Phyllis Calvert

Biography

Calvert was born on 18 February 1915 in Chelsea, London, and trained at the Margaret Morris School of Dancing. She began performing from the age of ten, appearing with Ellen Terry in Crossings.

Calvert performed in repertory theatre in Malvern and Coventry. She made her London stage debut in A Woman's Privilege in 1939. Her early films include Two Days to Live (1939).

Gainsborough Pictures

Calvert was spotted in a play Punch without Judy, and was signed to a contract by Gainsborough Pictures which gave her the lead in They Came by Night (1940), opposite Will Fyffe. She was George Formby's love interest in Let George Do It! (1940) and had a support part in Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt (1940), starring Arthur Askey. Calvert was championed by the head of Gainsborough, Ted Black.

Calvert was in a war movie, Neutral Port (1940), then had a good role as Michael Redgrave's love interest in Kipps (1941), directed by Carol Reed. After a detective film Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It (1941) she had the co-lead in Uncensored (1942), a war movie with Eric Portman. Reed used her again in The Young Mr. Pitt (1942), playing Eleanor Eden.

In 1942, she had the lead role as Patricia Graham in the West End production of Terence Rattigan's play Flare Path.

Stardom

Calvert was by now well established in British films. She did not become a star, however, until given one of the four leading roles in the Gainsborough melodrama The Man in Grey (1943). The movie was a huge success, making her and her three co-stars – Stewart Granger, James Mason and Margaret Lockwood – genuine box office stars in Britain.

Calvert followed it with Fanny by Gaslight (1944), co-starring Granger and Mason, which was another big hit. Also popular was Two Thousand Women (1944), made by Launder and Gilliat, about British women interned in occupied France. It co-starred Patricia Roc, who appeared with Calvert and Granger in Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945), another Gainsborough melodrama, and another hit. Exhibitors voted her the fifth-most popular star of 1945 in Britain.

She was one of Stewart Granger's loves in The Magic Bow (1946), a biopic about Niccolo Paganini, and had the female lead in a drama about colonialism in Africa Men of Two Worlds (1946), made a few years before being released. It was a success, though not profitable because of its high cost. The Root of All Evil (1947) was one of the last of the Gainsborough melodramas. She was voted the sixth most popular British star at the box office in 1946.

Hollywood

Calvert's success had been noticed in the US, although her films had not been as popular there. Universal-International signed her to star in Time Out of Mind (1947), which was a box office disappointment. She received several offers from studios and eventually decided to sign a six-picture deal with Paramount.

She returned to Britain to make Broken Journey (1948) playing a role written especially for her, but the film failed at the box-office.

Calvert went to Hollywood to make two films, both for Paramount: My Own True Love (1949), with Melvyn Douglas, and Appointment with Danger (1951 but made two years earlier) with Alan Ladd, in which she played a nun.

Producer

Back in Britain she made two films with director Ladislao Vajda, neither particularly successful: Golden Madonna (1950), shot in Italy, and The Woman with No Name (1950). She wanted to produce other films: Eastward Ho, about an Englishwoman who romances a cowboy, and Equilibrium, about a trapeze artist, as well as star in a third film for Paramount but none of these were made.

Calvert was in a thriller Mr. Denning Drives North (1951) with John Mills and a BBC TV production The Holly and the Ivy (1951). She had her first big hit in a while, Mandy (1952).

Calvert was a wife in The Net (1953), then was off screen for a while. She followed it with Child in the House (1956).

On TV she was in Strindberg's The Father for ITV's Television Playhouse, and played the lead in Tatiana, the Czar's Daughter.

Calvert had a support part in the Hollywood-financed Indiscreet (1958), then played a concerned mother in The Young and the Guilty (1958) and a wacky spinster in A Lady Mislaid (1959). On TV she was in "The Break" for Armchair Theatre (1959) and played Katharine O'Shea in Parnell for Play of the Week (1959), then reprised her role as Mrs March for the BBC in Good Wives (1959). She was Constance Wilde in Oscar Wilde (1960) with Robert Morley and A Righteous Woman on Play of the Week (1962).

