Daphne Heard

Delia Phyllis Daphne Heard (21 August 1904 – 22 June 1983) was an English actress and acting teacher. She was born in Plymouth, Devon. She appeared in numerous made-for-TV movies and TV series. She was perhaps best known in later years as Richard DeVere's elderly mother Mrs. Polouvicka in To the Manor Born.

Early life Heard got her first taste of acting when she sang in an end of term play whilst at kindergarten school in Southampton around 1908. This caused her to decide to become an actress but her parents (her father being a ship's engineer then an inspector of ships for the Board of Trade and her mother a suffragette) initially tried to dissuade her. In the end, they allowed their daughter at the age of 16 to attend the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama for training. There, Heard attended with John Laurie

Theatre Her career starting in 1922, Heard joined the Lena Ashwell Players the following year, playing lead roles. In 1925, she joined Sir Barry Jackson's company in The New Morality at the Kingsway Theatre followed by touring in plays such as The Green Hat and The Beaux' Stratagem. Rejoining Jackson's company in 1928, she appeared at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Malvern Festival, as well as touring in Canada.

During the Second World War, Heard worked in the prisoner of war section of the Red Cross and afterwards joined the Bristol Old Vic. By 1968 she accepted Sir Laurence Olivier's offer to join the National Theatre. She also appeared as the nanny in Laurence Olivier's film Three Sisters (1970) based on the Anton Chekhov play, with Joan Plowright, Alan Bates and Olivier himself as Chebutikin.

Television and radio In 1966, she was cast as a beleaguered tenant in Vacant Possession, a TV play produced by Rediffusion. In 1971, Heard starred in a couple of episodes in the TV sitcom For the Love of Ada playing the nosey next door neighbour. In 1974, she played the part of Mrs. Froggitt in the pilot episode of Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt.

She performed in many other television serials, including Wild, Wild Women, Doctor Who (in the serial Image of the Fendahl), the sitcom Don't Forget to Write!, Z-Cars andUpstairs, Downstairs, series 2, episode 8, "Out of the Everywhere".

From its inception until her death in 1983, she played the part of Maud, the eccentric housekeeper, in the Hinge and Bracket radio series.

Teaching career In 1955, Heard left the cast of a West End play starring Yvonne Arnaud to take up teaching drama at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She spent seven years working there, resigning in 1962 after a disagreement with the new principal Richard Ainley over the school's new policies. During this time, her pupils included Peter O'Toole, Robin Phillips and Patrick Stewart.

