1. Billie Whitelaw worked in close collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett for 25 years and was regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works.
25 Facts About Billie Whitelaw
1. 2.
Billie Whitelaw was known for her portrayal of Mrs Baylock, the demonic nanny in the 1976 horror film The Omen.
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Billie Whitelaw was nominated for four Film BAFTAs, winning the Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for both Charlie Bubbles and Twisted Nerve in 1969.
4.
Billie Whitelaw was born on 6 June 1932 in Coventry, Warwickshire, the daughter of Frances Mary and Gerry Billie Whitelaw.
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Billie Whitelaw had one sister, Constance, who was 10 years older.
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Billie Whitelaw's father died of lung cancer when Billie was 9 years old.
7.
At the age of sixteen, Billie Whitelaw met the director Joan Littlewood at the BBC in Manchester and was invited to join her Theatre Workshop troupe.
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Billie Whitelaw was encouraged by her mother to join Harry Hanson's Leeds company in 1948 and then went on to play in repertory theatres in Dewsbury, New Brighton in Liverpool and Oxford, eventually making her London debut in 1950.
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Billie Whitelaw made her film debut in The Sleeping Tiger, followed by roles in Carve Her Name with Pride and Hell Is a City.
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Billie Whitelaw soon became a regular in British films of the 1950s and early 1960s.
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Billie Whitelaw starred with Albert Finney in Charlie Bubbles, a performance which won her a BAFTA award as Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
12.
Billie Whitelaw continued in film roles including Leo the Last, Start the Revolution Without Me, Gumshoe and the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Frenzy.
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Billie Whitelaw gained international acclaim for her chilling role as Mrs Baylock, the evil guardian of the demon child Damien in The Omen.
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Billie Whitelaw's performance was considered one of the more memorable of the film, winning her the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress.
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Billie Whitelaw returned to film, in a comedy turn, as Joyce Cooper in Hot Fuzz.
16.
Billie Whitelaw wrote many of his more experimental plays especially for her, referring to Whitelaw as "a perfect actress".
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Billie Whitelaw became Beckett's muse, as he created, reworked and revised each play while she physically, at times to the point of total exhaustion, acted each movement.
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Billie Whitelaw remained the foremost interpreter of the man and his work.
19.
Billie Whitelaw gave lectures on the Beckettian technique and explained: "He used me as a piece of plaster he was moulding until he got just the right shape".
20.
Billie Whitelaw appeared frequently on television and won acclaim for her work.
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Billie Whitelaw appeared in an episode of Wicked Women, the BBC adaptation of Thomas Hardy's Wessex Tales, A Tale of Two Cities, Private Schulz, A Murder of Quality, Duel of Hearts, Firm Friends with Madhur Jaffrey, Jane Eyre, Born to Run, Merlin and A Dinner of Herbs.
22.
Billie Whitelaw was married to the actor Peter Vaughan from 1952 to 1966.
23.
Billie Whitelaw later married the writer and drama critic Robert Muller.
24.
Billie Whitelaw died there aged 82, following a bout of pneumonia on 21 December 2014.
25.
Billie Whitelaw was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in the 1991 Birthday Honours.