Anna Massey has died

**EdgeleyRob** · 04-07-11, 17:57

R.I.P.

**Serial_Apologist** · 04-07-11, 18:03

This really is sad news for me. Anna Massey was one of the three actresses I really had a crush on back in the 60s, (Sarah Miles and Julie Christie being the other two

); she aged gracefully and I've never lost my soft spot for her.

One of Anna Massey's most remarkable roles was as the girl who tried to... befriend?... the lead character in the film "Peeping Tom" - still just as disturbing as when it first came out in 1960 or '61.

Bye bye Anna

**Norfolk Born** · 04-07-11, 18:41

I remember in particular her fine performance in BBC TV's 'The Mayor of Casterbridge'.

**Roslynmuse** · 04-07-11, 21:30

Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post

One of Anna Massey's most remarkable roles was as the girl who tried to... befriend?... the lead character in the film "Peeping Tom" - still just as disturbing as when it first came out in 1960 or '61.

That's the film I too associate her with most, despite having seen her in much else since. What a wonderful, instantly recognisable voice she had, too.

**Stillhomewardbound** · 05-07-11, 09:10

As I've said previously, there is far too much of this RIPing going on.

Anna Massey was most one of the most impeccable reading voices of the recording age and I recall producer Pete Atkin describing the meticulous technique she brought to scripts with a system of different coloured felt-tip pens marking out the emphahsis and pacing of her delivery.

Hardly any of the obits will pick up on that though. There is so little appreciation for the spoken word these days, other than among us older folk, but she was the backbone to The Sceptr'd Isle series.

I recall her aslo as a chilling Mrs.Danvers in an excellent 1979 adaptation of 'Rebecca' by Hugh Whitemore opposite Joanna David and her ex-husband, Jeremy Brett and about the same time on stage in Max Stafford Clark's peerless production of 'The Seagull' for the Royal Court Theatre, relocated to an Irish setting by playwright, Thomas Kilroy.

**Norfolk Born** · 05-07-11, 21:54

Radio 4 Extra, Sunday 10 July, 1.30 p.m. and again at 3.30 a.m.
Terence Rattigan's 'A Bequest To The Nation', with Anna Massey, and another greatly missed actor, Michael Bryant.

**amateur51** · 06-07-11, 00:00

Originally posted by Ofcachap View Post

Radio 4 Extra, Sunday 10 July, 1.30 p.m. and again at 3.30 a.m.
Terence Rattigan's 'A Bequest To The Nation', with Anna Massey, and another greatly missed actor, Michael Bryant.

Agreed Ofcachap - wasn't Michael Bryant wonderful?

I miss him too

**aeolium** · 06-07-11, 09:31

Yes, Michael Bryant was unforgettable, especially in classical roles in Edward II, The Duchess of Malfi and many Shakespeare plays but also on TV in the serial Roads to Freedom and the M R James ghost story The Treasure of Abbot Thomas. He was incredibly versatile.

Anna Massey I mainly remember, like others, from the Powell Peeping Tom film and the BBC serialisation of The Mayor of Casterbridge (with another much-missed actor, Alan Bates). She was also excellent in many radio productions.

**Norfolk Born** · 06-07-11, 11:42

[QUOTE=aeolium;65937]Yes, Michael Bryant was unforgettable, especially in classical roles in Edward II, The Duchess of Malfi and many Shakespeare plays but also on TV in the serial Roads to Freedom and the M R James ghost story The Treasure of Abbot Thomas. He was incredibly versatile.
May I also mention his remarkable 'guest appearance' in an episode of 'Colditz'? I saw his Iago with the NT, and also his Ancient Mariner in a special half-term holiday adaptation for families with schoolchildren.

**Nick Armstrong** · 06-07-11, 12:48

[QUOTE=Ofcachap;65975]

Originally posted by aeolium View Post

Yes, Michael Bryant was unforgettable, especially in classical roles in Edward II, The Duchess of Malfi and many Shakespeare plays but also on TV in the serial Roads to Freedom and the M R James ghost story The Treasure of Abbot Thomas. He was incredibly versatile.
May I also mention his remarkable 'guest appearance' in an episode of 'Colditz'? I saw his Iago with the NT, and also his Ancient Mariner in a special half-term holiday adaptation for families with schoolchildren.

Unique actress, very sad she's no longer around.

Comments above about Michael Bryant are also spot on - I was lucky enough to see 3 times one of his last performances, an unforgettable world-weary Fool in the phenomenal Richard Eyre King Lear at the National in the late '90s, with Ian Holm as Lear. Reduced me to rubble in such a cathartic way that I had to go again... and again.

**salymap** · 06-07-11, 13:13

yes another sad loss. I have a very good episode of Inspector Morse where Anna Massey is part of a strong cast but is always the centre of whatever is happening, it's called 'Happy Families', which it is not of course. RIP Anna

**Mandryka** · 06-07-11, 22:30

I know a few people who worked with Anna Massey: to know her was to love her, apparently.

Sidebar to all this, a lot of people (me included) would like to see the BBC's 1970 production of Roads To Freedom (which made an indelible impression on all who saw it), but no one seems to know if it has survived the hands of the BBC's trigger-happy junking army.

**tantris** · 07-07-11, 14:16

She was marvelous in "hotel du lac" - a rare instance of a tv adaptation which was superior to the original book imv.

**Norfolk Born** · 07-07-11, 14:46

Originally posted by Mandryka View Post

I know a few people who worked with Anna Massey: to know her was to love her, apparently.

Sidebar to all this, a lot of people (me included) would like to see the BBC's 1970 production of Roads To Freedom (which made an indelible impression on all who saw it), but no one seems to know if it has survived the hands of the BBC's trigger-happy junking army.

The last time I looked into this, it appeared that (only) the BFI has a copy. The cast included Daniel Massey.