Mary Clare

Mary Clare
Born	Mary Clare Absalom 17 July 1892(1892-07-17) Lambeth, London-Surrey, England
Died	29 August 1970 (aged 78) Harrow, London-Middlesex
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1910-1959

Mary Clare (17 July 1892 at Lambeth, London-Surrey - 29 August 1970 at Harrow, London-Middlesex) was a British actress who performed in films, on the stage and later on television.

Biography

Mary Clare was born Mary Clare Absalom in 1892 (not 1894 as some other reports state) and began her career on the London stage at the age of 18 in 1910. She appeared in the film The Black Spider in 1920, and thereafter divided her time between the stage and the cinema. In September 1936 she played the leading role in the play Laura Garnett, by Leslie and Sewell Stokes, at the Arts Theatre Club, London.

In the theatre, she played the lead role of the victim in Agatha Christie's 1945 play Appointment with Death

In films, she was mainly a character actress and in later life often portrayed mature ladies who had strength of character or were autocratic. In 1938, she was featured opposite Robert Donat and Rosalind Russell in The Citadel. The sole film in which she played the leading role was Mrs Pym of Scotland Yard in 1939. She appeared in two of the British-made Alfred Hitchcock films, Young and Innocent and The Lady Vanishes, playing vastly different characters. She played the part of Linda Singer in two different versions of The Constant Nymph and had previously been in the stage version. In 1956, she was in several TV episodes in British television.

Mary Clare married Lionel Percival Mawhood (1888-1935: died aged 47) at the District of St Martin, London in September Quarter 1915. They had two children and it appears that, following Lionel's death, Mary Clare never remarried.

Selected filmography

• The Skin Game (1921)
• Lights of London (1923) as Hetty Preene
• The Constant Nymph (1928) as Linda Singer
• The Constant Nymph (1933) as Linda Singer
• Say it with Flowers (1934) as Kate Bishop
• Lorna Doone (1934) Mistress Sara Ridd
• The Clairvoyant (The Evil Mind) (1934) as Mother
• The Guv'nor (1935)
• Young and Innocent (1937) as Aunt Margaret
• The Lady Vanishes (1938) as Isabel Nisatona
• Mrs Pym of Scotland Yard (1939) as Mrs. Pym
• On the Night of the Fire (1940) as Lizzie Crane
• Old Bill and Son (1941) as Maggie
• Next of Kin (1942) as Mrs. Webster
• The Night Has Eyes (1942)
• Fiddlers Three (1944) as Volumnia
• London Town (1946) as Mrs. Gates
• Oliver Twist (1948) as Mrs. Corney
• The Black Rose (1950) as Eloner of Lensford
• Moulin Rouge (1952) as Madame Louet
• The Beggers Opera (1953) as Mrs. Peachum
• The Price of Silence (1959) as Mrs. West

References

• 1901 UK Census Record - Source Citation: Class: RG13; Piece: 1247; Folio: 132; Page: 7.
• England & Wales, Birth Index: 1837-1983 > 1892 > Q3-Jul-Aug-Sep > Page 319; Mary Clare Absalom
• England & Wales, Marriage Index: 1837-1983 > 1915 > Q3-Jul-Aug-Sep > Page 1171; Mary Clare Absalom & Lionel P. Mawhood
• England & Wales, Death Index: 1837-1983 > 1970 > Q3-Jul-Aug-Sep > Entry reads; "MAWHOOD Mary Clare b 17th Jy 1892 Harrow 5b 1903"
• England & Wales, Birth Index: 1837-1983 > 1888 > Q3-Jul-Aug-Sep > Page 225; Lionel P. Mawhood
• England & Wales, Death Index: 1837-1983 > 1935 > Q3-Jul-Aug-Sep > Entry reads; "Mawhood, Lionel P. 47 (confirms age at death) E.Ashford 2a 1061"

"Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies" - edited by John Walker - Published by Harper-Collins - ISBN 0-06-093507-3