Fay Compton
Birthday: Born in 1894-09-18 in Fulham, London, England, UK
Deathday: 1978-12-12
From Wikipedia Fay Compton CBE (18 September 1894 – 12 December 1978) was an English actress from a notable acting lineage; her father was actor/manager Edward Compton; her mother, Virginia Bateman, was a distinguished member of the profession, as were her elder sister, the actress Viola Compton, and her uncles and aunts. Her grandfather was the 19th-century theatrical luminary Henry Compton. Author Compton Mackenzie was her elder brother. Compton's film work is not as well known as her stage appearances. She appeared in more than forty films between 1914 and 1970. Her most popular performances in films are Odd Man Out (1947), Laughter in Paradise (1951), Orson Welles' Othello (1952), The Haunting (1963) and I Start Counting (1969). Among her television performances, she appeared in 1965 with Michael Hordern in the television play, Land of My Dreams by Clive Exton. One of her last major roles was as Aunt Ann in the BBC's 1967 television adaptation of The Forsyte Saga. She had a successful career in the radio, television and gramophone recordings.
TV Credits
No Hiding Place
Character:
No Hiding Place is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967. It was the sequel to the series Murder Bag and Crime Sheet, all starring Raymond Francis as Detective Superintendent, later Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart....
Maigret
Character:
BBC series based on the novels by Georges Simenon which starred Rupert Davies as Inspector Maigret, a French police detective who preferred to watch and listen in order to solve crimes. The series ran from 1960-63 on British television....
The Forsyte Saga
Character: 'Aunt Ann' Forsyte
The Forsyte Saga is a 1967 BBC television adaptation of John Galsworthy's series of The Forsyte Saga novels, and its sequel trilogy A Modern Comedy. The series follows the fortunes of the upper middle class Forsyte family, and stars Eric Porter as Soames, Kenneth More as Young Jolyon and Nyree Dawn Porter as Irene. It was adapted for television and produced by Donald Wilson and was originally shown in twenty-six episodes on Saturday evenings between 7 January and 1 July 1967 on BBC2, at a time ...
Cold Comfort Farm
Character: Aunt Ada Doom (Starkadder)
Adaptation of Stella Gibbons's comic novel of the same name....
Journey to the Unknown
Character: Queen Victoria
A British television anthology series. The series has a fantasy, science fiction and supernatural theme, very similar to the American television series The Twilight Zone, and deals with normal people whose everyday situations somehow become extraordinary. It featured both British and American actors....
Dombey and Son
Character: Mrs. Brown
Charles Dickens' classic novel is given its first television adaptation in this classic 1969 BBC production. Paul Dombey is a well-to-do shipping firm owner, who lacks a son to take over the family business. After rejecting his daughter's affection, he reconciles with her before his death....
Movie Credits
A Woman of No Importance
Character: Rachel Arbuthnot
A widow's son refuses to be adopted by a Lord when he learns the Lord is her father....
The Haunting
Character: Mrs. Sanderson
Dr. Markway, doing research to prove the existence of ghosts, investigates Hill House, a large, eerie mansion with a lurid history of violent death and insanity....
Odd Man Out
Character: Rosie
Belfast police conduct a door-to-door manhunt for an IRA gunman wounded in a daring robbery....
Othello
Character: Emilia
When a secret marriage is planned between Othello, a Moorish general, and Desdemona, the daughter of Senator Brabantio, her old suitor Roderigo takes it hard. He allies himself with Iago, who has his own grudge against Othello, and the two conspire to bring Othello down. When their first plan, to have him accused of witchcraft, fails, they plant evidence intended to make him believe Desdemona is unfaithful....
Laughter in Paradise
Character: Agnes Russell
When an eccentric practical joker dies, he divides his fortune among four heirs. But before they can collect the cash they must each do something which goes completely against their nature. NB: This is the film which introduced Audrey Hepburn....
The Vanquished
Character: Mrs. Pinkerton
Three tales of privileged youth entangled in murder: French students kill for money, an Italian student smuggles cigarettes, and an English poet exploits a grim discovery....
Town on Trial
Character: Mrs. Crowley
When an attractive young girl is murdered, suspicion falls on several members of the local tennis club. It falls to Police Inspector Halloran to sort out all the red herrings, and finally after a confrontation at the top of the local church spire, arrest the culprit. Another fascinating look at what life was like in Britain during the 50's....
London Belongs to Me
Character: Mrs. Josser
Classic British drama about the residents of a large terrace house in London between Christmas 1938 and September 1939. Percy Boon lives with his mother in a shared rented house with an assortment of characters in central London. Although well intentioned, he becomes mixed up with gangsters and murder. The story focuses on the effects this has on Percy and the other residents....
