Margaret Maud Tyzack (9 September 193125 June 2011) was an English actress. Her television roles included The Forsyte Saga (1967) I, Claudius (1976), George Lucas's Young Indiana Jones (1992–1993) and EastEnders (2011). She won the 1970 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for the BBC serial The First Churchills, and the 1990 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for Lettice and Lovage, opposite Maggie Smith. She also won two Olivier Awards—in 1981 as Actress of the Year in a Revival and in 2009 as Best Actress in a Play. Her film appearances included Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and A Clockwork Orange (1971), as well as Prick Up Your Ears (1987) and Match Point (2005).
Early life Tyzack was born in Essex, England, the daughter of Doris (née Moseley) and Thomas Edward Tyzack.Margaret Tyzack Biography (1931–2011) She grew up in Plaistow, West Ham (now Greater London). She attended the all-girls' St Angela's Ursuline School, Newham, and was a graduate of RADA. Career Tyzack was noted for her classical stage roles, having joined the Royal Shakespeare Company to play Vassilissa in Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths in 1962, and had major roles in their 1972 Roman Season as Volumnia in Coriolanus, Portia in Julius Caesar and Tamora in Titus Andronicus. She appeared in another Gorky play, as Maria Lvovna in Summerfolk RSC 1974. In 1977 she joined the acting company of the Stratford Festival in Canada, where she played Mrs Alving in Ibsen's Ghosts, Queen Margaret in Richard III and the Countess of Roussillon in All's Well That Ends Well. In a feature of Stratford's 1977 season, New York Times writer Richard Eder noted "One of the main excitements was the discovery of Margaret Tyzack [...] her work here has been a revelation". Tyzack had been engaged on short notice by the Festival when Canadian actress Kate Reid dropped out, which initially spurred some protests from Canadian nationalists. Theatre critic Robert Cushman later wrote that had the protests succeeded "Canadian audiences would have been deprived of three great performances", noting of her performance in Richard III, "there can never have been a better (Queen) Margaret".Robert Cushman, Stratford Festival of Canada. Fifty Seasons at Stratford. Madison Press Books. She played the Countess role again for the Royal Shakespeare Company on Broadway in 1983.
She received her first Olivier award as Actress of the Year in a Revival in 1981 for the National Theatre revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in which she played Martha, replacing Joan Plowright who was ill. In 1990, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Lotte Schoen in the play Lettice and Lovage, in which she appeared in both the London and Broadway productions opposite Dame Maggie Smith. The American Actors' Equity initially refused permission for Tyzack to join the New York production, but Smith refused to appear without Tyzack because of the "onstage chemistry" she believed the two women had created in their roles.Bruce Weber "Margaret Tyzack, Award-Winning Actress, Dies at 79", New York Times, 27 June 2011 In 1994, she played Sybil Birling in the Royal National Theatre production of An Inspector Calls. In 2008, she was acclaimed for her portrayal of Mrs St Maugham in a revival of Enid Bagnold's The Chalk Garden at the Donmar Warehouse, London, for which she won the Best Actress award in the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards and the Olivier award for Best Actress in a Play in 2009. In 2009, she also appeared alongside Helen Mirren in Phedre at the Royal National Theatre.
She appeared in two films directed by Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and A Clockwork Orange (1971). Tyzack also appeared in Ring of Spies (1964), The Whisperers (1967), A Touch of Love (1969), The Legacy (1978), The Quatermass Conclusion (1979), Mr. Love (1985), Prick Up Your Ears (1987), The King's Whore (1990), Mrs Dalloway (1997), Bright Young Things (2003), and the Woody Allen films Match Point (2005) and Scoop (2006).
It was as a television actress that Tyzack became a household name. She is remembered for her leading roles in BBC television productions. She came to notice as Winifred, Soames's sister, in the well received BBC adaptation of Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga in 1967, a series shown internationally. She portrayed the character of Gladys King in Dennis Potter's The Bone Grinder (1968), a metaphor for the decline of the British Empire and rise of American power in the post-war world.BFI Player"Playbill" by James Greenfield, TV Times page 10, 11-17 May 1968 Tyzack played Queen Anne in The First Churchills; Bette in Cousin Bette; and Antonia, mother of the Emperor Claudius, in I, Claudius. She also played Clotilde Bradbury-Scott in the BBC adaptation of the Agatha Christie story Nemesis in 1987 in Miss Marple.
