Margaret Leighton

Margaret Layton was born on February 26, 1922 in England, in the small town of Barnet Green, in Worcestershire, in the family of a local entrepreneur. She attended the Barry Jackson Theatre School in Birmingham. Her debut on the professional stage took place when the young actress was only sixteen years old. Later, Layton joined the troupe of the London Old Vic Theatre, which at that time was headed by Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson. Along with Olivier and Richardson, she made her Broadway more

Margaret Layton was born on February 26, 1922 in England, in the small town of Barnet Green, in Worcestershire, in the family of a local entrepreneur. She attended the Barry Jackson Theatre School in Birmingham. Her debut on the professional stage took place when the young actress was only sixteen years old. Later, Layton joined the troupe of the London Old Vic Theatre, which at that time was headed by Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson. Along with Olivier and Richardson, she made her Broadway debut in Shakespeare's Henry IV tragedy during the Old Vic troupe's visit to the United States. During the stay of the theater in America, she was also engaged in the plays “King Oedipus”, “Uncle Vanya” and “The Critic”.
By the end of the forties, Leighton advanced to the ranks of the leading theater actresses in the UK and maintained a leading position for the next fifteen years. She was nominated four times for the American Tony Theatre Award and twice won this award: in 1957 for the role of Anne Shankland in Terence Rattigan’s play Behind Hotel Tables and in 1962 for the role of Hannah Jelks in Tennessee Williams’ Night of the Iguana. The actress was best at fragile, sophisticated emotional heroines.

In the cinema, Leighton began acting in 1948. Her first films were "Pretty Prince Charlie" (Directed by Anthony Kimmins), a historical drama where she played in a duet with David Niven and a film adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play "Winslow Boy" (Directed by Anthony Esquitt). Over the years, she has created a number of memorable characters on the screen, such as the evil housekeeper Millie in Alfred Hitchcock’s crime film Under the Sign of the Unicorn (1949) or Mrs. Maudsley, the mother of a young aristocrat in love with a commoner from Joseph Lawsey’s psychological drama The Mediator (1971). Her acting work in "The Mediator" was highly appreciated - for this role, Leighton was awarded the British Academy of Film and Television Award and nominated for the Oscar as the best supporting actress. Among her other most prominent roles - Mrs. Chively in the television play based on Oscar Wilde's play "The Perfect Husband" (1969, dir. Rudolf Cartier).
She also starred in such films as "Carrington" (1954, dir. Anthony Esquit), "Waltz of the bullfighters" (1962, dir. John Gillermin), "Mad of Cheyot" (1969, dir. Brian Forbes), "Lady Carolina Lam" (1972, dir. Robert Bolt), "Josey" (1975). The actress was married three times: to British publisher Max Reinhardt (not to be confused with the famous German theater director! (1947-1955)) and actors Lawrence Harvey (1957-1961) and Michael Wilding (1964-1976). In the autumn of 1967, Leighton last played on Broadway in the play Lillian Helman “Foxes”. In 1971, doctors diagnosed her with multiple sclerosis, but despite this, she continued to perform on stage and act in films. However, the disease progressed and five years later her life ended. Margaret Layton died on January 13, 1976 in Chichester, Sussex.
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