Thea Gregory (néeIda Reddish; 1926 – 18 December 2022) was a British actress, known for her roles in numerous in B-movie thrillers, including The Golden Link and Profile.[1][2][3]
Early life
Thea Gregory was born in Nottingham in 1926 as Ida Reddish, daughter of Edith (née Lewis, born 1893) and Stephen Albert Reddish (1893 – 1988), a commercial traveller in the printing industry.[4][5] Reddish had a sister, Jennie (1923 – 1981), and grew up in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire.
Gregory also worked under the name Thea Kronberg. In 1945, she moved to Perth and joined a small repertory company, where she met fellow member John Gregson, who would become her husband. As Gregson's prominence grew, so did Gregory's by association, and they began working at Ealing Studios for the Rank Organisation.[3] Now married, Gregory made her film debut in 1950, credited as Thea Gregory, in the Ealing comedyThe Magnet.[3]
After a short break to concentrate on her family, Gregory returned to the screen in 1954 in a supporting role in The Weak and the Wicked, alongside Gregson, Glynis Johns and Diana Dors.[3] Later that year, Gregory took the lead role in the crime drama Solution by Phone, followed by The Scarlet Spear and Five Days.[3] 1954 continued to be a busy year, as Gregory took the lead in The Golden Link. Patrick Gibbs, writing in The Daily Telegraph, described it as "an unpretentious, workmanlike whodunnit which will provide much pleasure for, I trust, little initial cost .... of the ladies, Thea Gregory and Marla Landi were worth the most detailed investigation."[3]
In 1945, while in repertory theatre in Perth Theatre, Scotland, Gregory met John Gregson. The pair stayed in Scotland for eight months before moving to London. They were married in Hampstead, London, in 1947,[7] before settling in Ealing (where the eponymous film studios were located) and had three daughters (Catherine, Mary and Sarah Rose) and three sons (Nicholas, John and James).[3][8] In 1958, they bought Creek House, an Arts & Crafts building, and former home to Bernard Braden and Barbara Kelly, in Shepperton, near to the film studios there.[3]
Gregory was a devout Roman Catholic and took twice weekly communion. She built a small unconsecrated chapel in the ground across from the creek which gave the house its name, and continued to visit after moving away.[3]