In the 1990s, she played a major role in George Lucas's Young Indiana Jones television series as the young Indiana Jones' strict Oxford-educated tutor, Miss Helen Seymour. In the 2000s, she made two appearances in Midsomer Murders. In 2011, she joined the cast of soap opera EastEnders, playing Lydia Simmonds, the grandmother of Janine Butcher (Charlie Brooks). On 13 April 2011, it was announced that for personal reasons she had departed EastEnders and that her role had been recast to Heather Chasen as a result of the nature of the large storyline needing to continue.
Honours Tyzack was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1970 Birthday Honours and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours, both for services to drama.
Personal life Tyzack married mathematician Alan Stephenson in 1958 and together they had one son, Matthew. Tyzack died on 25 June 2011, at the age of 79, from cancer.Ben Hodges & Scott Denny. Theatre World, volume 68 (2011-2012). ©2013; ISBN 978-1-47688-677-0
Filmography Year Title Role Notes1958 Behind the Mask Night Sister Passport to Shame June, Heath's secretary 1960 Let's Get Married Staff Nurse 1961 Highway to Battle Hilda 1964 Ring of Spies Elizabeth Gee 1967 The Whisperers Hospital Almoner 1968 2001: A Space Odyssey Elena 1969 A Touch of Love Sister Bennett 1971 A Clockwork Orange Conspirator Rubinstein 1978 The Legacy Nurse Adams 1979 The Quatermass Conclusion Annie Morgan 1983 The Wars Lady Emmeline 1986 Mr. Love Pink Lady 1987 Prick Up Your Ears Madame Lambert 1990 The King's Whore La Comtesse douairière 1997 Mrs Dalloway Lady Bruton 2002 Until Death Dorothy Sutton 2003 Bright Young Things Lady Throbbing 2005 Match Point Mrs. Betty Eastby The Thief Lord Head Nun Uncredited2006 Scoop Sid's Co-Passengers 2009 National Theatre Live: Phèdre Oenone 2011 Mother's Milk Eleanor Melrose (final film role)
Television +YearTitleRoleNotes1957Kenilworth Janet4 episodes1957–1958Angel PavementMiss Matfield1958Armchair TheatreElizabeth FarrowEpisode: "The Owl Who Came Back"1958–1959Saturday PlayhouseNadine Arne/Clare Cousins2 episodes1958–1965ITV Play of the WeekVarious3 episodes1959The Infamous John FriendMrs. Friend5 episodes1960The Four Just MenWifeEpisode: "The Miracle of St. Philipe"1960–1963BBC Sunday-Night PlayVarious3 episodesITV Television PlayhouseElizabeth/Lily1961Theatre 70Valerie Marsden/The Woman2 episodes1961–1962Drama 61-67Various3 episodes1963MaigretMademoisselle/Anna2 episodes1965Thursday TheatreIsobel CherryEpisode: "The Floweing Cherry"1967The Forsyte SagaWinifred Dartie23 episodes1968ITV PlayhouseGladys KingEpisode: "The Bonegrinder"1969NET PlayhouseIsobel CherryEpisode: "Flowering Cherry"The First ChurchillsQueen Anne9 episodes1969–1978JackanoryStoryteller17 episodes1974BBC Play of the MonthMrs. LindenEpisode: "The Linden Tree"1976I, ClaudiusAntonia1979QuatermassAnnie Morgan2 episodes1981Lady KillersMrs. Lillian BywatersEpisode: "The Darlingest Boy"1981–1982BBC2 PlayhouseMadam Fyolka/Daphne2 episodes1982BBC Television ShakespearePaulinaEpisode: The Winter's TaleAn Inspector CallsSybil BirlingMiniseriesCharles & Diana: A Royal Love StoryQueen Elizabeth IITV movie1985The Corsican BrothersMadame de Guidice1987Miss MarpleClothilde Bradbury-ScottEpisode: "Nemesis"1992–2000The Young Indiana Jones ChroniclesMiss Seymour14 episodes1994Alleyn MysteriesEmily PrideEpisode: "Dead Water"1998Dalziel and PascoeElla KeechEpisode: "Child's Play"Our Mutual Friend Lady Tippins4 episodes2000, 2009Midsomer MurdersNaomi Inkpen/Harriet Compton2 episodes2003HeartbeatEdna BartonEpisode: "Caped Crusaders"2005Doc MartinMuriel SteelEpisode: "Old Dogs"2006Rosemary & ThymeAudrey PargeterEpisode: "Seeds of Time"2009Midsomer MurdersHarriet ComptonEpisode: "Small Mercies"2011EastEndersLydia Simmonds3 episodes
Discography Jerome Kern: Show Boat, conducted by John McGlinn, EMI, 1988
References
External links
Selected performances in Theatre Archive, University of Bristol Obituary in The Guardian Obituary in The Independent