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{{Short description|English actress (1936–2023)}}{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}{{Use British English|date=March 2012}}

factoids

| birth_place = Forest Gate, Essex, England| occupation = Actress2023106df=y}}| death_place =| children = 1| yearsactive = 1955–2023Charles Crichton-Stuart1975|end=divorced}}}}Shirley Anne Field (born Shirley Broomfield; 27 June 1936 – 10 December 2023) was an English actress who performed on stage, film and television since 1955, prominent during the British New Wave.

Early life

Shirley Broomfield was born in Forest Gate, Essex (in the London Borough of Newham)WEB, The Big Interview: Shirley Anne Field,weblink The Yorkshire Post, 13 November 2017, 11 April 2019,weblink live, on 27 June 1936.WEB,weblink Shirley Anne Field, Sixties beauty who starred in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning – obituary, Telegraph, Obituaries, 11 December 2023, www.telegraph.co.uk, subscription, She was the third of four children, with two elder sisters and a younger brother, Earnest "Guy" Broomfield (c. 1939–1999).WEB, October 4, 1999, Star's brother shot dead in US,weblink December 15, 2023, The Bolton News, en, At the age of six, Shirley was placed in the National Children's Home at Edgworth, near Bolton, Lancashire, and four years later was moved to another children's home in Blackburn, where she attended Blakey Moor School for Girls. She subsequently returned to Edgworth until she was 15, when she moved to a children's home hostel in London, training as a typist while still attending school.

Acting career

Early roles

After a course at the Lucie Clayton School and Model Agency, Field became a photographic model for pin-up magazines like Reveille and Titbits. She was subsequently spotted by Bill Watts, who ran a theatrical agency and obtained for her roles in late 1950s British films, usually uncredited.{{fact|date=December 2022}}Field first appearance in a film was as an extra in Simon and Laura (1955). She had small parts in All for Mary (1955), Lost (1956), Yield to the Night (1956) (directed by J. Lee Thompson), It's Never Too Late (1956), It's a Wonderful World (1956), The Weapon (1956), Loser Takes All (1956), The Silken Affair (1956), Dry Rot (1956), The Good Companions (1957) (again for Thompson), Seven Thunders (1957), and The Flesh Is Weak (1957). She was in episodes of The New Adventures of Martin Kane (1957) and International Detective.{{fact|date=December 2022}}Field's first sizeable film role was in Horrors of the Black Museum (1959). She had minor parts in Once More, with Feeling! (1960) and And the Same to You (1960). Field had a larger role in the controversial Peeping Tom (1960). She appeared on stage in The Lily White Boys with Albert Finney.{{fact|date=December 2022}}

Stardom

{{stack|File:Shirley-ann-field-trailer.jpg|thumb|280px|Field (age 27) in trailer for Kings of the SunKings of the Sun}}In 1960, Field's breakthrough came when she was chosen by Tony Richardson to play the role of model Tina Lapford in The Entertainer (1960), starring Laurence Olivier, distributed by Bryanston Films. Half a century later, she clarified that she did not owe her break to Olivier: "It was Tony Richardson I owe it all to."MAGAZINE,weblink Cinema Retro, Field of dreams [Interview with Shirley Ann Field], Mark, Mawston, 2009-09-01, Field had a supporting role in Beat Girl (1960), then appeared in probably her best known role as Doreen, the would-be girlfriend of rebellious Arthur Seaton (played by Albert Finney), in the New Wave film for Bryanston, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960). Director, Karel Reisz, described her as "difficult to play with".WEB,weblink 9780060152352: No Bells on Sunday: The Rachel Roberts Journals - AbeBooks - Rachel Roberts: 0060152354, abebooks.co.uk, en-GB, 2019-12-22, 22 December 2019,weblink live, Co-star Finney had previously had a small role in The Entertainer. The film was a huge hit.{{fact|date=December 2022}}Field starred alongside Kenneth More in Man in the Moon (1960). With those three big film starring roles in 1960, she became one of the very few actors ever to have their name above the titles in all the major cinemas around Leicester Square simultaneously.WEB,weblink Whatever happened to...The Entertainer's Shirley Anne Field, www.express.co.uk, 2015-04-18, 2018-07-17, Tony, Padman, 17 July 2018,weblink live, Although offered a role in A Kind of Loving (1962), Field turned it down to play the female lead in a Hollywood financed film, The War Lover (1962), with Steve McQueen. Four decades later she admitted that the shoot was not ideal: {{blockquote|text=It was the stuff dreams are made of, but I didn't get to enjoy it like I should have. When I arrived I was so panicked and tired and the sun was just too yellow and the orange juice too orange. It was very stressful and I had a headache all the time. I just wasn't used to it. I didn't have anyone to look after me.}}In the UK Field had the lead in Lunch Hour (1962), which was one of her favourite films.WEB,weblink Interview with Shirley Ann Field about the movie on BBC Radio 4, 2011-04-15, 2013-03-19,weblink 2018-10-11, Tom, Hiddleston, NEWS, View from a Local Vantage Point, A. H., Weiler, The New York Times, 1962-11-04, X9, For Hammer films, Field starred in The Damned (1963), directed by Joseph Losey. She went to Hollywood to play the female lead in an epic directed by J. Lee Thompson, Kings of the Sun (1963). Thompson had her under personal contract at this stage.NEWS, Hedda Predicts Movie Boom Within Year, Hopper, Hedda, 1962-12-15, Chicago Daily Tribune, 1, She says she turned down roles in a James Bond movie and an Elvis Presley movie.Field went to Italy to appear in The Wedding March (1966), then back in England made Doctor in Clover (1966) and Alfie (1966). She had a supporting role in Hell Is Empty (1967).JOURNAL, David, Wynne-Morgan, London Life; London, 1966-07-30, 10, 12, title unknown,

