Rosemary Harris: life between England and America

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Surely everyone remembers the charming Aunt May from the movie "Spider-Man". The role went to British actress Rosemary Harris, who turns 90 this year. And in the middle of the last century, she managed to play on the American and English stages.

Biography

Rosemary Harris was born in 1927 in the English county of Leicestershire in the small town of Ashby.

The girl's father served in India in the Royal Air Force, so she spent her childhood in India. Then she was sent to a monastery school, where Rosemary received an excellent education and already there she decided to connect her life with acting.

Fate was favorable to the girl and before entering the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Rosemary Harris began to appear on the stage of the Eastbourne Theater. This happened in 1947, and the production was called Kiss and Tell or "Kiss and Tell".

First successes

Experience was useful to Rosemary, who in 1951 entered the Royal Academy. In the same year, she was invited to Broadway to participate in the play "The Climate of Eden". Rosemary could not miss such a chance, her gamewas successful, but the actress soon returned to her homeland. This was no accident, as the young woman was invited to the West End Theater, where she made her debut in the play The Seven Year Itch.

After there was the London theater "Old Vic", where Rosemary Harris got almost the same classical roles, and in 1954 the actress made her film debut. It was a drama directed by Bernhard "Dandy Brummell", in which the main role was played by Elizabeth Taylor. After this picture, the British actress returned to Broadway again to participate in the play "Troll and Cressida".

Actress's personal life

At the same time, she met her first husband, Ellis Rabb. He was an actor and theatrical figure and created a fairly successful actors' association (APA), in which Rosemary Harris worked for ten years. During the same period, the actress won a Tony Award for her role as Elizabeth in The Lion in Winter.

Unfortunately, the marriage of Rosemary and Ellis was short-lived, and in 1967 they divorced by mutual decision. Rosemary Harris became a successful actress, appearing in films and television films. So, she got a role in Leslie Norman's drama "Shiralli", also in the film "Uncle Vanya", directed by Stuart Burge (based on the play of the same name by Chekhov), where Rosemary convincingly played the beautiful Elena; starred in David Green's comedy "Twelfth Night", which was on English television, and also participated in many other projects. At the same time, Rosemary Harris did not forget about the theater, where she managed to play Ophelia in the productionPeter O'Tooles "Hamlet".

Second marriage

In 1967, some time after the divorce, Rosemary met with the American writer John Ele. They got married, and soon (in 1969) they had a daughter - Jennifer Ehle, who in the future will follow in her mother's footsteps and become a successful and beloved actress.

The couple began to live in the state of North Carolina in the city of Winston-Salem, but, apparently, Rosemary's acting talent turned out to be so contagious that her second husband did not refuse to try on the image of an actor and played in some productions. John El went on to write two screenplays.

In 1978, the actress got a serious role in the film drama "Holocaust", which tells about Jewish and Christian families living during the Second World War. And many years later, in 1999, our heroine, along with her daughter Jennifer, played the same heroine in her youth and old age in the melodrama Taste of Sunshine.

Rosemary Harris Movies

During her long acting career, Rosemary was lucky enough to play in many films, the list of which is given below:

• "Dandy Brummell";
• "Othello";
• "Boys from Brazil";
• "Holocaust";
• DeLancy Crossing;
• "Tom and Viv";
• "Hamlet";
• "Taste of sunshine";
• "Gift";
• "The English Barber";
• Spider-Man;
• "Spider-Man 2";
• "Being Julia";
• "Spider-Man 3. Enemy in Reflection";
• "Games of the Devil";
• "There areis anyone here?";
• "That means war";
• Albemuth Free Radio.

Rosemary Harris, pictured above, has won several awards such as Tony, Emmy, Golden Globe and more.