A Reluctant Film and Television Actress
Like many stage actors of her era, she expressed a distaste for films and resisted the offers she received during the 1920s. Finally, she relented and made her film début in Night Angel (1931), but her scenes were cut before the film's release. Her official film début came in The House of Trent (1933), and Quality Street (1937) was her first role of note. She made no cinematic films during the 1940s but expressed a willingness to participate in the new medium of television, starring in a television production of Blithe Spirit in 1946. During the 1950s, she appeared more frequently in television than she did in film in such series as Robert Montgomery Presents, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Donna Reed Show. Her few films from that period include The Glass Slipper (1955), The Swan (1956), and 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956).
Her other film credits include Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959), The Misfits (1961), The Magic Sword (1962), The Notorious Landlady (1962), Dead Ringer (1964), Camelot (1967) and The Producers (1968). She later denigrated the last film, saying she could not imagine why she had done it except for the money.
Her other work for television included guest roles in The Twlight Zone; Thriller (US TV series); Dr. Kildare; Perry Mason; The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; The Name of the Game; Bewitched; Batman; Love, American Style; Cannon; and Police Story.
Winwood's final film appearance, at age 92 in Murder by Death (1976), was as Elsa Lanchester's character's ancient nursemaid. In this film, she joined other veteran actors spoofing some of the most popular detective characters in murder mysteries on film and television (Dick and Dora Charleston, Jessica Marbles, etc.).
When she made her final television appearance, in a 1979 episode of Quincy, she officially became, at age 96, the oldest actor working in the U.S., beating out fellow British actress Ethel Griffies, who worked until her 90s. Winwood ultimately achieved an eighty-year career on the stage from her début at age 16 until her final appearance at age 100, playing Sir Rex Harrison's mother in his final My Fair Lady tour. When she died at age 101, she was the oldest member in the history of the Screen Actors Guild.
Read more about this topic: Estelle Winwood
Famous quotes containing the words reluctant, film, television and/or actress:
“As a fond mother, when the day is o’er,
Leads by the hand her little child to bed,
Half willing, half reluctant to be led,”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)
“All film directors, whether famous or obscure, regard themselves as misunderstood or underrated. Because of that, they all lie. They’re obliged to overstate their own importance.”
—François Truffaut (1932–1984)
“All television ever did was shrink the demand for ordinary movies. The demand for extraordinary movies increased. If any one thing is wrong with the movie industry today, it is the unrelenting effort to astonish.”
—Clive James (b. 1939)
“An actress must be a woman whose emotional perceptions are true, and to make them so, she must have a fine contempt for any art or thought that betrays them for something false.”
—Nance O’Neil (1874–1965)