{{Short description|English actress (1924–2005)}} {{More footnotes needed|date=December 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Mary Wimbush | image = Aunt Agatha (Mary Wimbush) and Arthur Prysock (John Cassady) (Jeeves and Wooster - Cyril And The Broadway Musical).png | image_size = 240px | caption = Wimbush in ''[[Jeeves and Wooster]]'' (1992) | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1924|3|19}} | birth_place = [[Kenton, London|Kenton]], [[Middlesex]], England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2005|10|31|1924|3|19}} | death_place = [[Birmingham]], [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]], England | occupation = Actress | alma_mater = [[Royal Central School of Speech and Drama]] | years_active = 1945–2005 | spouse = {{marriage|[[Howard Marion-Crawford]]|1946|1954|reason=divorced}} | children = 1 }}
'''Mary Wimbush''' (19 March 1924 – 31 October 2005) was an English actress whose career spanned sixty years.
Active across [[film]], [[television]], [[theatre]] and [[radio]], she was nominated for the [[BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress]] for the 1969 film ''[[Oh! What a Lovely War]]''. Her television credits included ''[[Poldark (1975 TV series)|Poldark]]'' (1975–77), ''[[Jeeves and Wooster]]'' (1990–92), and ''[[Century Falls]]'' (1993). She played Julia Pargetter in [[BBC Radio 4]]'s popular [[soap opera]] ''[[The Archers]]'' from 1992 until her death.
==Early life and education== Wimbush was born on 19 March 1924 in [[Kenton, London|Kenton]], [[Middlesex]] (today in [[North London|North-West London]]). Her father was a [[schoolmaster]] and her mother had trained at [[RADA]], but did not pursue a stage career, although the family enjoyed taking part in amateur dramatics. They moved to Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, when Mary was four.<ref name="telegraph-obit">{{cite web |title=Mary Wimbush |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1501999/Mary-Wimbush.html |accessdate=10 September 2018 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180910154608/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1501999/Mary-Wimbush.html |archivedate=10 September 2018 |date=2 November 2005|url-status=live}}</ref>
Wimbush was educated at [[Berkhamsted School for Girls]], and at St Agnes & St Michael's Convent, an Anglican school in [[East Grinstead]]. She trained at the [[Central School of Speech and Drama]], before joining the [[Amersham]] [[repertory company]].<ref name="telegraph-obit" />
==Career== {{more citations needed section|date=December 2015}} In 1959 Wimbush acted in a radio play opposite [[Richard Attenborough]]. She later appeared in two other films, ''[[Fragment of Fear]]'' (1970) and ''[[Vampire Circus]]'' (1972). On television, she appeared in a variety of series in supporting roles. She played Prudie Paynter in the [[Poldark (1975 TV series)|BBC's adaptations]] of the ''[[Poldark]]'' novels in the 1970s, and [[Vera Zasulich|Zasulich]] in 1974's ''[[Fall of Eagles]]''. In the 1980s she appeared in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' spin-off ''[[K-9 and Company]]'' and [[D.H. Lawrence]] adaptation ''[[Sons and Lovers (1981 TV serial)|Sons and Lovers]]'' (both 1981), and in the early 1990s as [[Aunt Agatha]] in three series of ''[[Jeeves and Wooster]]'', with [[Stephen Fry]] and [[Hugh Laurie]].<ref name="imdb"/>
In 1993 she co-starred in the dark children's fantasy serial ''[[Century Falls]]''. She also had guest appearances in episodes of a variety of programmes during her career, from ''[[Z-Cars]]'' and ''[[All Creatures Great and Small (1978 TV series)|All Creatures Great and Small]]'' (in the episode "A Dog's Life") in the 1970s to ''[[Midsomer Murders]]'', ''[[Heartbeat (British TV series)|Heartbeat]]'' and ''[[Doctors (2000 TV series)|Doctors]]'' in the 2000s. Her final screen appearance was in a two-part episode of the [[BBC One]] medical drama ''[[Casualty (TV series)|Casualty]]'' in September 2004.<ref name="imdb"/>
==Death== [[File:Mary Wimbush grave.jpeg|thumb|Wimbush's grave in Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire]] Wimbush died on the evening of 31 October 2005 at [[the Mailbox]] studios of [[BBC Birmingham]], shortly after completing work on a recording session for ''[[The Archers]]''.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-1853540,00.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20110604015201/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-1853540,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 June 2011|title=Mary Wimbush obituary|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=2 November 2005|accessdate=21 December 2015}}</ref>
Wimbush was buried in Berkhamsted next to the graves of her parents in Rectory Lane Cemetery. Mary's elder sister, Joanna, was also buried there in 2013.<ref name="rlcp">{{cite web |title=Remarkable Women |url=https://www.stpetersberkhamstedfriends.org.uk/wp-content/uploads//2018/02/booklet-remarkable-women.pdf |website=The Rectory Lane Cemetery Project |publisher=Friends of St Peter's Great Berkhamsted |accessdate=10 September 2018 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180910155457/https://www.stpetersberkhamstedfriends.org.uk/wp-content/uploads//2018/02/booklet-remarkable-women.pdf |archivedate=10 September 2018 |pages=29–30 |date=2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Personal life== In 1946 Mary Wimbush married actor [[Howard Marion-Crawford]]; they had one son and two grandchildren.<ref name="imdb">{{IMDb name|0934451}}</ref> From 1960 until his death in 1963, she was in a relationship with the poet [[Louis MacNeice]], having acted in several of his radio plays.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Stallworthy|first=Jon|title=Louis MacNeice|publisher=Faber|year=1995|isbn=0-571-16019-0|location=London|pages=444–7}}</ref>
==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- |1969|| ''[[Oh! What a Lovely War]]'' || Mary Emma Smith || |- |1970|| ''[[Fragment of Fear]]'' || 'Bunface' || |- |1972|| ''[[Vampire Circus]]'' || Elvira || |}
==References== <references/>
==Sources== *{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4396376.stm|title=Archers star Wimbush dies at 81|work=[[BBC News]]|date=1 November 2005|accessdate=3 June 2009}} *{{Cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/archers/backstage/mary_wimbush_80.shtml|title=Mary Wimbush at 80|publisher=[[BBC]]|accessdate=3 June 2009|date=26 March 2004}} *{{Cite book|last=Smethurst|first=William|title=The Archers: The First Thirty Years|publisher=Eyre Methuen/New English Library|year=1980|isbn=978-0-450-05220-0}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0934451}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wimbush, Mary}} [[Category:1924 births]] [[Category:2005 deaths]] [[Category:English film actresses]] [[Category:English television actresses]] [[Category:English stage actresses]] [[Category:English radio actresses]] [[Category:People from Kenton, London]] [[Category:Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama]] [[Category:Actors from the London Borough of Harrow]]