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So sorry to hear your sad news Sarah. Your Mum seemed to be quite a remarkable lady who enjoyed a long and full life. Sincere condolences to you and the family.
R.I.P. Georgina.
With respect,
Smudge
Dear Fans, it is with sadness that I tell you that my Mom passed away on October 1, 2011. She went peacefully, in full make up for her final curtain call, after a good lunch and she was ready, at age 92, to leave the stage. I post her obituary below. She has a wonderful life and will not be forgotten.
GEORGINA COOKSON - December 19, 1918 - October 1, 2011
The well known British actress, Georgina Cookson, died peacefully on October 1st, 2011 in Sydney, age 92. She was married four times and leaves two children, a son, Christopher Unwin, a daughter, Sarah Butler, three grandchildren, Cassidy, Kani and Tristan, and one great grandchild, Teodore.
Her career in theatre, television and films spanned 52 years. Her best known theatre role was on Broadway when she played Lady India in Christopher Fry�s �Ring Round the Moon�, in which she danced the tango which stopped the show on the first night. Her other theatre roles included the famous review �Rise Above It� which started its run during the Blitz and continued for two years. She also had roles in �The Water Gypsies�, �I Capture the Castle�, �Full House� (with Terry Thomas), �Six Months Grace� and �My Fair Lady�.
Over the many years she worked in television, she appeared in, among others, series by Somerset Maugham, Evelyn Waugh, Rudyard Kipling, and the 60's series �The Prisoner� with Patrick McGoohan which became a cult and developed a worldwide fan base. She starred with most of the famous British comics - Sid James, Tony Hancock, Derek Nimmo, Jimmy Edwards, Harry Worth, and also appeared in �Steptoe and Son� as Joanna Lumley�s mother.
Movies included �Darling� with Julie Christie, and the title role in �The Woman Who Wouldn�t Die� with Gary Merrill, just after his divorce from Bette Davis. He says the part was written for her, but she got the script!
She returned to the theatre in 1988 in �My Fair Lady� and in 1990 made her final appearance as the lead in the comedy, �A Breath of Spring.�
She was married to her third and favorite husband, Derek Mitchell, for 20 years, (many of which were spent in Ibiza in its prime in the late 60's through 80's, especially at Sandy�s Bar along with Terry Thomas, Diana Rigg, Clifford Irving, Denholm Elliott and many more) until his death in 1988. She had a wonderful, long life, ending up in Sydney, where her son lived, as opposed to San Francisco, where her daughter lived, because the swimming was better in Sydney! She (and all of her wonderful stories) will be sorely missed by her family. We love you George!
So sorry to hear your sad news Sarah. Your Mum seemed to be quite a remarkable lady who enjoyed a long and full life. Sincere condolences to you and the family.
R.I.P. Georgina.
With respect,
Smudge
A fine actress, but a good age, and a happy life, by all accounts. RIP
Last edited by ghughesarch; 25-10-11 at 11:12 PM.
Sarah I know you have posted here before and kept us up to date with your Mum's antics, so thank you for returning and posting her final curtain. And always feel free to post anything of interest in the future.
Of all her roles it will probably be in The Prisoner that she will be immortalised? However that show is fast becoming a ghost ship with two more passings from it in the past month or so.
RIP Georgina
I thought she was hilarious as Joanna Lumley's mum in "Loathe Story" the episode of "Steptoe & Son" where
she displayed true outrage having to put up with Albert's disgusting antics!! R.I.P.Georgina & thank you!
She was superb in her episodes of The Prisoner. One of them being A, B And C, the same as Sheila Allen. Georgina was especially good in her other episode Many Happy Returns.
Georgina Cookson.
wec
Saddened to hear of your mothers passing Sarah, but what a fine long life and quite a lady by the sound of it. Always a welcome presence in whatever she appeared in, such as for example the rather good Catacombs (1965).
I'd just like to echo the above sentiments Sarah.
Your mum was a very striking lady.
What a wonderful life she had, my deepest sympathy. A lady who had style and class.
Paul
Sorry to hear the sad news about your mother, sarahbutler. McGoohan fans like myself know her very well from the Danger Man episode The Trap, and more importantly for her two appearances in The Prisoner, as unnamed Blonde Lady at Engadine's party in the episode A.B.and C. and as Mrs Butterworth in the episode Many Happy Returns, where she seemed so nice to poor old No.6 on his return to London only later to turn into Number 2. The Number 2 club is a thinning crowd sadly, but The Village authorities will be holding a memorial for her, and of course No.1 sends their regards...
ScenefromThePrisoner-ABC.jpg GeorginaCooksoninManyHappyReturns.jpg GeorginaCookson.jpg
Last edited by agutterfan; 26-10-11 at 03:13 PM. Reason: This site is unfriendly to linking images!
It is always a pleasure to see Georgina and I watched The Naked Truth in memory of her today in which she plays the elegant and long-suffering wife of Terry-Thomas.
A classic film. It had slipped my mind that Georgina was in this. She played a great part too.Originally Posted by Gerald Lovell
wec
For the record (that is to say when people later visit/revisit this thread), Arfur must be alluding to George Baker and Sheila Allen. A sadly dwindling cast, indeed. "There are very few of us left", as Number Six once said.
I remember your posts at Georgina's original thread, Sarah, and am very sorry for your loss. My condolences to other family and friends. Like everyone else, I especially remember your mother from The Prisoner, where I was introduced to many of my cult favourites. Another one was an actress called Annette Carell, who was also in the episode A, B and C.
Just a few months after I recorded it on video (with several repeat viewings), I was fascinated to see them turning up again in something different - the Sixties classic Darling. Alas, they didn't share any scenes in either but this is one of my favourite Joint Ventures. I'm still struggling to create a thread for actors who have similar connections, preferably appearing in one thing but not the other.