The Forbidden Street
Character: Mrs. Culver
In Victorian London, young Adelaide is born into luxury, but marries starving artist Henry. His alcoholism and their lack of money lead to many quarrels. During one such fight, Henry slips down a flight of stairs and dies. A neighbor, Mrs. Mounsey, is the only witness, and she blackmails the young widow by threatening to tell the cops that Adelaide killed her husband. Luckily, lawyer Gilbert swoops in to help Adelaide....
Esther Waters
Character: Mrs. Barfield
Esther goes into service in Victorian England, only to be seduced by the sweet talking groom William, who then takes off with his employer's daughter. Left alone to bring up the child, Esther manages and after 7 years has a chance at happiness. Then William turns up again......
Blackmailed
Character: Mrs. Christopher
A blackmailer is murdered, and those who witnessed the scene agree to keep quiet; the complication is that the scene is also witnessed by a young artist, a victim of blackmail as well. (BFI Website)...
The Story of Esther Costello
Character: Mother Superior
Eighteen-year-old Esther has been deaf and blind since the accident which killed her mother. Wealthy Margaret Landi, a native of Esther's village in Ireland, is talked into helping to educate and possibly heal Esther. Margaret grows to love Esther as a daughter, but finds Esther's innocence threatened by sleazy promoters and her own sleazy ex-husband. Radiant performance by Heather Sears. Based on a book that nearly had Helen Keller's co-workers suing for libel due to perceived parallels between...
Autumn Crocus
Character: Jenny Grey
A teacher falls in love with the married owner of the guest house in which she is staying during a holiday to Austria....
Lady Possessed
Character: Mme. Brune
A pianist takes his ailing wife out of a London hospital at the same time that another female patient there has suffered a miscarriage. Afterwards, the second woman feels empty and withdrawn, and, thinking that getting her away from London will help, her husband takes her to live at a country estate, which turns out to be the former residence of the pianist who left after his wife died. The woman begins to get visions of the wife and her final days; is she becoming possessed by the dead wife of ...
Waltzes from Vienna
Character: Countess Helga von Stahl
Johann Strauss Jr. is forced by his father to forget music and to work in a bakery, where he falls in love with Resi, the baker's daughter. The girl gets jealous when a contessa asks Strauss Jr. to write a waltz for her....
Cape Forlorn
Character: Eileen Kell
William Kell, the keeper of a lighthouse on a lonely stretch of coastline, marries cabaret dancer Eileen. His young wife, however, goes on to have an affair with Henry Cass, the handsome assistant later taken on by her husband; when she then begins to flirt with a stranger who is rescued from the wreck of a motor-launch, a chain of shocking events is set in motion......
The Prime Minister
Character: Queen Victoria
Directed by Thorold Dickinson....
The Mill on the Floss
Character: Mrs. Tulliver
Romeo and Juliet in 1930s England. The owner of the mill and the local lord are in conflict over water rights. The lord wins threatening the mill owner with financial ruin....
Tell England
Character: Mrs. Doe
In England, two young friends, confronted with the outbreak of World War I, enlist together to serve in the same company on the battle-field....
Aunt Clara
Character: Gladys Smith
A wealthy old man dies and leaves his holdings--including a brothel and a gambling den, racing greyhounds and a sleazy bar--to his eccentric Aunt Clara. Clara vows to "clean up" her new establishments, but complications ensue when she visits the crooked gambling den--just as it's being raided by the police....
So This Is London
Character: Lady Worthing
American (Churchill) in London dislikes England until his daughter (Lehmann) falls for the son (Granger) of the Lord (Drayton) with whom he wants to conclude a business deal....
The Virgin and the Gypsy
Character: Grandma
Film adaptation from the novel by D.H. Lawrence, discovered after the celebrated author's death in 1930, a romantic love story tells of a prim young English girl who is sexually attracted to a seductively virile gypsy. The climatic dam burst is linked with the consummation of her desire....
Fashions in Love
Character: Marie de Remy
...
A Bill of Divorcement
Character: Margaret Fairfield
Meg Fairfield secures a divorce from her husband Hilary, and is about to marry Gray Meredith when Hilary returns cured. Sydney, daughter of Hilary and Meg, is engaged to Kit Pumphrey, son of the parish rector who refuses to permit his son to marry Sydney when he learns her mother is divorced.......
I Start Counting
Character: Mrs. Bennett
An English schoolgirl suspects the foster brother she worships is the serial killer at large....
Uneasy Virtue
Character: Dorothy Rendell
A comedy film directed by Norman Walker...
Uncle Vanya
Character: Marya, the mother
Adaptation of Chekhov's play from the Chichester Festival....
The Loves of Mary, Queen of Scots
Character: Mary Stuart
The Dauphin's widow weds a lord and is executed for plotting against the queen....
Somehow Good
Character: Rosalind Nightingale
...
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
Character: Mme. Mantalini
A fatherless boy tries to make his fortune despite interference from his rich uncle....