MADGE MEREDITH

(15 July 1921 - 16 September 2017)

Never a star, the American actress Madge Meredith, who has died aged 96, had a twenty-year career in the movies and on television. Her first films were second features, namely Take It or Leave It (1944) with Phil Silvers, then Otto Preminger’s In the Meantime, Darling, Mitchell Leisen’s Kitty, Richard Fleischer’s Child of Divorce, The Falcon’s Adventure with Tom Conway, and Trail Street (1947) with Randolph Scott. Then there was a hiatus in her career due to an event more interesting than any of her films. She was accused of complicity in the assault of her former manager and his bodyguard when they were on their way to Meredith’s home. She was tried and convicted and spent five years in jail. In 1951 a California Crime Committee found that she had been framed, the case had been badly handled in court, and inconsistent allegations by those involved had been ignored by the police. She was released from prison and resumed her career mainly in television, apart from uncredited film appearances in To Hell and Back, Tea and Sympathy, The Ten Commandments and The Guns of Fort Petticoat. Her last appearance was in the TV series of The Littlest Hobo in 1964.

MICHAEL DARVELL