Rachel Roberts (actress)

Rachel Roberts (20 September 1927 – 26 November 1980) was a Welsh actress. She is best remembered for her screen performances as the older mistress of the central male character in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) and This Sporting Life (1963). For both films, she won the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress. She was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for This Sporting Life. Her other notable film appearances included Murder on the Orient Express (1974), Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and Yanks (1979).

Rachel Roberts
Roberts in 1976
Born	20 September 1927 Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Died	26 November 1980 (aged 53) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Suicide
Alma mater	University of Wales Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Years active	1953–1980
Spouse(s)	Alan Dobie ​ ​ (m. 1955; div. 1960)​ Rex Harrison ​ ​ (m. 1962; div. 1971)​

Roberts' theatre credits included the original production of the musical Maggie May in 1964. She was nominated for the 1974 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the plays, Chemin de Fer and The Visit,[1] and won a Drama Desk Award in 1976 for Habeas Corpus.

Early life and career

Roberts was born in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales. After a Baptist upbringing (against which she rebelled), followed by study at the University of Wales and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she began working with a repertory company in Swansea in 1950.[2] She made her film debut in the Welsh-set comedy Valley of Song (1953), directed by Gilbert Gunn.

Her portrayal of Brenda in Karel Reisz's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) won her a British Academy Film Award.[3] Lindsay Anderson cast her as the suffering Mrs Hammond in This Sporting Life (1963), earning another BAFTA and an Oscar nomination. Both films were significant examples of the British New Wave of film-making.

In theatre, she performed at the Royal Court and played the title role as the life-enhancing tart in Lionel Bart's musical Maggie May (1964). In films, she continued to play women with lusty appetites as in Lindsay Anderson's O Lucky Man! (1973), although the haunting Australian-made Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), directed by Peter Weir, provided her with a different kind of role, as the authoritarian head teacher of a Victorian girls' school.

After relocating to Los Angeles in the early 1970s, she appeared in supporting roles in several American films such as Foul Play (1978). Her final British film was Yanks (1979), directed by John Schlesinger, for which she received a Supporting Actress BAFTA.[3]

In 1976, she won a Drama Desk Award for her performance in Alan Bennett's play Habeas Corpus.[4] In 1979, Roberts co-starred with Jill Bennett in the London Weekend Television production of Alan Bennett's The Old Crowd, directed by Lindsay Anderson and Stephen Frears.

Personal life

Roberts was married twice and had no children. She first married actor Alan Dobie in 1955. They divorced in 1960. The following year, Roberts married actor Rex Harrison in Genoa, Italy.[5] The marriage was tumultuous; Roberts and Harrison both drank excessively and engaged in public fights.[6] Harrison later left Roberts and they divorced in 1971.[7] Later that year, Harrison married British socialite Elizabeth Rees-Williams, Roberts's former best friend.[8]

Roberts was known in the entertainment industry for the eccentric behaviour that stemmed from her alcoholism.[9] She had a habit of imitating a Welsh Corgi when intoxicated and once, at a party thrown by Richard Harris, attacked actor Robert Mitchum on all fours, chewing his trousers and champing on his bare skin, while he patted her on the head, saying "there, there".[10] At the time of her death, Roberts was living on and off with Darren Ramirez, an attractive Mexican almost 20 years younger, but it was a largely platonic relationship and her last years were plagued by the obsession of winning back Harrison.[11]

Death

Devastated by her divorce from Rex Harrison, Roberts's alcoholism and depression worsened.[7] She moved to Hollywood in 1975 and tried to forget the relationship. In 1980, Roberts attempted to win Harrison back. The attempt proved futile as Harrison was then married to his sixth and final wife, Mercia Tinker.[12]

On 26 November 1980, Roberts died at her home in Los Angeles at the age of 53. Her death was initially attributed to a heart attack.[5] Her gardener found her body on her kitchen floor, lying amidst shards of glass; she had fallen through a decorative glass divide between two rooms.[13] An autopsy later determined that her death was a result of swallowing lye or another alkali, or another unidentified caustic substance, as well as barbiturates and alcohol, as detailed in her posthumously published journals. The corrosive effect of the alkali was the immediate cause of death. The coroner documented the cause of death as "swallowing a caustic substance" and, later, "acute barbiturate intoxication."[13][14] Her death was ruled a suicide.[14]

Roberts was cremated at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.[15] Her journals became the basis for No Bells on Sunday: The Memoirs of Rachel Roberts (1984).

In 1992, Roberts's ashes, along with those of her friend Jill Bennett (who took her own life in 1990), were scattered on the River Thames in London by director Lindsay Anderson during a boat trip, with several of the two actresses' professional colleagues and friends aboard; musician Alan Price sang "Is That All There Is?" The event was included as a segment in Anderson's BBC documentary film, also titled Is That All There Is?

