Muriel Pavlow

Muriel Lilian Pavlow (27 June 1921 – 19 January 2019) was a British actress. Her mother was French and her father Russian.

Early life Muriel was born in Lewisham, south-east London, to Boris Pavlov, a Russian émigré and salesman, and his French wife Germaine. a pioneer BBC television broadcast. She was able to claim, when in her 90s, that she had made the earliest TV appearance of anyone living.

This was followed by a role as a young girl in Dodie Smith's Dear Octopus (1938), with John Gielgud and Marie Tempest at the Queen's theatre, London.

During the Second World War, she was in ENSA and also made the crossover from theatre to screen. In 1941 she starred in John Van Druten's play Old Acquaintance in the West End.

Pavlow's film roles include Maria, the young Maltese woman, in Malta Story (1953), with Alec Guinness; Joy, the girlfriend of Simon Sparrow, in Doctor in the House (1954) and Thelma Bader, the wife of the fighter pilot Douglas Bader (played by Kenneth More) in Reach for the Sky (1956).

She co-starred on stage with Derek Farr in Odd Man In in 1957 and a Kenneth Horne comedy, Wolf's Clothing, in 1959. She made two trips to Australia, first in 1959–60, touring in Odd Man In, and secondly in 1964–65, again with Farr. She played the daughter of an irascible curmudgeon (played by fellow Doctor in the House cast member, James Robertson Justice) in Murder, She Said (1961).

Later, offers of work in film dried up, but Pavlow continued to pursue her theatrical career. In the 1954–55 season, as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon, she played the two Biancas in Othello and The Taming of the Shrew, Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Cressida in Troilus and Cressida.

Personal life Pavlow married actor Derek Farr in 1947. They met in 1941 during the shooting of Quiet Wedding and again at the set of The Shop at Sly Corner in 1947. Their maid of honour was Glynis Johns, with whom they had both performed in Quiet Wedding. They had no children and remained married until his death in 1986.

Selected filmography and television roles

Sing As We Go (1934) Hansel and Gretel (1937, TV Movie) – Gretel A Romance in Flanders (1937) John Halifax (1938) – John as a Boy (uncredited) Quiet Wedding (1941) – Miranda Night Boat to Dublin (1946) – Marion Decker Peter and Paul (1946, TV Movie) – Gerda as a woman Code of Scotland Yard (originally released as The Shop at Sly Corner) (1947) – Margaret Heiss Weep for the Cyclops (1947, TV Movie) – Esther Vanhomrigh (Vanessa) Hamlet, Part 1 and Hamlet, Part 2 (1947, TV Movie) – Ophelia Spring at Marino (1951, TV Movie) – Katia Breakers Ahead (1951, TV Movie) – Petronella Out of True (1951, Short) – Betty The Mollusc (1951, TV Movie) – Miss Roberts It Started in Paradise (1952) – Alison The Net (1953) – Caroline Cartier Malta Story (1953) – Maria Gonzar Doctor in the House (1954) – Joy Gibson Conflict of Wings (1954) – Sally Simon and Laura (1955) – Janet Honeyman Reach for the Sky (1956) – Thelma Bader Eyewitness (1956) – Lucy Church Tiger in the Smoke (1956) – Meg Elgin Doctor at Large (1957) – Dr. Joy Gibson Rooney (1958) – Maire Hogan Whirlpool (1959) – Dina Murder, She Said (1961) – Emma The Last Evensong (1985, TV Movie) – Miss. Marshall Boon (1988, TV Series) "Beef Encounter" - Barbara Drake Screen Two: Memento Mori (1992, TV Movie) - Grannie Valvona Daisies in December (1995, TV Movie) – Miss Dean Agatha Christie’s Poirot (1996, TV Series) “Dumb Witness” - Julie Tripp Heaven on Earth (1998, TV Movie) – Elizabeth McKenzie Black Books (2000, TV Series) “Cooking the Books” - Old Woman Hotel! (2001, TV Movie) Perfect Strangers (2001, TV Mini-Series) - Violet Coupling (2002, TV Series) “Faithless” - Angela Belonging (2004, TV Movie) – Dorothy Glorious 39 (2009) – Old Anne (final film role)

Radio A Life of Bliss (1967), as Tina Holiday, with George Cole (actor) and Colin Gordon.