Susan Shaw
Susan Shaw (29 August 1929 – 27 November 1978) was an English actress.[1]
Susan Shaw | |
|---|---|
| Born | Patricia Gwendoline Sloots 29 August 1929 West Norwood, London, England |
| Died | 27 November 1978 (aged 49) Middlesex, England |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1946–1963 |
| Spouse(s) | Ronald Rowson (m. 1959; div. 1960) |
| Children | 2 |
Biography
Shaw was born Patricia Gwendoline Sloots in West Norwood, London, to Edward John Sloots and Lillian Rose Lewis.[2] She had wanted to become a dress designer and was working as a typist at the Ministry for Information when she did a screen test for the J. Arthur Rank Organisation.[3] They signed her to a term contract and trained her at its "charm school".[4]
She had a bit part in the musical London Town (1946) and a larger part in another musical, Walking on Air (1946).[5][6] She had a small role in The Upturned Glass (1947) and Jassy (1947). Shaw was in Holiday Camp (1947) which introduced the Huggett family, although she did not play a Huggett.
Shaw was given her most noticeable role to date in It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) for Ealing. She had another decent support part in My Brother's Keeper (1948) at Gainsborough and London Belongs to Me (1948), in the latter replacing Pat Roc who pulled out.[7]
Leading lady
Shaw's first lead came in To the Public Danger (1948) a short feature directed by Terence Fisher. She had a role in one of the segments of Quartet (1948) then when Sydney Box decided to make a film series out of the Huggett family with Jack Warner, Shaw was cast as Susan Huggett. There were three in the series: Here Come the Huggetts (1948), Vote for Huggett (1948) and The Huggetts Abroad (1949).[8] Shaw was the female lead in the comedies It's Not Cricket (1949) and Marry Me (1949) and one of many actresses in Train of Events (1949).[9] She was by now one of the busiest young actresses in Britain.[10]
Shaw played support in some thrillers – Waterfront (1950),[11] The Woman in Question (1950) – before returning to leads in Pool of London (1951) with Bonar Colleano. Her marriage to Albert Lieven, with whom she had a daughter, ended in divorce in 1953, and in 1954, she married Colleano.[8][12][13]
Shaw began to appear on television in One Man's Family (1951) and a BBC version of The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1951).[14] She was the female lead in some Bs: There Is Another Sun (1951), Wide Boy (1952), A Killer Walks (1952), The Large Rope (1953), and Small Town Story (1953). On TV she did Count Your Blessings (1953). In April 1951 the Daily Mail listed Shaw on a poll from over 2,000 readers as one of the most popular British female actress in the country (after Anna Neagle, Jean Simmons, Jean Kent, Glynis Johns, Greer Garson, Petula Clark, Margaret Rutherford and Patricia Dainton, and in front of Jane Wyman.[15])
She supported in some "A" films, such as The Intruder (1953) and The Good Die Young (1954) as well as Time Is My Enemy (1954) and played leads in Stolen Time (1955), Stock Car (1955), Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1956), the comedy Davy (1958), The Diplomatic Corpse (1958), and Chain of Events (1958) as well as the TV play You Can't Have Everything (1958).
Later career
In 1958, Colleano was killed in a traffic collision.[16][17][18] Shortly before Colleano's death, the actor admitted he had liabilities of nearly £10,000 due to extravagant living.[19] He and Shaw had a son Mark born in 1955.
In November 1959 Shaw married TV producer Ronald Rowson.[20][21] The marriage ended officially in November 1960, Rowson claiming that Shaw had been unfaithful to him within two months of their marriage with writer Stanley Mann.[22]
Badly affected by Colleano's death, Shaw began to drink heavily, and unable to care for her son Mark (born 1955) because of her emerging alcoholism, she gave him to his paternal grandmother to raise.[23]
She resumed her career, appearing in Carry on Nurse (1959) and The Big Day (1960) and episodes of All Aboard (1959), Suspense (1960), Richard the Lionheart (1962), and No Hiding Place (1962). Her last films were Stranglehold (1963) and The Switch (1963).
