Billie Whitelaw - Theatre and Beckett

Theatre and Beckett

In 1963, Billie Whitelaw met Irish playwright Samuel Beckett. She and Beckett enjoyed an intense professional relationship until his death in 1989. He wrote many of his more experimental plays especially for her, referring to Whitelaw as "A perfect actress". Whitelaw became Beckett's muse, as he created, reworked and revised each play while she physically, at times to the point of total exhaustion, acted out each movement. Whitelaw remains the foremost interpreter of the man and his work. She gives lectures on the Beckettian technique, and has explained "He used me as a piece of plaster he was molding until he got just the right shape". They collaborated on Beckett plays such as Play, Eh Joe, Happy Days, Not I, Footfalls and Rockaby for both stage and screen.

From 1964-66, Whitelaw was a member of Britain's National Theatre Company. In 1965, she took the part of Desdemona opposite Laurence Olivier's Othello from Maggie Smith.