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1953	Valley of Song	Bessie Lewis	Alternative title: Men Are Children Twice
1953	The Limping Man	Barmaid
1954	The Weak and the Wicked	Pat, pregnant inmate	Alternative title: Young and Willing
1954	The Crowded Day	Maggie	Alternative title: Shop Spoiled
1957	The Good Companions	Elsie and Effie Longstaff
1959	Our Man in Havana	Prostitute	Uncredited
1960	Saturday Night and Sunday Morning	Brenda	BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
1961	Girl on Approval	Anne Howland
1963	This Sporting Life	Mrs. Margaret Hammond	BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
1968	A Flea in Her Ear	Suzanne de Castilian
1969	The Reckoning	Joyce Eglington	Alternative title: A Matter of Honour
1971	Doctors' Wives	Della Randolph
1971	Wild Rovers	Maybell (town madam)
1973	Alpha Beta	Nora Elliot
1973	The Belstone Fox	Cathie Smith	Alternative title: Free Spirit
1973	O Lucky Man!	Gloria Rowe / Madame Paillard / Mrs. Richards
1974	Murder on the Orient Express	Hildegarde Schmidt
1975	Picnic at Hanging Rock	Mrs. Appleyard
1978	Foul Play	Delia Darrow / Gerda Casswell
1979	Yanks	Mrs. Clarrie Moreton	BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1979	When a Stranger Calls	Dr. Monk
1981	Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen	Mrs. Dangers

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1958–1959	Our Mutual Friend	Lizzie Hexam	Miniseries
1960	On Trial	Mrs. Rogerson	1 episode
1960	BBC Sunday-Night Play	Mrs. Holyoake	1 episode
1963	The Eleventh Hour	Mary Newell	1 episode
1966	ITV Play of the Week	Lady Hamilton	1 episode
1966	Out of the Unknown	Anna Preston	1 episode
1966	Blithe Spirit	Ruth Condomine	Television movie
1969	Destiny of a Spy	Megan Thomas	Television movie
1969	Happy Ever After		1 episode
1970	Night Gallery	Rebecca Brigham	1 episode
1971	Marcus Welby, M.D.	Dr. Victoria Thorson	1 episode
1973	Baffled!	Mrs. Farraday	Television movie
1974	Graceless Go I		Television movie
1974	Play for Today	Olwen	1 episode
1974	Great Expectations	Mrs. Gargery	Television movie
1976–1978	The Tony Randall Show	Mrs. Bonnie McClellen	32 episodes
1977	A Circle of Children	Helga	Television movie
1979	Family	Angela Brown	1 episode
1979	Six Plays by Alan Bennett: The Old Crowd	Pauline	Television movie
1979	3 by Cheever: The Sorrows of Gin	Mrs. Henlein	Television movie
1980	The Hostage Tower	Sonya	Television movie
1982	The Wall	Regina Kowalska	Television movie, (final film role)

References

1. Roberts Playbill profile accessed 12/9/2016
2. Halliwell's Who's Who on the Movies. John Walker (ed); HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. (2003) pg398 ISBN 0-06-053423-0
3. The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. John Davies, Nigel Jenkins, Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) p. 769 ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6
4. IDBD Profile accessed 12/9/2016
5. "British actress Rachel Roberts, former wife of actor Rex..." UPI. upi.com. 27 November 1980. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
6. Wapshott, Nicholas (4 March 2008). "Unfaithfully Yours, Rex". The New York Sun. newyorksun.com. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
7. "Rachel Roberts". BBC Wales. bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
8. Reed, Rex (7 February 1971). "Rachel Roberts Raps About Rex Harrison". The Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. p. 3. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
9. Lusted, David and Raymond Williams (1989). Raymond Williams: film, TV, culture : a publication accompanying a season of films and television at the National Film Theatre, June, 1989. London: NFT/BFI Education. p. 28.
10. Sellers, Robert (2011). Hellraisers: The Life and Inebriated Times of Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole, and Oliver Reed. NY: St. Martin's Griffin. p. 89. ISBN 978-0312668143.
11. "9780060152352: No Bells on Sunday: The Rachel Roberts Journals - AbeBooks - Rachel Roberts: 0060152354". www.abebooks.co.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
12. Greek, Sara (30 August 2013). "The story of Rex Harrison's fourth wife to be told at Hertford Theatre". Hertfordshire Mercury. hertfordshiremercury.co.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
13. Upton, Julian (2004). Fallen Stars. Headpress. ISBN 1-900486-38-5.
14. "Rachel Roberts Ruled a Suicide". The New York Times. 6 January 1981. Retrieved 17 August 2008.
15. Edwards, Robert (19 October 2001). "Rachel Roberts (1927–1980)". Find A Grave. Retrieved 17 August 2008.

External links

• Rachel Roberts at IMDb
• Rachel Roberts at the TCM Movie Database
• Rachel Roberts at the Internet Broadway Database
• Rachel Roberts born in Llanelli Llanelli Community Heritage