She wound up living alone and broke in Soho. She died of cirrhosis of the liver and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, north London. Her old friends were going to pay for the funeral but then the Rank Organisation stepped in to do it.[24] "When we heard of the circumstances of her death we felt it was the least we could do," said a spokesman from the Rank Organisation. Charlie Stevenson, landlord of the Swiss Tavern in Old Compton Street, said, "She came in here every day. They say she died of cirrhosis of the liver and she lived next door to prostitutes in Soho. But this is Soho. We all live next door to prostitutes. We loved her and we weren't going to see her buried in a pauper's grave. Now we shall give the money to medical charities."[25]
Critical assessment
The film historians Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane praise the "sulky, spiky tenacity that differentiated her from many of her contemporaries".[26]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1946 | London Town | Extra | Uncredited |
| Walking on Air | |||
| 1947 | The Upturned Glass | 2nd Girl Student | |
| Holiday Camp | Patsy Crawford | ||
| Jassy | Cecily | Uncredited | |
| It Always Rains on Sunday | Vi Sandigate | ||
| 1948 | My Brother's Keeper | Beryl | |
| London Belongs to Me | Doris Josser | ||
| To the Public Danger | Nancy Bedford | Short | |
| Quartet | Betty Baker | (segment "The Kite") | |
| Here Come the Huggetts | Susan Huggett | ||
| 1949 | Vote for Huggett | ||
| It's Not Cricket | Primrose Brown | ||
| The Huggetts Abroad | Susan Huggett | ||
| Marry Me! | Pat Cooper | ||
| Train of Events | Doris Hardcastle | (segment "The Engine Driver") | |
| 1950 | Waterfront | Connie McCabe | |
| The Woman in Question | Catherine Taylor | ||
| 1951 | Pool of London | Pat | |
| There Is Another Sun | Lillian | ||
| 1952 | Wide Boy | Molly | |
| 1953 | The Intruder | Tina | |
| The Large Rope | Susan Hamble | ||
| Small Town Story | Patricia Lane | ||
| 1954 | The Good Die Young | Doris | |
| Time Is My Enemy | Evelyn Gower | ||
| 1955 | Stolen Time | Carole Carlton | |
| Stock Car | Gina | ||
| 1956 | Fire Maidens from Outer Space | Hestia | |
| 1958 | Davy | Gwen | |
| The Diplomatic Corpse | Jenny Drew | ||
| Chain of Events | Jill Mason | ||
| 1959 | Carry On Nurse | Mrs Jane Bishop | |
| 1960 | The Big Day | Phyllis Selkirk | |
| 1963 | Stranglehold | Actress | |
| The Switch | Search officer | (final film role) |
References
- ^ . BFI. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012.
- ^ ancestry.co.uk
- ^ Mr Attlee has a chance to tell us the latest score Date: Tuesday, 29 August 1950 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 16935 p 2
- ^ "Susan Shaw – Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos – AllMovie". AllMovie.
- ^ "Susan Shaw | TV Guide". TVGuide.com.
- ^ "Obituary: Peter Noble". The Independent. 29 August 1997. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022.
- ^ "Film News From England and America". The Sun. No. 11, 818. New South Wales, Australia. 11 December 1947. p. 32 (Late Final Extra). Retrieved 28 September 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ a b Ross, Andrew (19 October 2011). Carry-On Actors. ISBN 9781908382085.
- ^ "Margaret Aylwards". The Sun. No. 2399. New South Wales, Australia. 3 April 1949. p. 12. Retrieved 28 September 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ Author: Cecil Wilson Date: Thursday, 11 November 1948 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 16379 p 2
- ^ "Susan Shaw". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 17, no. 44. Australia. 8 April 1950. p. 45. Retrieved 28 September 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "John Miles Looks At: New Films in Town". News. Vol. 59, no. 9, 036. South Australia. 25 July 1952. p. 10. Retrieved 28 September 2020 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Colleano, British Actor, Weds", New York Times 11 January 1954: 19.
- ^ No Surprises — But Still a Favourite Author: J. Stubbs Walker Date: Monday, 28 May 1951 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 17165 p 2
- ^ Anna Neagle, John Mills are top stars Author: By Daily Mail Reporter Date: Saturday, 14 April 1951 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 17128 p 3
- ^ "Susan Shaw – The Private Life and Times of Susan Shaw. Susan Shaw Pictures". glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com.
- ^ Flashback: How the Liverpool Daily Post reported accident forgotten crash site of tragic film star: Campaign for plaque to remember Bonar Colleano Hughes, Lorna. Liverpool Echo; Liverpool (UK), 12 February 2017: 4.
- ^ Car Accident Fatal to Actor Bonar Colleano Los Angeles Times 18 August 1958: 2.
- ^ How a Star Gets in Trouble over Tax Author: By Daily Mail Reporter Date: Wednesday, 21 May 1958 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 19309 p 3
- ^ Bonar Colleano's mother joins a happy marriage Author: Paul Tanfield Date: Monday, 16 November 1959 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 19772 p 14
- ^ Susan's sunny honeymoon Date: Saturday, 28 November 1959 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 19783 p 5
- ^ Marriage No 3 ends for Susan Shaw Date: Friday, 18 November 1960 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 20085 p 9
- ^ "BBC On This Day – 15 – 1958: Film stars raise cash for Colleano". bbc.co.uk. 15 December 1958.
- ^ "184: The Sad Story of Susan Shaw". norwoodsociety.co.uk.
- ^ Soho bids farewell to a fallen star Date: Saturday, 2 December 1978 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 25657 p. 3
- ^ Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, The British 'B' Film, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, p. 184.
- Leslie Halliwell, Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies, 14th edition, 2001, edited by John Walker, published by HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-093507-3
External links
- Susan Shaw at IMDb