Vivian Pickles

Vivian Pickles (born October 21 1931), is an English actress.

Her first nationally prominent role was on the BBC when, as a child star, age 12, she played Alice in a film of "Alice in Wonderland" that was broadcast live from Alexandra Palace in London. In her theatrical roles, she had featured roles in popular revues with co-stars such as Joan Sims and Ron Moody (who played Fagin in "Oliver") and appeared with Roger Moore, both as domestics, in "I Capture the Castle" at the Aldwych Theatre. This production won Roger Moore an MGM contract. Bill Travers took over Moore's role when Moore left for Hollywood.

Vivian Pickles' imperious performance in the world premiere of John Osborne's "Plays for England" at the Royal Court Theatre (19 July 1962) garnered considerable attention from London's intelligensia, and it received praise by Osborne in his autobiography, "Looking Back". The following year, she appeared with Peter O'Toole in the seminal London performance of Berthold Brecht's "Baal" at the Phoenix Theatre (April, 1963).

Hired by Ken Russell for a supporting role for the BBC film, "Diary of a Nobody" (1964), she graduated to the lead role in Russell's film about Isadora Duncan ("Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World", 1966), an award-laden performance considered by many to be among the very best female performances on film, largely based upon the breadth of emotion it entails and the poetic physicality of the dance sequences. The awards include Best Actress at the Monte Carlo International Festival. In the following year, she played Mrs Bennet in a BBC adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice".

Her appearance in "Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World", helped win her the part of Mrs. Chasen in Hal Ashby’s film of "Harold and Maude" (her only Hollywood role to date). In the booklet accompanying the soundtrack album of the film, Ashby is quoted as saying: “Vivian Pickles is one of the finest actresses in the world. I’d seen the thing that she did for Ken Russell — "Isadora".”

Pickles is remembered for her rare American performance as Harold's mother in the 1971 film "Harold and Maude". Her performance in the film begins with her deliciously wicked and nonchalant response to her young son's (played by Bud Cort's) mock-suicide, telling him not to be late for dinner, and it ends with a gloriously mysterious long shot as she and Bud barely manage to suppress their laughter as he looks into the camera lens and she looks at him in an increasingly curious manner.

Her next truly memorable performance on British television was as Mary, Queen of Scots, in the landmark 1971 television Emmy Award-winning series "Elizabeth R", in which Glenda Jackson played her nemesis and the title role. Pickles was reunited on the screen with Jackson in John Schlesinger’s film of "Sunday Bloody Sunday", in which she played the bohemian mother who employed Jackson as a babysitter. Other notable screen roles include "Play Dirty" (with Michael Caine); "Nicholas and Alexandra"; "Candleshoe" (with Jodie Foster and David Niven), and two films for Lindsay Anderson — "O Lucky Man!," in which she plays the good lady feeding the downtrodden in London, and the pivotal role of the Matron in "Britannia Hospital" (1982).

Her later television films include Alan Bennett's "The Insurance Man" (1986), with Daniel Day-Lewis and Jim Broadbent.

She can occasionally be seen and heard on the BBC (in regular repeats of "Midsomer Murders") and on the radio. She lives in London. On 8 July 2007, she attended a revival of Ken Russell’s "Isadora" at London's National Film Theatre.

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* [http://imdb.com/name/nm0681954/ IMDb entry]