GEORGINA HALE

(4 August 1943 - 4 January 2024)

The English actress Georgina Hale, who has died at the age of 80, was a favourite of director Ken Russell who cast her in six of his films. She had a very successful all-round career, progressing in all kinds of acting genres and giving nearly a hundred appearances on film and television. Her film debut in 1963 was in The World Ten Times Over, Wolf Rilla’s drama set in the Soho nightclubs, while her last film was Roy Burdis’ Angel in 2015, in which she played the grandmother of a serial killer. In between the two came a lifetime of great acting.

Georgina Hale was born Georgina Hole in Ilford, Essex, to publicans George and Elsie Hole. Her upbringing was not good, as she could not read, write or spell for a long time, as her parents moved from pub to pub and Georgina failed to keep up with school lessons. She started out as an apprentice hairdresser while also studying acting and eventually won a place at Rada, graduating in 1965. Her first appearance on stage was with the RSC and she also worked in reps at Canterbury, Windsor and Ipswich. At Liverpool Playhouse she was in Gigi and played Juliet as well as Nina in The Seagull, a production that transferred to the West End. She was Eliza in Pygmalion at Leatherhead and joined the Royal Exchange Manchester’s production of Neil Simon’s Last of the Red Hot Lovers that transferred to London.

Her first film (in 1971) was Ken Russell’s controversial The Devils, about Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century priest accused of witchcraft, with Oliver Reed, and with Vanessa Redgrave as Sister Jeanne. Russell then directed Hale in The Boy Friend, starring Twiggy, a delightful adaptation of the musical by Sandy Wilson, who disowned it. After more films, Hale was with Russell in Mahler playing the composer’s wife Alma opposite Robert Powell in the title role. Again controversial but a brilliant film, it won Hale a Bafta for most promising newcomer. After appearing in Butley, Pinter’s film of Simon Gray’s play, it was back to Russell for Lisztomania, another composer biopic, with Roger Daltrey, and his film on the silent screen idol Rudolph Valentino with Rudolf Nureyev, although neither appearance got Hale a credit. After that it was Sweeney 2, Jackie Collins’ The World is Full of Married Men, The Watcher in the Woods with Bette Davis, McVicar with Daltrey, Nicolas Roeg’s Castaway with Oliver Reed and Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont with Joan Plowright.

Georgina Hale was also busy on TV, from David Turner’s Wednesday Play Way Off Beat in 1966 to Holby City in 2016. Those years encompassed episodes of many popular series including Special Branch, Budgie, Upstairs, Downstairs, Minder, Boon, The Bill, Casualty, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks, as well as some classics such as East Lynne, The Seagull and Ken Russell’s Treasure Island with his wife Hetty Baynes as Silver and Georgina Hale as Mum. Hale was married to the actor John Forgeham, 1964-1969.

MICHAEL DARVELL