Maxine Audley (29 April 1923 – 23 July 1992) was an English theatre and film actress. She made her professional stage debut in July 1940 at the Open Air Theatre. Audley performed with the Old Vic company and the Royal Shakespeare Company many times. She appeared in more than 20 films, the first of which was the 1948 adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina.
Biography
Maxine Audley was born in London on 29 April 1923. Her parents were Henry Julius Hecht and Katherine Arkandy, a coloratura soprano. Audley attended the Westonbirt School in Gloucestershire. She trained for the stage at the Tamara Daykharhanova School in New York City and the London Mask Theatre School.[1]
Audley was married four times, to the pianist Leonard Cassini, to company manager Andrew Broughton, to Frederick Granville the impresario, with whom she had a daughter, Deborah Jane, and to Glasgow born actor Leo Maguire 1938-1992 (not to be confused with Irish songwriter of the same name).[1][2] Audley died in London on 23 July 1992.[2]
From 1948 to 1949, Audley performed in repertory theatre at the Nottingham Playhouse. The following year, she joined the company of what was then known as the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, touring Germany in the roles of Goneril in King Lear, Mariana in Measure for Measure and Ursula in Much Ado About Nothing. Audley continued to work with this company throughout her career, appearing with them again for their 1955 and 1957 seasons.[3] In the 1955 season, Audley appeared as Lady Macduff in Macbeth, a performance that was praised by Kenneth Tynan as having "exceptional power".[2] Audley portrayed Tamora in the 1957 production of Titus Andronicus, a role that she would later list as one of her favourites, along with Amanda in Private Lives and Blanche du Bois in A Streetcar Named Desire.[2][1] In 1960 she appeared at the Strand Theatre in Settled Out of Court.
