Vivien Merchant

Acting

Vivien Merchant

Born 1929-07-22 · Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Vivien Merchant (born Ada Thompson 22 July 1929 – 3 October 1982) was a British actress. She performed in many stage productions and several films, including Alfie (1966) and Frenzy (1972). Her performance in Alfie earned her Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress, and the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was the first wife of the playwright Harold Pinter, whom she met when working as a repertory actress and married in 1956. Their son, Daniel, was born in 1958. Having performed the role of Rose in a production of his first play, The Room (1957) at the Hampstead Theatre in 1960, she also appeared in many of Pinter's subsequent works, including as Ruth in The Homecoming (1964) on stage (1965) and screen (The Homecoming, 1973). The last of his plays in which she performed was Old Times (1971) as Anna. Their marriage began disintegrating in the mid-1960s. From 1962 to 1969, Harold Pinter had a clandestine affair with Joan Bakewell, which informs Pinter's play Betrayal and his film adaptation, also called Betrayal. In 1975 Pinter began a serious affair with the historian Lady Antonia Fraser, the wife of Sir Hugh Fraser, which he confessed to his wife that March. At first, Merchant took it very well, saying positive things about Fraser, according to her friend artist Guy Vaesen (as cited by Billington); but, Vaesen recalled, after "a female friend of Vivien's trotted round to her house and poisoned her mind against Antonia ... Life in Hanover Terrace [where the Pinters then lived] gradually became impossible". Pinter left, and Vivien Merchant filed for divorce and gave interviews to the tabloid press, expressing her distress.The Frasers' divorce became final in 1977 and the Pinters' in 1980. In 1980 Pinter married Antonia Fraser. Vivien Merchant never overcame her grief and bitterness at losing Pinter, dying at the age of 53 on 3 October 1982, from acute alcoholism Description above from the Wikipedia article Vivien Merchant ,  licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Frenzy poster
7.1

London is terrorized by a vicious sex killer known as The Necktie Murderer. Following the brutal slaying of his ex-wife, down-on-his-luck Richard Blaney is suspected by the police of being the killer. He goes on the run, determined to prove his innocence.

Frenzy

1972

The Man in the Iron Mask poster
6.4

Years have passed since the Three Musketeers, Aramis, Athos and Porthos, have fought together with their friend, D'Artagnan. But with the tyrannical King Louis using his power to wreak havoc in the kingdom while his twin brother, Philippe, remains imprisoned, the Musketeers reunite to abduct Louis and replace him with Philippe.

The Man in the Iron Mask

1977

The Offence poster
6.8

A burned-out British police detective finally snaps while interrogating a suspected child molester.

The Offence

1973

No artwork available
10.0

Pringle, leader of the Brotherhood, recieves an anonymous letter accusing his wife of adultery. He employs a private investigator, Caulfield, who discovers things are not quite that straightforward. Joe Orton's last play for television: a farce.

Funeral Games

1968

Alfie poster
6.5

A young man leads a promiscuous lifestyle until several life reversals make him rethink his purposes and goals in life.

Alfie

1966

Accident poster
6.4

Stephen is a professor at Oxford University who is caught in a rut and feels trapped by his life in both academia and marriage. One of his students, William, is engaged to the beautiful Anna, and Stephen becomes enamored of the younger woman. These three people become linked together by a horrible car crash, with flashbacks providing details into the lives of each person and their connection to the others in this brooding English drama.

Accident

1967

Tea Party poster
7.0

Mysteries abound. What is going on between the wife and her brother? Are they indeed brother and sister? Sisson has his doubts about that … . Why does Sisson feel that there must be something wrong with his eyes, although he knows that he can see clearly and his eye doctor has assured him that his vision is perfect? He forces his secretary to tie a chiffon scarf over his eyes, and then he is able to make a pass at her, in response to one of her many come-ons. Ordinary events assume a sinister tinge. Sisson's two sons, giving him the deadpan treatment that little boys have been inflicting on their elders from time immemorial, seem as eerie as characters out of a ghost story. Always the questions remain. Is there a conspiracy against Sisson. Wikipedia

Tea Party

1965

Alfred the Great poster
4.7

While Old England is being ransacked by roving Danes in the 9th century, Alfred is planning to join the priesthood. But observing the rape of his land, he puts away his religious vows to take up arms against the invaders, leading the English Christians to fight for their country. Alfred soundly defeats the Danes and becomes a hero. But now, although Alfred still longs for the priesthood, he is torn between his passion for God and his lust for blood.

Alfred the Great

1969

No artwork available
NR

An elderly homosexual and a married woman are both intrigued by the same man.

The Collection

Under Milk Wood poster
6.1

The delightful if peculiar story of a day in the life of a small, Welsh fishing village called "Llareggub" in which we meet a host of curious characters (and ghosts) through the 'eyes' of Blind Captain Cat.

Under Milk Wood

1972

The Lover poster
6.0

A sophisticated suburban couple try to enliven their marriage with erotic role-playing, but find their new games even more repressive than before.

The Lover

1963

The Homecoming poster
6.2

In a dreary North London flat, the site of perpetual psychological warfare, a philosophy professor visits his family after a nine-year absence and introduces the four men - father, uncle and two brothers - to his wife.

The Homecoming

1973

No artwork available
9.0

Edwin and Arthur resolve to thrash out their situation with Ella over dinner.

Ella

1966

The Summer in Gossensass poster
NR

'To the May sun of a September life', wrote Henrik Ibsen on the photograph of himself that he gave to 19-year-old Emilie Bardach in Gossensass in September 1889. This is a documentary about the sixty-second year in the life of the great Norwegian dramatist.

The Summer in Gossensass

1964

The Maids poster
5.8

A film version of Genet's play. Two maids, Solange and Claire, hate their employers and, while they are out, take turns at dressing up as Madame and insulting her.

The Maids

1975

No artwork available
NR

A social comedy about the relationship between two couples with different political beliefs. Edward and Jane Noble are right wing, but with some liberal leanings, whereas Sean and Marcia are more radical and left wing.

The Common

1973

Opus poster
7.5

Impressions of contemporary British arts and fashion. Summary of art through the ages taking in every thing from Mary Quant to the Marat/Sade production. Made for the Montreal "Expo '67" exhibition.

Opus

1967

A Night Out poster
7.0

Against the wishes of his domineering mother, Albert Stokes attends a work party. But the evening is not the escape he was hoping for.

A Night Out

1960

No artwork available
NR

The plot focuses on a man returning home from prison to find his room being rented out to a tenant.

Night School

1960

A War of Children poster
8.2

A Protestant and a Catholic family's friendship is threatened by the sectarian violence in Belfast. When the daughter of the Catholic family falls in love with a British soldier, the situation worsens ...

A War of Children

1972

No artwork available
NR

An adaptation Turgenev's play of the same name.

A Month in the Country

1966