Moyna Macgill
| Moyna Macgill | |
|---|---|
Moyna Macgill
|
|
| Born |
Charlotte Lillian McIldowie 10 December 1895 Belfast, Ireland |
| Died | 25 November 1975 (aged 79) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Throat cancer |
| Years active | 1920–1964 |
| Spouse(s) |
Reginald Denham (m.1919–1924; divorced) Edgar Lansbury (m.1924–1935; his death) |
| Children | 4 |
Moyna Macgill (10 December 1895 – 25 November 1975) was an Irish Englishstage, film and television actress, and the mother of actress Dame Angela Lansbury and producers Edgar and Bruce Lansbury.
Born as Charlotte Lillian McIldowie in Belfast, she was the daughter of a wealthy solicitor who was also a director of the Grand Opera House in Belfast, a position that sparked her interest in theatrics.
As a teenager she was noticed riding the London Underground by director and producer George Pearson, who cast her in several of his films. In 1918, she made her stage debut in the play Love is a Cottage at the West End theatres Globe Theatre. Encouraged by Gerald du Maurier to change her name to Moyna Macgill (which invariably was misspelled as "MacGill" or "McGill", and on at least one occasion, the film Texas, Brooklyn and Heaven, as "Magill"), she became a leading actress of the day, appearing in light comedies, melodramas, and classics opposite Herbert Marshall, John Gielgud, and Basil Rathbone, among others.
Twenty-six-year-old Macgill was married with a three-year-old daughter, Isolde (who later married Sir Peter Ustinov), when she became involved romantically with Edgar Lansbury, a socialist politician, who was a son of the Labour MP and Leader of the Opposition George Lansbury. Her husband, actor Reginald Denham, named Lansbury as co-respondent when he filed for divorce. A year after it was finalized, Macgill and Lansbury married and with Isolde settled into a garden flat in London's Regent's Park.
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