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Actress Googie Withers passes away

Actress Googie Withers passes away

The actress Googie Withers has passed away. She was 94.

Ms. Withers had to battle to establish herself on the British acting scene with some critics claiming in her younger days that her name was a disadvantage to her being treated seriously by directors.

She had been born in India in 1917 and although she was christened Georgette a nanny had given her the nickname Googie, and it stuck.

In the 1930s she initially became typecast in a string of frivolous roles.

However, she refused to change her name and through persistence and ability she eventually got directors to take her seriously.

Her big breakthrough came in 1942 when the director Michael Powell cast her as a member of the Dutch resistance in the film One Of Our Aircraft Is Missing.

Her performance led to her being given much more demanding roles than had been previously been on offer.

She gave one of her strongest performances when she played a murderess in Pink String And Sealing Wax (1945).

In 1947 she appeared in It Always Rains On Sunday in which appeared alongside Australian actor John McCallum who was to become her husband.

Her success also included work on the stage and, later, on television.

She appeared in the long-running TV prison drama Within These Walls which ran in the 1970s.

Ms. Withers was made a C.B.E. in 2002.

Her husband John McCallum passed away in 2010.

To see Googie Withers in It Always Rains On Sunday click here.

 

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