# Jill Balcon > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jill_Balcon > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jill_Balcon.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Balcon > Source revision: 1344629385 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|British actress (1925–2009)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}} {{Use British English|date=July 2014}} {{Infobox person | image = Jill_Balcon.jpg | caption = Photographed by Mark Gerson, 1961 | name = Jill Balcon | birth_date = {{birth date|1925|1|3|df=y}} | birth_place = London, England | death_date = {{death date and age|2009|7|18|1925|1|3|df=y}} | occupation = Actress | alma_mater = [Royal Central School of Speech and Drama](/source/Royal_Central_School_of_Speech_and_Drama) | years_active = 1946–1999 | death_place = [Petersfield](/source/Petersfield), England | spouse = {{marriage|[Cecil Day-Lewis](/source/Cecil_Day-Lewis)|1951|1972|end=d.}} | children = [Tamasin Day-Lewis](/source/Tamasin_Day-Lewis)
[Daniel Day-Lewis](/source/Daniel_Day-Lewis) | father = [Michael Balcon](/source/Michael_Balcon) | mother = Aileen Leatherman }} '''Jill Angela Henriette Balcon''' (3 January 1925{{spaced ndash}}18 July 2009)Peter Stanford [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jul/20/jill-balcon-obituary Obituary: Jill Balcon], ''The Guardian'', 20 July 2009 was a British actress. She was known for her work in film, television, radio and on stage. She made her film debut in ''[Nicholas Nickleby](/source/The_Life_and_Adventures_of_Nicholas_Nickleby_(1947_film))'' (1947).{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f3e7a86|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180620114639/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f3e7a86|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 June 2018|title=Jill Balcon|website=BFI}} She was the second wife of poet [Cecil Day-Lewis](/source/Cecil_Day-Lewis); the couple had two children: [Tamasin Day-Lewis](/source/Tamasin_Day-Lewis) became a food critic and TV chef and [Daniel Day-Lewis](/source/Daniel_Day-Lewis) is an actor. ==Life and career== Balcon was born in [Westminster](/source/Westminster), London, the daughter of Aileen Freda Leatherman (1904–1988) and her husband [Michael Balcon](/source/Michael_Balcon).{{cite web|url=http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp|title=Deaths England and Wales 1984–2006|access-date=10 November 2011|archive-date=4 November 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151104084417/http://www.findmypast.com/BirthsMarriagesDeaths.jsp|url-status=dead}} Her family was Jewish, with 19th-century [Lithuanian Jewish](/source/Lithuanian_Jews) immigrant ancestors from what is now [Latvia](/source/Latvia) on her father's side and [Poland](/source/Poland) on her mother's.[http://www.dd-l.net/LINKS/LIB/time.html Daniel Day-Lewis Unofficial Home Page] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080201191123/http://www.dd-l.net/LINKS/LIB/time.html |date=1 February 2008 }}{{cite web|first=Nick|last=Hasted|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/daniel-day-lewis-phantom-thread-paul-thomas-anderson-oscar-lincoln-my-left-foot-gangs-of-new-york-a8187306.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/daniel-day-lewis-phantom-thread-paul-thomas-anderson-oscar-lincoln-my-left-foot-gangs-of-new-york-a8187306.html |archive-date=8 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Daniel Day-Lewis: Why Britain has just lost its De Niro|work=[The Independent](/source/The_Independent)|date=January 31, 2018|access-date=May 8, 2018}}{{cite web|first=Keren|last=David|url=https://www.thejc.com/news/the-diary/jewish-actor-daniel-day-lewis-opens-up-on-his-decision-to-quit-acting-1.449248|title=Daniel Day-Lewis opens up on his decision to quit acting|work=The Jewish Chronicle|date=November 29, 2017|access-date=May 8, 2018}}{{Cite book|last=Jackson|first=Laura|title=Daniel Day-Lewis: the biography|publisher=Blake|year=2005|pages=3|isbn=1857825578|quote=Michael Balcon's family were Latvian refugees from [Riga](/source/Riga) who had come to England around the turn of the century. The family of his wife, Aileen Leatherman, whom he married in 1924, came from Poland.}} Balcon attended [Roedean School](/source/Roedean_School).Tom Vallance [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jill-balcon-actress-of-stage-screen-and-radio-who-married-the-former-poet-laureate-cecil-daylewis-1764668.html "Jill Balcon: Actress of stage, screen and radio who married the former [should be "late"] Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis"], ''The Independent'', 30 July 2009 She trained at the [Central School of Speech and Drama](/source/Royal_Central_School_of_Speech_and_Drama) and, over the course of her career, performed on stage and in radio, film, and television.