful "ye-ye" singer in France.The music was...
(1960) - as Dodo - Once More, with Feeling!Once More, with Feeling!Once More, with Feeling! is a British comedy film directed and produced by Stanley Donen from a screenplay by Harry Kurnitz, based on his play. The film was released by Columbia Pictures and has music by Franz Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Richard Wagner, arranged by Muir Mathieson...
(1960) - as Angela Hopper - And the Same to YouAnd the Same to YouAnd the Same to You is a 1960 film directed by George Pollock. It stars Brian Rix and William Hartnell.-Cast:*Brian Rix as Dickie 'Dreadnought' Marchant*William Hartnell as Walter 'Wally' Burton*Leo Franklyn as Rev...
(1960) - as Iris Collins - Peeping TomPeeping Tom (film)Peeping Tom is a 1960 British psychological thriller directed by Michael Powell and written by the World War II cryptographer and polymath Leo Marks. The title derives from the slang expression 'peeping Tom' describing a voyeur...
(1960) - as Diane Ashley - The EntertainerThe Entertainer (film)The Entertainer is a 1960 film adaptation of the stage play of the same name by John Osborne, which told the story of a failing third-rate music hall stage performer who tried to keep his career going even as his personal life fell apart....
(1960) - as Tina Lapford - Saturday Night - Sunday MorningSaturday Night and Sunday Morning (film)Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is a 1960 British film. It is an adaptation of the 1958 novel of the same name by Alan Sillitoe. Sillitoe wrote the screenplay adaptation and the film was directed by Karel Reisz.-Synopsis:...
(1960) - as Doreen - The DamnedThe Damned (1963 film)The Damned is a 1963 British science fiction film starring Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field and Oliver Reed. It was a Hammer Film production directed by Joseph Losey and based on H.L...
(1961) - as Joan - Lunch Hour (1962) - as Girl
- The War LoverThe War LoverThe War Lover is a 1962 British black-and-white war film directed by Philip Leacock and written by Howard Koch loosely based on the 1959 novel, The War Lover by John Hersey, altering the names of characters and events but retaining its basic framework...
(1962) - as Daphne - Kings of the SunKings of the SunKings of the Sun is a 1963 movie directed by J. Lee Thompson set in Mesoamerica at the time of the conquest of Chichen Itza by Hunac Ceel. The story is about Mayan refugees who sail to the Mississippi River Valley and lay the foundation for the Mississippian culture complex...
(1963) - Doctor in CloverDoctor in CloverDoctor in Clover is a British comedy film released in 1966, starring Leslie Phillips. The film is based on the novel by Richard Gordon.The film was shot in Carnaby Street, Wormwood Scrubs and Pinewood Studios.-Synopsis:...
(1966) - as Nurse Bancroft - Alfie (1966) - as Carla
- My Beautiful LaundretteMy Beautiful LaundretteMy Beautiful Laundrette is a 1985 British comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Hanif Kureishi. The story is set in London during the period when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, as shown through the complex—and often comical—relationships...
(1986) - as Rachel - ShagShag (1989 film)Shag is a 1989 comedy film starring Bridget Fonda, Phoebe Cates, Annabeth Gish, Page Hannah, Jeff Yagher and Scott Coffey. The film features Carolina shag dancing and was produced in cooperation with the North Carolina Film Commission. The soundtrack album was on Sire/Warner Bros...
(1989) - as Mrs Clatterback - Hear My SongHear My SongHear My Song is a 1991 film, written by the actors Peter Chelsom and Adrian Dunbar , based on the story of Irish tenor Josef Locke...
(1991) - as Cathleen Doyle - Loving Deadly (1994)
- The KidThe Kid (2010 film)The Kid is a 2010 British biopic about the life of Kevin Lewis. Based on his autobiography of the same name, it is the story of a boy growing up in a violent, abusive family on a council estate in the 1980s.-Plot:...
(2010) - The Power of Three (film) (2010)
- Transfer at Aachen (2011)
TV appearances include
- Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara (TV series)Santa Barbara is an American television soap opera, first broadcast in the United States on NBC on July 30, 1984, and last aired on January 15, 1993. The show revolved around the eventful lives of the wealthy Capwell family of Santa Barbara, California...
- Monarch of the Glen
- Where the Heart IsWhere the Heart Is (1997 TV series)Where the Heart Is is a British television drama series set in the fictional town Skelthwaite.First shown in 1997, it was created by Ashley Pharoah and Vicky Featherstone...
- The BillThe BillThe Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
- Dalziel and PascoeDalziel and Pascoe (BBC TV series)Dalziel and Pascoe is a popular British television crime drama based on the Dalziel and Pascoe books by Reginald Hill, which was first broadcast in March 1996. It is set in Yorkshire, and is about two detectives...
- Murder She Wrote
- Never the TwainNever the TwainNever the Twain is a British sitcom that ran for eleven series from 1981 to 1991. It was created by Johnnie Mortimer, and was the only sitcom he ever created without his usual writing partner, Brian Cooke...
- Upstairs, DownstairsUpstairs, DownstairsUpstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a...
- Last of the Summer WineLast of the Summer WineLast of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom written by Roy Clarke that was broadcast on BBC One. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973 and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. From 1983 to 2010, Alan J. W. Bell produced and...
- Shoestring
- Doctors (BBC) Episode entitled Swansong
- House of the Living DeadHouse of the Living DeadHouse of the Living Dead is a British horror and science fiction film made in 1973 by director Ray Austin. Set on a plantation in Apartheid-era South Africa, it deals heavily with the occult. Its tagline is "It drives you mad before it kills!"-Plot:...
See also
- Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies - published by Harper-Collins, 1981 - ISBN 0-06-093507-3
- The Film Encyclopedia by Ephraim Katz - published by Collins - ISBN 0-06-074214-3
Further reading
- Field, Shirley Anne, A Time for Love: An Autobiography ISBN 978-0-593-01161-4 ISBN 0-593-01161-9