Lila Kaye

Acting

Lila Kaye

Born 1929-11-07 · Worthing, Sussex, England, UK

Lila Kaye (7 November 1929 – 10 January 2012) was an English actress. She spent a number of years working in the United States, on Broadway and in television, before returning to England. She often played motherly and/or comedic characters, mostly on television, including Cathy Come Home (1966) as a staff member at a homeless shelter, and My Son Reuben (1975), co-starring Bernard Spear, as a Jewish mother and her bachelor son who jointly run a dry-cleaning business. She also appeared in films including Blind Terror (1971), The Black Panther (1977) and Quincy's Quest (1979), and found film success in later years for her performances in An American Werewolf in London (1981) as the conflicted rural barmaid trying to warn off the two doomed American backpackers, in Nuns on the Run (1990) as a formidable nun, and in Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story (1991; an American television film), in which she played Dorothy Ireland, the real-life mother of cancer-stricken actress Jill Ireland (played by Jill Clayburgh).[1] Kaye appeared in Bert Rigby, You're a Fool (1989) as Mrs. Pennington, and in Dragonworld (1994) as Mrs. Cosgrove.

Acting credits

An American Werewolf in London poster
7.4

American tourists David and Jack are savagely attacked by an unidentified animal while hiking on the Yorkshire Moors. After retiring to the home of a beautiful nurse to recuperate, David soon begins experiencing disturbing changes to his body and mind.

An American Werewolf in London

1981

Nuns on the Run poster
5.9

Set up by their boss to be knocked off following a final heist, soon-to-retire crooks Brian Hope and Charlie McManus get wind of their impending demise and run off with the spoils of their crime. Fleeing their boss, the drug dealers they robbed, the police, and Brian's angry girlfriend, the duo take refuge in a training convent for nuns. In disguise, they convince Sister Superior that they're nuns, a charade they're forced to maintain as their enemies arrive.

Nuns on the Run

1990

The Sign of Four poster
7.4

Mary Morstan has received a pearl in the post every year since her father's disappearance. This leads Holmes and Watson to the truth about a secret pact between four convicts during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

The Sign of Four

1987

See No Evil poster
6.5

In the English countryside, Sarah Rexton, recently blinded in a horse riding accident, moves in with her uncle's family and gallantly adjusts to her new condition, unaware that a killer stalks them.

See No Evil

1971

Pericles, Prince of Tyre poster
7.5

When Prince Pericles, visiting Antioch, discovers the dreaded answer to King Antiochus's riddle, he flees for his life straight into famine, shipwreck, love, fatherhood, and another shipwreck. He loses his wife and daughter, and doesn't find them again until the story moves us through resurrection, attempted murder, pirates, prostitution, and divine revelation.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

1984

The Canterville Ghost poster
6.7

A young American couple inherits an English castle, only to find that it is haunted by the spirit of a disgraced ancestor, doomed to stay on the estate because of his cowardice. The only way he can escape is if one of his descendants performs an heroic act, something he intends to get the husband to do.

The Canterville Ghost

1986

The Black Panther poster
5.9

A gung-ho ex-military man pursues a secret life of crime, culminating in the kidnapping of a teenage heiress.

The Black Panther

1977

Camille poster
5.5

Camille is a courtesan in Paris. She falls deeply in love with a young man of promise, Armand Duval. When Armand's father begs her not to ruin his hope of a career and position by marrying Armand, she acquiesces and leaves her lover. However, when poverty and terminal illness overwhelm her, Camille discovers that Armand has not lost his love for her.

Camille

1984

Eskimo Day poster
8.0

Comedy drama about the trials and tribulations of three sets of parents as they finally realise that their children have grown up and reluctantly they have to let them enroll at Cambridge University.

Eskimo Day

1996

Antonia and Jane poster
5.4

Plain Jane Hartman hates her life. She's goofy, boring and only has sex if she reads Iris Murdoch novels out loud to her loopy boyfriend. Her oldest friend Antonia McGill knows about everything. She orders the right food; she can complain and get results. She's beautiful and has a brilliant career. Is it any wonder that they hate each other's guts?

