ANN BEACH

(7 June 1938 - 9 March 2017)

Although she was never a star, Ann Beach always brought a great sense of her own personality to any role she played, be it on stage, in films or on television. As a chorister in Wales she was encouraged to take up a singing career, but instead became an actress. After attending RADA she toured in a Feydeau farce and then worked extensively with Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop in Stratford East and also at the Royal Court. She also appeared in the musical Mame at Drury Lane with Gingers Rogers. Her first film was The City of the Dead in 1960 and then On the Fiddle with Sean Connery. Other films include The Fast Lady with Leslie Phillips, Hotel Paradiso with Alec Guinness, Sebastian with Dirk Bogarde, Under Milk Wood with Taylor and Burton, King Ralph, Notting Hill (as Hugh Grant’s mother), and One Chance (2013), with James Corden as Paul Potts, her last film. 

MICHAEL DARVELL