MADGE MEREDITH

17 Sept

(15 July 1921 - 16 September 2017)

Never a star, the American actress Madge Meredith, who has died aged 96, had a twenty-year career in the movies and on television. Her first films were second features, namely Take It or Leave It (1944) with Phil Silvers, then Otto Preminger’s In the Meantime, Darling, Mitchell Leisen’s Kitty, Richard Fleischer’s Child of Divorce, The Falcon’s Adventure with Tom Conway, and Trail Street (1947) with Randolph Scott. Then there was a hiatus in her career due to an event more interesting than any of her films. She was accused of complicity in the assault of her former manager and his bodyguard when they were on their way to Meredith’s home. She was tried and convicted and spent five years in jail. In 1951 a California Crime Committee found that she had been framed, the case had been badly handled in court, and inconsistent allegations by those involved had been ignored by the police. She was released from prison and resumed her career mainly in television, apart from uncredited film appearances in To Hell and Back, Tea and Sympathy, The Ten Commandments and The Guns of Fort Petticoat. Her last appearance was in the TV series of The Littlest Hobo in 1964.

MICHAEL DARVELL

Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

MADGE MEREDITH

SUZAN FARMER

HARRY DEAN STANTON