Madge Ryan

Madge Ryan (8 January 1919 – 9 January 1994) was an Australian-born film, theatre and television actress, best known for her stage roles in the United Kingdom

Early life

She was born in Townsville, Australia.

Career

Already an established theatre actor in Sydney, Australia, she emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1957 and starred in many British stage shows. She also made over sixty appearances in films and on television.

In 1958, she appeared in a Broadway-theatre production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.

In 1964, she played Kath in the original London production of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr Sloane. The Independent wrote, "as the dreadful Kath, ageing seductress and murderous landlady...Madge Ryan's cruel, cool but undeniably comic acting provoked one critic to describe her work...as 'something very close to perfection'."

Death

She died in London in 1994, the day after her 75th birthday.

In their obituary, The Independent' wrote, "what set her apart from the others was a certain, often powerful, independence of spirit and humour...It was a fulfilled career."

Selected filmography

• Upstairs and Downstairs (1959)
• Doctor in Distress (1963)
• This Is My Street (1964)
• The Strange Affair (1968)
• I Start Counting (1969)
• A Clockwork Orange (1971)
• Frenzy (1972)
• Endless Night (1972)
• Yellow Dog (1973)
• Moll Flanders (1975) (TV)
• All Creatures Great and Small (1978)
• Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978)
• The Lady Vanishes (1979)
• S.O.S. Titanic (1979)