Geraldine McEwan
| Geraldine McEwan | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Geraldine McKeown 9 May 1932 Old Windsor, Berkshire, England |
| Died | 30 January 2015 (aged 82) Hammersmith, London, England |
| Cause of death | Stroke |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1946–2011 |
| Spouse(s) | Hugh Cruttwell (1953–2002, his death) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | Official website |
Geraldine McEwan (born Geraldine McKeown; 9 May 1932 – 30 January 2015) was an English actress who had a long career in theatre, television and film. Michael Coveney described her, in a tribute article, as "a great comic stylist, with a syrupy, seductive voice and a forthright, sparkling manner".
On stage, McEwan was a five-time Olivier Award nominee, and twice won the Evening Standard Award for Best Actress; for The Rivals (1983) and The Way of the World (1995). She was also nominated for the 1998 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for The Chairs. She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for the 1990 television serial Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, and from 2004 to 2009, she starred as the Agatha Christie sleuth Miss Marple, in the ITV series Marple.
She was born Geraldine McKeown on 9 May 1932 in Old Windsor, Berkshire, England, to Donald and Norah (née Burns) McKeown. She had Irish antecedents; her maternal grandfather came from Kilkenny while her paternal grandfather came from Belfast. Her father, a printers' compositor, ran the Labour Party branch in Old Windsor, a safe Conservative seat.
McEwan won a scholarship to attend Windsor County Girls' School, then a private school where she felt completely out of place, and took elocution lessons. In an interview with Cassandra Jardine of The Daily Telegraph in 2004, she said of herself around this time: "I was very shy, very private," but after reading a poem (apparently Lady Macbeth's speech "Glamis thou art and Cawdor...") at a Brownie concert: "I realised it was going to be a way in which I could manage the world. I could protect myself by losing myself in other people."
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