Here's a nice close-up of Georgina as the sexy Mrs. Butterworth in The Prisoner - Many Happy Returns (1967):
Actually, this is one of my notorious 'ATWs' (along-the-way captures) and not from a Georgina Cookson screencapping session, which I'm sure I'll get round to in due course. If I remember rightly, the reason for scanning the DVD on this occasion was to find stock footage of a Caribbean island!
Georgina seemed a really interesting woman and was a particularly striking presence on screen. Although Mrs. Butterworth was the more substantial role, I think this was best illustrated in the scene where Katherine Kath introduces her to Patrick McGoohan in A, B and C. The sort of moment where one asks "Who is that?". I've already posted this at the other thread so here is a link to remind you:
Scene from The Prisoner: A, B & C.jpg
It doesn't have quite the same impact as a still image but I hope I did this memorable moment justice.
R.I.P., Georgina Cookson
Assuming you return to us, Sarah, can you tell me if the late actor Barrie Cookson was a relative?
Last edited by cornershop15; 27-10-11 at 01:34 AM.
Georgina Cookson: Character actress who specialised in what she called 'rich bitches'
THE INDEPENDENT
Thursday 03 November 2011
Georgina Cookson: Character actress who specialised in what she called 'rich bitches' - Obituaries - News - The Independent
The eternal character actress, Georgina Cookson was one of those faces recognised by millions of post-war cinemagoers and television viewers as she appeared alongside some of the biggest stars while her own name never registered. Describing the characters she played as "rich bitches", she often took upper-class roles, with slightly superior or world-weary expressions, and was always a striking presence.
Cookson made her film d�but in I Didn't Do It (1945), which featured the unlikely combination of the music-hall comedian George Formby and a violent murder. Three years later came the romantic comedy Woman Hater (1948), in which she played Stewart Granger's jilted bride. Although she then landed the title role in the television film Sarah Simple (1949), based on AA Milne's play, Cookson's screen appearances remained rare until she was cast as the long-suffering wife of Terry-Thomas's peer in the 1957 film comedy The Naked Truth, also starring Peter Sellers.
This brought her frequent work, although stardom eluded her and, by 1961, when she was simply credited as "passenger" in the Norman Wisdom comedy The Girl on the Boat, her roles appeared to be diminishing. Nevertheless, after playing a lingerie assistant alongside Tony Hancock in the seaside comedy The Punch and Judy Man (1963), Cookson was seen as the upper-crust Carlotta Hale at a charity dinner in the archetypal Swinging Sixties film Darling (1965), with Julie Christie, Laurence Harvey and Dirk Bogarde.
She was even at the top of the bill in Catacombs (1965, titled The Woman Who Wouldn't Die in the US), actingan astute business executive controlling the purse strings over her weak-willed husband. Television then utilised Cookson's talents more effectively. In Steptoe and Son (1972), she was memorable as the stuck-up mother of Joanna Lumley – playing the posh, new girlfriend of Harold (Harry H Corbett) – with both fleeing from the disgusting habits displayed by his father, Albert (Wilfrid Brambell).
But perhaps her most enduringtelevision appearances were in ThePrisoner (1967), the actor PatrickMcGoohan's allegory-filled statement about the freedom of the individual, which has retained a cult following. Credited simply as "Blonde Lady",she was first seen chatting briefly to Number Six (McGoohan) at a party in the episode "A. B. and C.". She returned more prominently for "Many Happy Returns" as Mrs Butterworth, whom Six discovers in his former London home, also taking ownership ofhis prized Lotus Seven, when hebelieves he has escaped from the Village – only later to find her back there as the latest incarnation of Number Two, its controller.
Born in Cornwall shortly after the end of the First World War, Cookson was the daughter of the racing driver Roger Cookson and Sybil Taylor, who, under the pseudonym Sydney Tremayne, wrote for The Tatler and was a novelist. Cookson left Benenden School at the age of 15 to train at Rada.
On stage, she acted in the wartime revue Rise Above It (Comedy Theatre, 1941), I Capture the Castle (Aldwych Theatre, 1954), the musical play The Water Gipsies (Winter Garden Theatre, 1955) and Six Months Grace (Phoenix Theatre, 1957). She was also on Broadway, first as Daphne Rutherford in Love Goes to Press (Biltmore Theatre, 1947), a short-lived play written by the war correspondents Martha Gellhorn and Virginia Cowles, then dancing the tango as Lady India in Christopher Fry's comedy Ring Round the Moon (Martin Beck Theatre, 1950-51).
Her last screen role was as Baroness Rothschild in the television political drama Number 10 (1983). She subsequently appeared as Henry Higgins's socialite mother in a 1988 British stage tour of My Fair Lady. The four-times-married actress lived in Ibiza from 1970 to 1987 and retired to Sydney, Australia, in 1996. She is survived by the son and daughter of her second marriage.
Anthony Hayward
Antoinette Georgina Cookson, actress: born Mevagissey, Cornwall 19 December 1918; married 1943 Maurice Smart (marriage dissolved), 1952 Ernest Unwin (marriage dissolved; one son, one daughter), 1967 Derek Mitchell (died 1988), 1990 George Payne (died 1992); died Sydney, Australia 1 October 2011.
Great photos and three I have never seemn before! thanks.
Lovely lady R I P.
She always had an icy authority on the screen didn't she? Very distinctive.
She was brilliant in The Naked Truth, as indeed she was in The Prisoner. Very sad to hear the news of her passing. A wonderful actress and a lovely lady. My sympathies to sarabutler and her family.
RIP Georgina Cookson.......
A production still of the sadly-missed Georgina as Marion Towers in the W. Somerset Maugham episode Jane (1970):
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