Mary Ure | |
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Mary Ure in the film Where Eagles Dare (1968)
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Born |
Eileen Mary Ure 18 February 1933 Glasgow, Scotland |
Died | 3 April 1975 London, England |
(aged 42)
Cause of death | barbiturate overdose |
Resting place | London Road Cemetery |
Years active | 1955–1974 |
Spouse(s) |
John Osborne (m. 1957–63) Robert Shaw (m. 1963) (4 children) |
Children |
Ian Shaw Colin Murray Shaw (b. 1961) Elizabeth Shaw (b. 1962) Hannah Shaw |
Parent(s) | Colin McGregor Ure Edith Swinburne |
Eileen Mary Ure (18 February 1933 – 3 April 1975) was a Scottish stage and film actress. She was first married to playwright John Osborne, and later to the actor Robert Shaw.
Born in Glasgow, Ure was the daughter of civil engineer Colin McGregor Ure and Edith Swinburne. She went to the independent Mount School in York, and trained for the stage at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London, where her classmates included the actress Wendy Craig. Known for her beauty, Ure began performing on the London stage and quickly developed a reputation for her abilities as a dramatic actress.
Ure was known principally as a stage actress. She made her London debut as Amanda in "Time Remembered" (1954). While performing a leading role as Alison Porter in Osborne's play Look Back in Anger (1956), she began a relationship with the married dramatist; after he obtained a divorce from his then-wife, they married in 1957. In 1958, she was in the Broadway production of Look Back in Anger and earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Dramatic Actress. In the 1959 film version of the play, Ure reprised her role with Richard Burton as Jimmy Porter. By this point, her marriage to Osborne had become strained due to multiple affairs by Osborne and his diminishing respect for her acting abilities and stable upbringing. In 1959 she began an affair with actor Robert Shaw, her co-star in The Changeling at London's Royal Court Theatre. She gave birth to a son, fathered by Shaw, while still married to Osborne. She divorced Osborne and married Shaw on 13 April 1963 after which Shaw legally adopted Colin, who then became Colin Murray Shaw. The couple had three more children: Elizabeth, actor Ian Shaw, and Hannah.