Georgette Lizette "Googie" Withers CBE,
AO was an
English theatre, film and television
actress died she was , 94.. She was a longtime resident of
Australia with her husband, the actor
John McCallum, with whom she often appeared.
(12 March 1917 – 15 July 2011)
Biography
An
Anglo-Indian, Withers was born in
Karachi, then part of
British India, to Edgar Withers, a captain in the Royal Navy, and a Dutch-German mother named Zitette.
[3] She acquired the name "Googie" (Little Pigeon) at a young age from her
ayah (nanny).
[4] As a child, she learned
Urdu.
[citation needed] Her father left the Royal Navy to manage a foundry in Birmingham, England, and Googie was sent to a boarding school near Dover.
[3] She began acting at the age of twelve. A student at the
Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, she was a dancer in a
West End production when she was offered work as a film extra in
Michael Powell's
The Girl in the Crowd (1935). She arrived on the set to find one of the major players in the production had been dismissed and was immediately asked to step into the role.
During the 1930s, Withers was constantly in demand in lead roles in minor films and supporting roles in more prestigious productions. Her best known work of the period was as one of
Margaret Lockwood's friends in
Alfred Hitchcock's
The Lady Vanishes (1938). Among her successes of the 1940s was the
Powell and Pressburger film
One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), a topical
World War II drama in which she played a resistance fighter who helps British airmen return to safety from behind enemy lines. She is remembered for her role as the devious Helen Nosseross in
Night and the City (1950), a classic
film noir.
[citation needed]
While filming
The Loves of Joanna Godden (1947), Withers met her co-star, the
Australian actor
John McCallum. They were married on 24 January the following year, and remained married until McCallum's death in 2010.
[5]
Withers first toured Australia in the stage play
Simon and Laura. When McCallum was offered the position running
J.C. Williamson Theatres, they moved to Australia in 1959. Withers starred in a number of stage plays, including
Rattigan's
The Deep Blue Sea,
Desire of the Moth,
The First 400 Years (with
Keith Michell),
Beekman Place (for which she also designed the set),
The Kingfisher,
Stardust,
Chekhov's
The Cherry Orchard and
Wilde's
An Ideal Husband for the
Melbourne Theatre Company; both productions toured Australia. They appeared together in the UK in
The School for Scandal at the
Duke of York's Theatre in Londons
West End and on the subsequent
British Council tour of Europe in 1983–4 and in
W. Somerset Maugham's
The Circle at the
Chichester Festival Theatre.
[citation needed]
Withers starred on Broadway with
Michael Redgrave in
The Complaisant Lover and in London with
Alec Guinness in
Exit the King. During the 1970s, she appeared as Faye Boswell, the governor of a women's prison, in the television series
Within These Walls. Because
Within These Walls had been a moderate success in Australia, she was approached by producers to play the role of the Governor of the Wentworth Detention Centre in the later series
Prisoner, a job which she declined. The role eventually went to
Patsy King.
[citation needed]
In 1986, Withers starred in the BBC adaptation of
Hotel du Lac, which was followed a year later by another BBC production of
Northanger Abbey. In 1990, she appeared in ITV's adaptation of
Ending Up. Her last screen performance was as the Australian novelist
Katharine Susannah Prichard in the 1996 film
Shine, for which she and the other cast members were nominated for a
Screen Actors Guild award for "Outstanding performance by a cast".
In 2002, aged 85, Withers appeared with
Vanessa Redgrave in
Oscar Wilde's
Lady Windermere's Fan in London's West End.
In 2004, Withers came back into the news when a character on the ITV soap
Coronation Street, Norris Cole, quipped that "Googie Withers would turn in her grave".
Granada Television was forced to apologise a week later when they realised that she was very much alive.
[6]
In October 2007, aged 90 and 89 respectively, Withers and McCallum appeared in an extended interview with Peter Thompson on ABC TV's
Talking Heads program.
[4]
Death
Withers died on 15 July 2011 at her Sydney home, aged 94. Her husband John McCallum predeceased her on 3 February 2010.
[7]
Honours
Withers was appointed an Honorary Officer of the
Order of Australia (AO) for services to drama, in the 1980 Australia Day Honours List.
[8] In the 2002 Queen's Birthday Honours List (UK), she was named a Commander of the
Order of the British Empire (CBE).
Family
Withers and McCallum were the parents of three children; actress
Joanna McCallum, art director Nicholas and Amanda.
[9]
To see more of who died in 2010 click here