The only time people recall Calvert risking loss of sympathy for an apparent lapse of taste, grace or charm was during her stage career at the Lyric in 1963, and at the Duke of York's in 1964. In the first, as the wife in Ronald Duncan's Ménage à Trois, she condoned his misconduct – as long as it took place off the premises, herself departing as a lesbian with his mistress as the curtain fell. Then, as the cold, insensitive stepmother in James Saunders's A Scent Of Flowers, she left no trace of "the rose that sings". Phyllis Calvert

Later career

In all, Calvert acted in over 40 films, her later work including The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (1965), Twisted Nerve (1968), Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) and The Walking Stick (1970).

From 1970 to 1972, she starred in her own TV series, Kate, playing the part of an agony aunt with problems of her own. The series was a moderate success.

She made TV appearances in programmes such as Crown Court, Ladykillers, Tales of the Unexpected, Boon, After Henry, Victoria Wood and Limelight: The Film Years – The Lime Grove Story. She also played D.I. Barnaby's Aunt Alice (Alice Bly) in a Midsomer Murders episode, "Blue Herrings", in 2000. She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1972 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews. In 1993, Calvert had a small uncredited role as the Old Lady in comedy series Mr. Bean in the episode "Mr. Bean in Room 426".

Personal life

She was married to the actor and antiquarian bookseller Peter Murray-Hill The couple had two children, Ann Murray-Hill (born 1943) and Piers Murray-Hill (born 1954). Calvert never remarried. She died in her sleep in London in 2002 from natural causes, aged 87.

Partial filmography

• The Arcadians (1927) – Young Girl (uncredited)
• Discord (1933) – (uncredited)
• Anne One Hundred (1933) – (uncredited)
• School for Stars (1935) – (uncredited)
• They Came by Night (1940) – Sally
• Let George Do It! (1940) – Mary Wilson
• Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt (1940) – Betty Forsythe
• Neutral Port (1940) – Helen Carter
• Kipps (1941) – Ann Pornick – as a woman
• Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It (1941) – Mrs. Wilkinson
• Uncensored (1942) – Julie Lanvin
• The Young Mr. Pitt (1942) – Eleanor Eden
• The Man in Grey (1943) – Clarissa Marr
• Fanny by Gaslight (1944) – Fanny
• Two Thousand Women (1944) – Freda Thompson
• Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945) – Maddalena
• They Were Sisters (1945) – Lucy Moore
• The Magic Bow (1946) – Jeanne de Vermond
• Men of Two Worlds (1946) – Dr. Caroline Munro
• The Root of All Evil (1947) – Jeckie Farnish
• Time Out of Mind (1947) – Kate Fernald
• Broken Journey (1948) – Mary Johnstone
• My Own True Love (1949) – Joan Clews
• Golden Madonna (1949) – Patricia Chandler
• The Woman with No Name (1950) – Yvonne Winter
• Appointment with Danger (1951) – Sister Augustine
• Mr. Denning Drives North (1951) – Kay Denning
• Mandy (1952) – Christine
• The Net (1953) – Lydia Heathley
• It's Never Too Late (1956) – Laura Hammond
• Child in the House (1956) – Evelyn Acheson
• Indiscreet (1958) – Mrs. Margaret Munson
• The Young and the Guilty (1958) – Gladys Connor
• A Lady Mislaid (1958) – Esther Williams
• Oscar Wilde (1960) – Constance Wilde
• The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (1965) – Margot
• Twisted Nerve (1968) – Enid Durnley
• Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) – Lady Dorothy Haig
• The Walking Stick (1970) – Erica Dainton
• Mr. Bean (1993) – Old Woman
• Mrs Dalloway (1997) – Aunt Helena
• Midsomer Murders (2000) – Alice Bly

Box office ranking

For a number of years, British film exhibitors voted her among the top ten British stars at the box office via an annual poll in the Motion Picture Herald.