{{cite web |title=Jill Balcon 1925 - 2009 |url=https://www.jewishlivesproject.com/profiles/jill-balcon |website=Jewish Lives Project |access-date=12 September 2021 |archive-date=12 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912154604/https://www.jewishlivesproject.com/profiles/jill-balcon |url-status=dead }} Her debut film was ''Nicholas Nickleby'' (1947). On 3 January 1948, she appeared on the BBC radio programme ''Time for Verse'', where she had already become a favourite for her voice: "a rich, expressive, finely modulated instrument." That night, the Anglo-Irish poet [Cecil Day-Lewis](/source/Cecil_Day-Lewis), who was 21 years her senior, also appeared on the show. That year Balcon worked for a season with the Bristol Old Vic. Balcon and Day-Lewis began a relationship that year, complicated by his marriage to Mary Day-Lewis, who lived with their two teenage boys in [Dorset](/source/Dorset), and his public affair with novelist [Rosamond Lehmann](/source/Rosamond_Lehmann), who lived in [Oxfordshire](/source/Oxfordshire). Day-Lewis eventually broke with both his wife and his mistress in order to be with Balcon. (Reputedly he was no more faithful to her than he had been to his first wife or Lehmann.) Balcon starred opposite [Stewart Granger](/source/Stewart_Granger) in the film ''[Saraband for Dead Lovers](/source/Saraband_for_Dead_Lovers)'' (1948), with [Jean Kent](/source/Jean_Kent) in ''[Good Time Girl](/source/Good_Time_Girl)'' (1948), and ''[The Lost People](/source/The_Lost_People)'' (1950). But her first love was the stage. In 1951, Balcon married Day-Lewis. Her father was deeply unhappy about the affair and Balcon being named publicly as co-respondent in Day-Lewis' divorce, and cut her off. After her marriage, she could see her mother only secretly.[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jul/20/jill-balcon-obituary "Obituary: Jill Balcon"],''[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)'' In 1956 she starred alongside Denise Hurst, [Faith Brook](/source/Faith_Brook), [John Van Eyssen](/source/John_Van_Eyssen), [William Mervyn](/source/William_Mervyn), [Peter Sallis](/source/Peter_Sallis), Pauline Winter and Peter Augustine in the [BBC](/source/BBC) television film ''[Kitty Clive](/source/Kitty_Clive_(TV_play))''.{{cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/0615488228854b33b7352ba11b2cab3e |title=Children's Television |date=27 March 1956 |publisher=[BBC Genome Project](/source/BBC_Genome_Project) |accessdate=21 March 2026}} Cecil Day-Lewis and Jill Balcon shared a great love for poetry and performed together in many public readings. They had two children together: [Tamasin Day-Lewis](/source/Tamasin_Day-Lewis), who became a documentary filmmaker/television chef and author of food books, and noted actor [Daniel Day-Lewis](/source/Daniel_Day-Lewis). After the children were born, Balcon concentrated on acting in radio and TV productions in order to have more manageable schedules. Balcon died of a [brain tumour](/source/brain_tumour) at [Petersfield Hospital](/source/Petersfield_Hospital) in Hampshire on 18 July 2009, aged 84.{{cite web|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/obituaries--archive/obituaries/jill-balcon/|title=Jill Balcon - Obituaries|date=28 July 2009}}{{cite ODNB|title = Balcon, Jill Angela Henriette (1925–2009), actress|last = Williams|first = Melanie|date = 2013|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/101433}} ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/457365/ Biography and credits at BFI Screenonline] *[https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2007/may/20/features.review27 Jill Balcon, ''The Observer'' (2007)] *{{IMDb name|49607}} *[https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/jill-balcon-day-lewis] Interview British Entertainment History Project {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Balcon, Jill}} Category:1925 births Category:2009 deaths Category:Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Category:Deaths from brain cancer in England Category:English film actresses Category:English radio actresses Category:English stage actresses Category:English television actresses Category:Jewish English actresses Category:People educated at Roedean School, East Sussex Category:Actresses from London Category:People from Westminster Category:English people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:English people of Latvian-Jewish descent Category:Day-Lewis family Category:Actors from the City of Westminster --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jill Balcon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Balcon) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Balcon?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.