Georgina Hale(1943-2024)
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Georgina Hale was an accomplished stage actress who has made many
memorable forays in cinema, most notably in the films of
Ken Russell, especially her
performance as Alma Mahler, in a wonderful and visually rich biopic on
the composer Mahler (1974) which she won a
BAFTA (British Academy Award) for. Two other standout performances were
in Russell's notorious
The Devils (1971) and the
Twiggy musical The Boyfriend in which she played Fay, camping it up, in a backstage lesbian sub plot.
She made in-joke cameos in two further Russell films:
Lisztomania (1975) and
Valentino (1977). Unfortunately, roles dwindled
after her BAFTA win, for some reason, and she made some bad movie choices such as the film version of the tacky
Joan Collins novel
The World Is Full of Married Men (1979)
and McVicar (1980), as well as the
occasional stunner such as Butley (1974),
written by playwright Simon Gray.
She appeared in many of Gray's stage plays (many have been
filmed for British television with her starring) along side
Alan Bates and
Glenda Jackson and continues to work in
British theatre. She made many appearances as guest star in
television series including:
Upstairs, Downstairs (1971),
The Protectors (1972),
Lady Killers (1980),
Minder (1979),
Boon (1986),
One Foot in the Grave (1990),
Murder Most Horrid (1991),
The Vicar of Dibley (1994),
three episodes of
Doctor Who (1963) and many many
more. She starred in two television series:
Budgie (1971), a successful series in
the 1970s and, in the early 1990s, a cult children's series based
around a witch like figure called T-Bag. Most recently, she appeared
in a comic role in
Preaching to the Perverted (1997)
in which her character pointed out that sometimes one has to debase
one's self to further one's career. This film may not further her career (at age 55, she did a
Sharon Stone under-table leg trick)
but it will add to her growing reputation as one of the UK's favorite cult actresses.