Later career

Field starred in With Love in Mind (1970) and A Touch of the Other (1970), then made House of the Living Dead (1974).WITH LOVE IN MINDMonthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 37, Iss. 432, (1 Jan 1970): 171.By the late 1970s Field was more commonly seen on TV, in shows such as Centre Play, Shoestring, Buccaneer, Never the Twain and a long run on Santa Barbara as well as TV movies like Two by Forsyth. She had roles in films like My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), Shag (1989), Getting It Right (1989), The Rachel Papers (1989), Hear My Song (1991), U.F.O. (1993), Taking Liberty (1993), Loving Deadly (1994), and At Risk (1994).{{fact|date=December 2022}}Her later television roles included (Anna Lee: Headcase) (1993), Murder She Wrote, Lady Chatterly, Rumble, Bramwell, Barbara, Madson, Dalziel and Pascoe, The Bill, Where the Heart Is, Waking the Dead, Monarch of the Glen, Last of the Summer Wine, Doctors. Her most recent films are The Kid, The Power of Three and Beautiful Relics.WEB,weblink Den of Geek, Interview: Shirley Anne Field, 23 March 2009, 5 November 2020, 25 January 2021,weblink live,

Personal life and death

On 7 July 1967, Field married the aristocratic RAF pilot and racing driver Charles Crichton-Stuart (1939–2001). They had a daughter, Nicola Crichton-Stuart, who was born in 1969. The marriage ended in divorce during the late 1970s. Her autobiography, A Time for Love, was published in 1991.WEB,weblink BFI, ScreenOnline: "Field, Shirley Anne", 2012-12-07, Brian, McFarlane, 24 February 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180224011026weblink">weblink live, On 14 November 1993, Field appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs, talking to Sue Lawley about her upbringing in different children's homes in Northern England and her success as an actress in the 1960s. She also reminisced about her friendship with John F. Kennedy and an ill-fated date with Frank Sinatra. Her record choices included Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major and pieces by Rachmaninov, Elvis Presley and the Carpenters.BBC4, Desert Island Disc, 14 November 1993: "Shirley Anne Field" Retrieved 7 December 2012In September 1999 Field's brother Guy was murdered in his San Francisco home, by his girlfriend's son Harry Dalsey, the son of DHL founder Adrian Dalsey. Field flew to the US to begin a civil action alleging wrongful death.WEB,weblink Son of DHL Founder's Widow Held in Walnut Creek Slaying, SFGate, 6 September 1999, 11 January 2014, Lee, Henry, 11 April 2019,weblink live, WEB,weblink SHIRLEY IN BATTLE FOR DEAD BROTHER, Farlex, The Free Library, 8 June 2001, 11 January 2014, Kerr, Jane, 12 January 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140112005958weblink">weblink live, In the September 2009 issue of Cinema Retro, there was a long interview with Field, where she candidly talked about her childhood and the making of Peeping Tom, The Entertainer, Beat Girl and The War Lover.Cinema Retro, September 2009: Field of Dreams {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004065529weblink |date=4 October 2013 }} Retrieved 7 December 2012Field died on 10 December 2023, at the age of 87.NEWS, Murray, Tom, Shirley Anne Field, The Entertainer and Alfie actor, dead at 87,weblink 11 December 2023, The Independent, 11 December 2023, WEB,weblink Actress Shirley Anne Field dies aged 87, Telegraph, Reporters, 11 December 2023, www.telegraph.co.uk, subscription, WEB,weblink Stage and screen actor Shirley Anne Field dies aged 87, P. A., Media, 11 December 2023, The Guardian, WEB,weblink Shirley Anne Field: Alfie actress dies aged 87, 11 December 2023, www.bbc.co.uk,

Filmography

Film{| class"wikitable"

