Mary Kerridge was an English actress and theatre director, who ran the Theatre Royal, Windso and its in-house repertory company from the 1930s to the 1980s.
Education
Born in Islington to Ernest Kerridge and Antoinette Fick, she attended Highbury Hill School from 1924 to 1928. Her family later moved to Esher, Surrey and she attended Wimbledon High School from January 1929 to July 1932, having taken her London University Higher Certificate in English, French, Modern History and German in June 1932. At University College London, she studied for the (one year) Intermediate Arts Bachelor.
Career
Her daughter is the actress Elizabeth Counsell. Beginning her career in the repertory companies of Margate, Southsea and Bath, Kerridge made her West End debut in 1937 with Edgar Wallace"s The Squeaker. She then based herself in Windsor, running the Theatre Royal and its in-house repertory company, whilst also directing and performing.
During the second world war she toured with Donald Wolfitt"s travelling Shakespearean company.
After the war, she appeared in a number of West End productions under her husband"s direction, amongst them Tyrone Guthrie"s only play as a writer ("Top Of The Ladder" at the Street James theatre in 1950). In 1955 she played Queen Elizabeth in Laurence Olivier film of Richard III, then reprised the role for Olivier"s company at The Old Vic in 1962 (opposite Paul Daneman"s Richard), alongside the part of Portia in Julius Caesar.
In 1963 and 1964 she appeared alongside Michael MacLiammoir at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin and the Vaudeville Theatre, respectively. Mary Kerridge died in Windsor on July 22, 1999 and was buried at Street George"s Chapel, Windsor.