Estelle Winwood

Estelle Winwood (born Estelle Ruth Goodwin, 24 January 1883 – 20 June 1984) was an English actress who moved to the United States mid-career and became celebrated for her wit and longevity, starring in film and TV roles until her nineties.

Early life and early career Born Estelle Ruth Goodwin in 1883 in Lee, Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, With her mother's support, but her father's disapproval, she trained with the Lyric Stage Academy in London, before making her professional debut in Johannesburg at the age of 20. During the First World War, she joined the Liverpool Repertory Company before moving on to a career in London's West End.

Personal life and death Winwood married four times (Merv Griffin interview 1979): to character actor Arthur Chesney in 1907, New Zealand rancher and marine solicitor Francis Barlow Bradley in 1928 (He died in 1929), third marriage - dates needed, American actor Robert Henderson in 1944, a man many years her junior, from whom Winwood lived apart in her later life, though he would visit her several times a year. Winwood did not have children.

Winwood was good friends with Tallulah Bankhead, who died in 1968. Bankhead, actresses Eva Le Gallienne and Blyth Daly, and Winwood were dubbed "The Four Riders of the Algonquin" in the early silent film days, because of their appearances together at the Algonquin Round Table. Winwood appeared as a character in Answered Prayers, Truman Capote's final, unfinished, thinly veiled roman à clef. In the novel, which uses her real name, she attends a drunken dinner party with Bankhead, Dorothy Parker, Montgomery Clift, and the novel's narrator, P. B. Jones.

In a 1979 interview, at age 95, Winwood remarked that she smoked three packs of cigarettes a day. On her 100th birthday, Winwood was asked how it felt to have lived so long; she replied "How rude of you to remind me!" Bette Davis, a co-star from Dead Ringer, was photographed at Winwood's side on the occasion in Hollywood, California.

Winwood died in her sleep in Woodland Hills, California, in 1984 at age 101. She was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.

Select filmography Year Title Role Notes1931 The Night Angel (scenes deleted)1933 The House of Trent Charlotte 1937 Quality Street Mary Willoughby 1946 Blithe Spirit Madame Arcati TV movie1955 The Glass Slipper Mrs. Denise Toquet 1956 The Swan Symphorosa 23 Paces to Baker Street Barmaid at The Eagle Alfred Hitchcock Presents Monica Laughton Season 1 Episode 25: "There Was an Old Woman"1958 This Happy Feeling Mrs. Julie Early Alfred Hitchcock Presents Miss Hildy-Lou Season 3 Episode 26: "Bull in a China Shop"1959 Darby O'Gill and the Little People Sheelah Sugrue Alive and Kicking Mabel 1961 The Misfits Church Lady Collecting Money in Bar 1962 The Magic Sword Sybil The Notorious Landlady Mrs. Dawn Dunhill The Cabinet of Caligari Ruth 1964 Dead Ringer Dona Anna 1967 Camelot Lady Clarinda Games Miss Lou-Betty Beattie The Producers "Hold Me! Touch Me!" 1970 Jenny 1971 Decisions! Decisions! TV movie1976 Murder by Death Miss Withers