Edith MacArthur

Edith MacArthur (8 March 1926 – 25 April 2018) was a Scottish actress noted for her elegant screen presence.

Early life MacArthur was born in Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, the daughter of Donald MacArthur and Minnie Ross MacArthur. She studied at Ardrossan Academy and the Royal College of Music. During World War II, she worked at the Admiralty Map Correction station in Ayrshire.

Career MacArthur began acting with the amateur Ardrossan & Saltcoats Players.

She made her London stage debut that year, in Alec Coppel's The Gazebo, at the Savoy. With the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s, she played Lady Montague in Romeo and Juliet. She was twice in London productions of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, in different roles, in 1966 and in 1994–1995. She was long associated with the Pitlochry Festival Theatre.

MacArthur was frequently seen on television, with a long list of credits including Z-Cars, The Borderers, The Troubleshooters, Sutherland's Law, The Standard, The Omega Factor, The Sandbaggers, Doctor Finlay, Hamish Macbeth, Casualty and Sea of Souls. In 1972, she played the tragic Scottish mother Jean Guthrie in Sunset Song, the television adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's novel. Her best-known role was the Lady Laird Elizabeth Cunningham in Take the High Road,

MacArthur was said to have discovered the future Doctor Who actor David Tennant. After seeing his first performance at age 10 in Paisley, she told his parents he would become a successful stage actor. Tennant went on to play MacArthur's son twice on stage, in Long Day's Journey into Night and Hay Fever.

Personal life MacArthur died 25 April 2018 at the age of 92, in Edinburgh.