Adrienne Corri 1931-2016

Actress Adrienne Corri was born in Glasgow, the daughter of an English mother and an Italian father, who ran the Crown Hotel in Callander, Stirling. Her first film role was in the Romantic Age, 1949 which was followed by The River 1951. Other film roles included Lara’s mother in Dr Zhivago and Dorothy in the thriller Bunny Lake is Missing.  She appeared in horror and suspense films as well as science fiction and many  television productions, including  A Family at War 1971.    A redheaded tempestuous actress who was  in a famous scene in Clockwork Orange in 1980, she had a major stage career in classic and modern plays.

She had two children, Patrick and Sarah Filmer -Sankey from a relationship with the film producer Patrick Filmer- Sankey,  grandson of Duke of Westminster,  in the 1950s.  She was the author of the Search for Gainsborough, in which she described her efforts to establish the provenance of a painting of David Garrick by using the archives of the Bank of England. The painting was given to her in May 1990 in an out of court settlement with the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham.

She lived at 26 Springfield Road in St Johns Wood Road  which saw many famous visitors including Tyrone Power the film star who amazed Mr Gray the butcher’s delivery driver by opening the front  door in his dressing gown one morning in the late 1950s. She was married to actor Daniel Massey between 1961 – 1967 but did not like his plan for her to be a housewife and mother and returned to the stage. She died on 13 March 2016