• 1944 – 8th
• 1945 – 5th
• 1946 – 6th

References

References

1. Lewis, Paul. (12 October 2002). "Phyllis Calvert, 87, Virtuous Heroine of Wartime Melodramas". [[The New York Times]].
2. Brooke, Michael. (2003–2014). "BFI Screenonline: Calvert, Phyllis (1915–2002) Biography". BFI Screenonline.
3. "Phyllis Calvert". [[BFI]].
4. (26 January 1946). "PHYLLIS CALVERT Britain's Wartime Star". [[The Australasian]].
5. (9 October 2002). "Phyllis Calvert". Telegraph.co.uk.
6. (17 March 1948). "Phyllis Calvert Featured in Picture". [[Glen Innes Examiner]].
7. (3 July 1941). "Phyllis Calvert.". [[Morwell Advertiser]].
8. "Let George Do It (1940) – Marcel Varnel – Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related".
9. "Charley's (Big-hearted) Aunt (1940)".
10. Vagg, Stephen. (1 December 2024). "Forgotten British Film Moguls: Ted Black".
11. "Neutral Port (1941) – Marcel Varnel – Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related".
12. "Kipps (1941) – Carol Reed – Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related".
13. "Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It (1941)".
14. "Uncensored (1942) – Anthony Asquith – Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related".
15. "The Young Mr. Pitt (1942)".
16. Eric Shorter. (9 October 2002). "Obituary: Phyllis Calvert". The Guardian.
17. "Phyllis Calvert – Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos".
18. "The Man in Grey (1943) – Leslie Arliss – Review".
19. Dyhouse, Carol. (9 February 2017). "Heartthrobs: A History of Women and Desire". [[Oxford University Press]].
20. "BFI Screenonline: Two Thousand Women (1944)".
21. "BFI Screenonline: They Were Sisters (1945)".
22. (2 March 1946). "CROSBY and HOPE try their luck in Alaska". [[The Mercury]].
23. "BFI Screenonline: Magic Bow, The (1946)".
24. "MEN OF TWO WORLDS – colonialfilm".
25. Harper, Sue. (14 September 2000). "Women in British Cinema: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know". Bloomsbury Academic.
26. (28 February 1947). "FILM WORLD.". [[The West Australian]].
27. (2 August 1947). "PHYLLIS CALVERT Makes Her Hollywood Delrit". [[The Mercury]].
28. (2 August 1947). "FILMS AND FILM STARS". [[The Examiner (Tasmania).
29. (4 October 1947). "Hollywood can't get along without British stars". [[The World's News]].
30. (13 December 1946). "PARAMOUNT SIGNS PHYLLIS CALVERT: British Actress to Be Seen in Six Films, With 'Make You a Fine Wife' as First Waugh to Adapt His Book of Local Origin". The New York Times.
31. GRADY JOHNSON.. (7 September 1947). "PHYLLIS CALVERT – RED-HEAD WITHOUT TEMPER". The New York Times.
32. Spicer, Andrew. (5 September 2006). "Sydney Box". Manchester University Press.
33. "My Own True Love (1948) – Compton Bennett – Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related".
34. (26 October 1947). "Phyllis Calvert Off To London for New Stage Job". [[The Washington Post]].
35. (20 May 1950). "Phyllis Calvert talks of home and career". [[The Australian Women's Weekly]].
36. Strong, Edwin J.. (18 September 1949). "PHYLLIS CALVERT RETAINS 'INTERNATIONAL' RATING". Los Angeles Times.
37. Scheuer, Philip K.. (30 August 1949). "Phyllis Calvert Maps International Features; Italian Woos Medea". Los Angeles Times.
38. "Mr. Denning Drives North (1951) – Anthony Kimmins – Cast and Crew".
39. "The Holly and the Ivy (1951)".
40. "Phyllis Calvert – Movies and Filmography".
41. "Indiscreet (1958) – Stanley Donen – Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related".
42. "KATE".
43. (22 September 2025). "Hard to believe it happened! 70 unforgettable (and unforgivable) shows from 70 years of ITV". The Guardian.
44. TV.com. "Phyllis Calvert".
45. "Limelight – The Film Years (1991)".
46. "Blue Herring (2000)".
47. "Midsomer Murders: Blue Herrings (2000) – Peter Smith – Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related".
48. (2 March 1946). "CROSBY and HOPE try their luck in Alaska.". [[The Mercury]].
49. (28 February 1947). "FILM WORLD.". [[The West Australian]].