Margaret Leighton

Margaret Leighton (26 February 1922 – 13 January 1976) was an English actress. Known for her work on stage and screen, her film appearances included Anthony Asquith's The Winslow Boy (her first credited film role), Alfred Hitchcock's Under Capricorn, Powell and Pressburger's The Elusive Pimpernel, George More O'Ferrall's The Holly and the Ivy, Martin Ritt's The Sound and the Fury, John Guillermin's Waltz of the Toreadors, Franklin J. Schaffner's The Best Man, Tony Richardson's The Loved One, John Ford's 7 Women, and Joseph Losey's The Go-Between and Galileo. For The Go-Between, she won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Leighton began her career on stage in 1938, before joining the Old Vic and making her Broadway debut in 1946. A four-time Tony Award nominee, she twice won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play: for the original Broadway productions of Separate Tables (1957) and The Night of the Iguana (1962). She also won an Emmy Award for the 1970 Hallmark Hall of Fame television presentation of “Hamlet” starring Richard Chamberlain, which aired in November 1970 on NBC.

Life and career Born in Barnt Green, Worcestershire, Leighton made her stage debut as Dorothy in Laugh with Me (1938), which also was performed that year for BBC Television. She became a star of the Old Vic.

After appearing in two British films, including the starring role of Flora MacDonald opposite David Niven in Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948) and in the popular The Winslow Boy (also 1948), the actress appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Under Capricorn (1949) and the crime/mystery Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951). In the U.S., she portrayed the wife of a presidential candidate in The Best Man (1964).

Leighton won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance in Separate Tables (1956); she won another Tony in that category for The Night of the Iguana (1962), playing Hannah Jelkes (a role played by Deborah Kerr in the film version) opposite Bette Davis's Maxine Faulk. Leighton was nominated for Best Actress in a Play for Much Ado About Nothing (1959) and for Tchin-Tchin (1962). Her final TV performance was in the first season of Space: 1999 where she played Queen Arra in the episode "Collision Course."

For her film role as Mrs Maudsley in The Go-Between (1971), Leighton won the British BAFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actress. She also received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for the role. She received a BAFTA nomination for Best British Actress for her role as Valerie Carrington in Carrington V.C. (1954).

Personal life Leighton was married three times, to publisher Max Reinhardt from 1947 to 1955, to actor Laurence Harvey from 1957 to 1961, and to actor Michael Wilding from 1964 until her death in 1976. She had no children by any of the marriages.

Acting credits Film

Television

Select theatre credits Robert's Wife (1942) – Birmingham Rep Major Barbara (1942) – Birmingham Rep The Farmer's Wife (1942) – Birmingham Rep The Little Minister (1943) – Birmingham Rep Elusive Straw Hat (1943) – Birmingham Rep Ladies in Retirement (1943) – Birmingham Rep Robert's Wife (1943) – Birmingham Rep Heartbreak House (1943) – Birmingham Rep The Taming of the Shrew (1943) – Birmingham Rep The Beggar Prince (1943) – Birmingham Rep You Never Can Tell (1944) – Birmingham Rep As You Like It (1944) – Birmingham Rep Six Characters in Search of an Author (1944) – Birmingham Rep Uncle Vanya (1945) – New Theatre, London Richard III (1944–45) – New Theatre, London Henry IV, Part I and II (1945–46) – New Theatre, London Henry IV Part I and II (1946) – New York Uncle Vanya (1946) – New York Oedipus Rex (1946) – New York The Critic (1946) – New York Separate Tables (1954–57) – London, New York Variation on a Theme (1958) – London Much Ado About Now (1959) – New York The Wrong Side of the Park (1960) – London The Night of the Iguana (1961–62) – New York Tchin-Tchin (1962–63) – New York The Chinese Prime Minister (1964) – New York Slapstick Tragedy (1966) – New York Cactus Flower (1967) – Lyric Theatre, London The Little Foxes (1967–68) – New York Antony and Cleopatra (1969) – Chinchester Festival Michael Codron (1970) – Apollo Theatre, London Reunion in Vienna (1972) – London A Family and a Fortune (1974–75) – Theatre Royal, Bath, then Apollo Theatre, London.

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Results Ref. 1971 Academy Awards Best Supporting Actress The Go-Between 1954 British Academy Film Awards Best British Actress Carrington V.C. 1971 Best Actress in a Supporting Role The Go-Between 1971 Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards Best Supporting Actress 1966 Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Drama Dr. Kildare 1971 Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Drama Hamlet 1957 Tony Awards Best Leading Actress in a Play Separate Tables 1960 Much Ado About Nothing 1962 The Night of the Iguana 1963 Tchin-Tchin