! Years !! Title !! Role !! NotesSimon and Laura >| uncreditedAll for Mary >| uncreditedLost (1956 film)>Lost Miss Carter uncreditedYield to the Night >| uncreditedIt's Never Too Late (1956 film)>It's Never Too Late Extra uncreditedIt's a Wonderful World (1956 film)>It's a Wonderful World Pretty Girl The Weapon (1956 film)>The Weapon Girl in Nightclub uncreditedLoser Takes All (film)>Loser Takes All Girl at Roulette Table uncreditedThe Silken Affair >| uncreditedDry Rot (film)>Dry Rot Waitress in Cafe uncreditedThe Good Companions (1957 film)>The Good Companions Redhead The Flesh Is Weak >|Seven Thunders (film)>Seven Thunders Prostitute uncreditedHorrors of the Black Museum >|Upstairs and Downstairs >| uncreditedOnce More, with Feeling! >|And the Same to You >|Peeping Tom (1960 film)>Peeping Tom Pauline Shields The Entertainer (film)>The Entertainer Tina Lapford Beat Girl >|Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (film)>Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Doreen Man in the Moon (film)>Man in the Moon Polly Jungle Street >|The War Lover >|The Damned (1963 film)>The Damned Joan Kings of the Sun >|Lunch Hour >ACCESS-DATE=2 AUGUST 2011 ARCHIVE-URL=HTTPS://WEB.ARCHIVE.ORG/WEB/20110801143802/HTTP://FILMSTORE.BFI.ORG.UK/ACATALOG/INFO_19037.HTML, dead, Marcia nuziale>The Wedding March Laure Doctor in Clover >|Alfie (1966 film)>Alfie Carla Hell Is Empty >|With Love in Mind >|A Touch of the Other >|House of the Living Dead >| Mary Anne CarewMy Beautiful Laundrette >|Shag (film)>Shag Mrs. Clatterback Getting It Right (film)>Getting It Right Anne The Rachel Papers >|Hear My Song >|U.F.O. (1993 film)>U.F.O. Supreme Commander Loving Deadly >|At Risk (1994 film)>At Risk Mrs. Nolan A Monkey's Tale >| VoiceChristie Malry's Own Double-Entry (film)>Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry Mary The Kid (2010 film)>The Kid Margaret The Power of Three >|

Television roles{| class"wikitable"

! Years !! Title !! Role !! NotesMartin Kane, Private Eye>The New Adventures of Martin Kane Miss Craig Episode: "The Escape Story"International Detective >| Episode: "The Conway Case"Five More >| Episode: "Shotgun"Centre Play >| Episode: "Risking It"Shoestring (TV series)>Shoestring Barbara Knight Episode: "Knock for Knock"Buccaneer (TV series)>Buccaneer Janet Blair 11 episodesNever the Twain >| Episode: "Affairs of the Heart"Santa Barbara (TV series)>Santa Barbara Pamela Capwell Conrad 42 episodesEl C.I.D. >| Episode: "Nothing Is Forever"Murder, She Wrote >| Episode: "The Wind Around the Tower"Anna Lee: Headcase >| TV filmLady Chatterley (TV serial)>Lady Chatterley Mrs. Bolton All 4 episodesRumble >| Episode: #1.2Bramwell (TV series)>Bramwell Peggy Heart Episode: "The Threat of Reprise"Barbara (TV series)>Barbara Jean Episode: "Job"Madson (TV series)>Madson Elaine Dews 4 episodesDalziel and Pascoe (TV series)>Dalziel and Pascoe Cissy Kohler Episode: "Recalled to Life"The Bill >| Episode: "Crime and Punishment"Where the Heart Is (British TV series)>Where the Heart Is Linda 5 episodesWaking the Dead (TV series)>Waking the Dead Monica Reynolds 2 episodesMonarch of the Glen (TV series)>Monarch of the Glen Sadie Episode: #7.6Last of the Summer Wine >| Episode: "Eva's Back in Town"Doctors (2000 TV series)>Doctors Flora Reid Episode: "Swansong"

References

{{Reflist|1}}

Bibliography

• BOOK, Field, Shirley Anne, A Time for Love: An Autobiography, 978-0-593-01161-4, 1991,
• BOOK, Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies, Harper-Collins, 1981, 0-06-093507-3, Halliwell, Leslie,
• BOOK, The Film Encyclopedia, Ephraim, Katz, Collins, 0-06-074214-3, 2005,

External links

• weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160503132635weblink">Shirley Anne Field at the British Film Institute{{better source needed|reason=Help request: a live link can be searched for atweblink - if available, replace the archive URL with the live link. Or if none found, remove this 'better source needed' template. | date=October 2023}} - Retrieved 2012-12-07
• Shirley Anne Field at BFI Screenonline - Retrieved 2012-12-07
• {{IMDb name|0276043}}
• {{discogs artist|Shirley Anne Field}}
• Field of Dreams, four-page interview with Shirley Anne Field in the September 2009 issue of Cinema Retro - Retrieved 2012-12-07

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