Filmography Title Year Role Yellow Sands (TV movie) 1948 Jennifer Varwell Miranda (TV movie) 1949 Nurse Carey Rest You Merry (TV movie) 1958 Jin The True Misery of the Passion (TV movie) 1960 Despair Lorna Doone (TV series; eleven episodes; erased by BBC) 1963 Betty Maxworthy Compact 1963 Mrs. Metcalfe Viewpoint 1963 Actress Story Parade 1964 Mrs. Poulton-Morse The Children of the New Forest (TV series; six episodes) 1964 Judith Villiers Thursday Theatre (TV anthology series) 1964 Mrs. Dorbeil Esther Waters 1964 Mrs. Latch The Walrus and the Carpenter (TV series) 1965 Undermind (TV series) 1965 Mrs. Neary Poison Island (TV series) 1965 Mrs. Stimcoe Thirteen Against Fate (episode "The Witness") 1966 Madame Naquet The Woman in White 1966 Madame Fosco Blackmail 1966 Mrs. Pearce Macbeth (TV movie) 1966 Third Witch ITV Play of the Week (TV series) 1967 Witness Sanctuary (TV series) 1967 Mrs. Evans Boy Meets Girl (TV series). 24 wiped BBCTV episodes. 1967 Mary Hobson's Choice (BBC Schools) 1967 Mrs. Hepworth Softly, Softly (TV series) 1967 Mrs Evans - Mrs Peck Inheritance (TV series) 1967 Janie Mellor Dr. Finlay's Casebook (TV series) 1964-1968 3 character roles: Grandma, Mrs. McNaughton, and Mrs. Verrier Public Eye (TV series) 1968 Nora Nicholas Nickleby (TV series) 1968 Peg Sliderskew Mr. Rose (TV series) 1968 Mrs. Simmons City '68 (TV series) 1968 Miss Barnes The Wednesday Play 1968 1968 Mrs. Edgell - Nan Nearest and Dearest (TV series sitcom) 1968 Mrs. Hardman Wild, Wild Women (TV series) 1969 Ginny Big Breadwinner Hog (TV series) 1969 Mrs. Lennox Rogues' Gallery (TV series) 1969 Grandma Groom The Expert (TV series) 1969 Mrs. Dipper The First Churchills (TV miniseries) 1969 Mrs. Jennings Ace of Wands (TV series) 1970 Ma Epps Goodbye Gemini 1970 Mrs. McLaren Three Sisters 1970 Anfissa The Emergency of Anthony Purdy Esq, Farmer's Labourer (TV movie) 1970 Mother ITV Saturday Night Theatre 1971 Mrs. Castleton Jude the Obscure (serial) 1971 Drusilla Fawley For the Love of Ada (TV series) 1971 Mrs. Chandler Z-Cars (TV series) 1964-1971 Various - 3 character roles Thick as Thieves (TV movie) 1971 Please Sir! 1971 Old Gypsy Lady Thirty-Minute Theatre (TV series) 1971 Mrs. Norton Owen, M.D. (TV series) 1971 Mary Brough Suspicion (TV series) 1972 Mrs. Fawcett The Fenn Street Gang (TV series) 1972 Mrs. Upjohn Spyder's Web (TV series) 1972 Mrs. Hartley Horace (TV movie) 1972 Mrs.Beal Pretenders (TV series) 1972 Carrity The Triple Echo (AKA Soldier in Skirts, in US) 1972 Shopkeeper Upstairs, Downstairs (TV series) 1972 Nanny Webster Cranford (TV series) 1972 Mrs. Fitz-Adams Country Matters (TV series) 1972 Cassandra Arthur of the Britons (TV series) 1973 Elder Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? (TV series) 1973 Aunt Beattie The Jensen Code (TV series) 1973 Granny Powell Orson Welles Great Mysteries (TV series) 1973 Deborah Crabbe The Kids from 47A (TV series) 1974 Miss Budge John Halifax, Gentleman (TV series) 1974 Jael Oh No It's Selwyn Froggitt (TV series) 1974 Florrie Froggitt BBC Play of the Month (TV series) 1970-1974 3 character roles Horizon (TV series) 1974 Magistrate Churchill's People (TV series) 1975 Old Woman Wodehouse Playhouse (TV series) 1975 Nanny Wilkes Village Hall (TV series) 1975 Mrs. Goodchild Comedy Playhouse 1974-1975 Aunty Vee - Mum Plays for Britain (TV series) 1976 Mrs. Brown Westway (TV series) 1976 Miss Marlbury Angels (TV series) 1976 Edith Dawson Within These Walls (TV series) 1976 Ralda Loveridge Murder Most English: A Flaxborough Chronicle (TV series) 1977 Mrs. Crunkinghorn Marie Curie (TV miniseries) 1977 Madame Sophie Curie The Upchat Line (TV series) 1977 Mrs. Burgess Doctor Who (TV series) – in serial Image of the Fendahl 1977 Martha Tyler Hazell (TV series) 1978 Kathleen Donaldson Crown Court (TV series) 1974-1978 4 character roles Coronation Street (TV series) 1978 Lizzie Hinchcliffe Don't Forget to Write (TV series) 1977-1979 Mrs. Field Late Night Drama (TV series) 1980 Mrs. Woon Nanny (TV series) 1981 Miss Cooper John Keats (TV miniseries) 1981 Mrs. Cook To the Manor Born (TV series) 1979-1981 Maria Polouvicka Play for Today (TV series) 1982 Mrs Merridew Horace (TV series) 1982 Mrs. Tiddy