Antonia and Jane

1990

Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris poster
7.5

Ada Harris, a London charwoman in the 1950's, sees a Dior dress and decides that she's going to own one. First, she scrimps and saves her money, but when she has enough, and takes a trip to Paris, she learns that buying an original couture creation is a little harder than simply plunking down cash. Along the way to her goal, she manages to befriend a count, unite young lovers, and dodge customs.

Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris

1992

Bert Rigby, You're a Fool poster
5.1

A musical about a miner who wants to break into show business.

Bert Rigby, You're a Fool

1989

Dragonworld poster
5.1

A young man must risk his life to save his fire-breathing friend from the unscrupulous owner of an amusement park.

Dragonworld

1994

The Fiction Makers poster
7.2

Simon Templar is hired by a friend in the book publishing trade to protect one of his stars, a secretive recluse named Amos Klein who writes a popular (and lucrative) series of adventure novels about a manly and suave spy.

The Fiction Makers

1968

The Return of Sherlock Holmes poster
6.0

Sherlock Holmes is brought back to life by Watson's female descendant after being cryogenically frozen for eighty years.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes

1987

No artwork available
7.0

This play is about a couple trying to overcome the problems in making a successfull clandestine assignation. It was one of a series of playlets by John Mortimer, all named after different parts of London. This was based on a theatrical piece first performed in 1960.

King's Cross Lunch Hour

1972

The Kitchen poster
NR

Alvin Rakoff's adaptation of Arnold Wesker's The Kitchen for Play of the Week. The Kitchen, first preformed in 1957, was Wesker's first work and his most performed play. The Kitchen has been produced in sixty cities including Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, Paris - where it was the first widely recognized production by Théâtre du Soleil in 1967, Moscow, Montreal and Zurich.

The Kitchen

1977

A Place to Die poster
8.3

Doctor Bruce Nelson takes over the medical practice of a village general-practitioner. Upon arriving in their new home, the doctor and his wife, Tessa, receive a very warm welcome from all the villagers. Tessa is at first flattered by the villagers' constant fawning and gifts, but soon becomes wary of their strange ways, and begins to suspect there is something evil in the village.

A Place to Die

1973

Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story poster
7.0

This biographical drama, based on the late actress's autobiography, chronicles her attempts to rescue her drug addicted son while simultaneously trying to overcome her life-threatening cancer.

Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story

1991

Sredni Vashtar poster
7.2

Sredni Vashtar is a 1981 short film, written, produced and directed by Andrew Birkin, based on the short story of the same name written by Hector Hugh Munro. The story concerns a slowly dying ten-year-old boy named Conradin, who lives with his strict cousin and guardian, Mrs. De Ropp. Conradin rebels against her and invents a new religion for himself, which centres on idolising a polecat-ferret he calls Sredni Vashtar; a vengeful, merciless god. The film won the BAFTA award for Best Short Film, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.

Sredni Vashtar

1981

The Trial of Klaus Barbie poster
NR

Decades after the end of World War II, escaped war criminal Klaus Barbie is brought to justice.

The Trial of Klaus Barbie

1987

Quincy's Quest poster
6.0

It's the night before Christmas, and all the toy store rejects are due to be tossed into the furnace. This includes Quincy, a most lifelike doll. In a last ditch effort to save himself and his "unwanted" chums from incineration, he goes on a long and perilous journey in search of the only one who can save them: Santa Claus.

Quincy's Quest

1979

Mr. Horatio Knibbles poster
6.4

Mary Bunting is sitting alone when to her surprise and delight a rabbit six foot tall - elegantly dressed in frock coat and fancy waistcoat - appears. As he is a magic rabbit, he can be seen only by Mary, which naturally creates great confusion and misunderstanding.

Mr. Horatio Knibbles

1971

Making Waves poster
6.8

A group of elderly women go on vacation to the seaside. One of them takes her son along and constantly watches him saying he has a brain tumor. His problem is something else entirely.

Making Waves

1987