Marjorie Thomson

Marjorie Jessica Sutherland Thomson (13 October 1913 – 10 March 2012) was a Scottish film, television and theatre actress. She is best known as a cast regular in the hit TV series Take the High Road from 1980 to 1995. In the programme, she played local matriarch Grace Lachlan, one of several "strong women characters (who) provided a focus". Series creator Don Houghton praised Thomson and her co-star Eileen McCallum for their clarity as speakers of the Scots dialect, an essential attribute of their respective roles in the programme.

Thomson was associated with the Glasgow Unity Theatre group from its foundation in 1941, playing a wide range of roles. As a member of the group, she played Jean Mutrie as female lead in The Gorbals Story, a successful play by Robert McLeish which opened in 1946 at the Queen's Theatre, Gallowgate and then toured the UK, including a residence at London's Garrick Theatre in 1948. This was her screen debut and the cast included Russell Hunter, who became her first husband.

She specialised in the stage through the 1950s until her TV debut on 1 January 1960. She told Michael Elder that her personal highlight in those years was appearing in Scotland's first Royal Variety Performance on 3 July 1958 at Glasgow's Alhambra Theatre, attended by Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh.