{{Short description|British actress and costume designer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Rosemary Vercoe | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Rosemary Joyce Vercoe | birth_date = 29 April 1917 | birth_place = Hanger Hill, Ealing, London, England | death_date = 28 July 2013 | death_place = Islington, London, England | death_cause = | education = Chelmsford County High School for Girls | alma_mater = Chelsea School of Art | occupation = Costume designer | known_for = Long-term collaborator of Jonathan Miller on opera and theatre productions | spouse = Patrick Robertson | children = | parents = | relatives = | website = }}
'''Rosemary Joyce Vercoe''' (29 April 1917 – 28 July 2013) was a British actress and costume designer, perhaps best known for being a long-term collaborator with Jonathan Miller on his opera and theatre productions.
==Early life== She was born on 29 April 1917 at Old Court nursing home, Hanger Hill, Ealing, London,<ref>Her Guardian obituary states she was born at "Swiss Cottage, north-west London"</ref> the second of five children of Richard Herbert Vercoe (1884–1930), of Southall, Middlesex,<ref>The Lancet, J. Onwhyn, 1915, p. 1060</ref> a doctor, and his wife, (Elizabeth) Selina Vercoe, née Skinner (1881–1960).<ref name="ODNB">{{cite web|last1=Pimlott Baker|first1=Anne|title=Vercoe, Rosemary Joyce (1917–2013), costume designer|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/109235|website=ODNB|publisher=OUP|accessdate=21 November 2017}}</ref> Vercoe was educated at Chelmsford County High School for Girls, followed by Chelsea School of Art, where her teachers included Graham Sutherland and Henry Moore.<ref name="ODNB"/>
==Career== She first worked for the London District Theatre Unit as an actress and costume designer, before joining the Players' Theatre costume department during the Second World War.<ref name="ODNB"/>
After the war, Vercoe worked in Stratford-upon-Avon's Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, where she was the costume designer for ''The Taming of the Shrew'', and toured with the company in Australia in 1949–50 as a costume designer, and as an actress understudy.<ref name="ODNB"/> After this, she essentially became a costume designer full-time, and stopped acting.<ref name="ODNB"/>
In May 1973, Vercoe designed the costumes for the British Première of Gottfried von Einem’s opera THE TRIAL, based on the Kafka novel, directed by Fuad Kavur, at Bloomsbury Theatre London, attended by the composer.
Vercoe was a regular collaborator with Jonathan Miller on his opera and theatre productions.<ref name="guardian">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/aug/14/rosemary-vercoe|title=Rosemary Vercoe obituary|first=David|last=Jays|date=14 August 2013|publisher=The Guardian |accessdate=21 November 2017 |via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref> She was known for her meticulous historical research, and for using ordinary everyday clothes of the period, rather than "costumes".<ref name="ODNB"/><ref name="guardian"/>
Miller's 1982 production of Verdi's opera ''Rigoletto'' for English National Opera, set in 1950s New York, was set designed by Patrick Robertson and costume designed by Vercoe.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicalcriticism.com/opera/eno-rigoletto-0909.shtml|title=Verdi's Rigoletto at ENO - MusicalCriticism.com (Opera review)|website=www.musicalcriticism.com|accessdate=21 November 2017}}</ref> It was most recently revived in 2017, using Vercoe's costume design, which reviewers still comment on, "the mafia concept, although prolific in opera stagings these days, is still a perfect fit for Rigoletto".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bachtrack.com/review-rigoletto-pallesen-mancasola-guerrero-eno-london-february-2017|title=Miller's Rigoletto makes a flawed return to ENO|website=bachtrack.com|accessdate=21 November 2017}}</ref>
London's Victoria and Albert Museum includes Vercoe's costumes from the 1979 English National Opera production of ''The Turn of the Screw''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1222715/costume-design-vercoe-rosemary/|title=Costume design - Vercoe, Rosemary - V&A Search the Collections|website=collections.vam.ac.uk|accessdate=21 November 2017}}</ref> The V&A also houses her extensive archives.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb71-thm%2F371|title=Patrick Robertson and Rosemary Vercoe theatre design collection - Archives Hub |publisher=Jisc |accessdate=21 November 2017}}</ref>
==Personal life== She was married to the set designer Patrick Robertson, and they were frequent collaborators.<ref name="guardian"/>
==Later life== Vercoe died at the Highgate Nursing Home, 12 Hornsey Lane, Islington, London, on 28 July 2013.<ref name="ODNB" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vercoe, Rosemary Joyce}} Category:1917 births Category:2013 deaths Category:Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts Category:English costume designers Category:English stage actresses Category:People educated at Chelmsford County High School for Girls Category:Actors from the London Borough of Ealing Category:People from Ealing