Kay Walsh graced the British Cinema of the 1930s and 1940s as a leading lady, before maturing into character roles. She was born Kathleen Walsh in London, England of Irish parentage. She and her sister Peggy were raised in Pimlico by their grandmother. She began her career as a dancer in the chorus of several Andre Charlot revues, before performing solo in New York and Berlin. Kay made her screen debut in _Get Your Man . They adopted a daughter Gemma in 1956, but the marriage was later dissolved. Kay Walsh died at age 93 on April 16, 2005 at the Chelsea and Westminister Hospital from multiple burns, a week after being injured in a fire at her London flat.
Has appeared with Alec Guinness in five films: Oliver Twist , Last Holiday , The Horses Mouth , Tunes of Glory and Scrooge .
Stepmother of Peter Lean from her first marriage and the adoptive mother of Gemma Jaques from her second.
She played the doomed Nancy in Oliver Twist , a film for which she wrote a much-hailed opening sequence. She contributed the wordless opening montage, showing the title characters mother give birth violently, amid gathering storm clouds and wind-raked tree branches. She said her inspiration was a film she had seen as a child that had long haunted her.
Her relationship with David Lean was best described as torrid and tormented, but even Leans final wife, Sandra, once told a reporter: "She was terribly in love with him, and although she was an actress, she was in no way a prima donna. Truthfully, I think he should have stayed with her.".
One of her best known roles was as Nancy in Oliver Twist , directed by her then husband David Lean. She disliked this role as Lean would not allow her look as dirty or "more damaged" as she felt the role required.
Died seven days before her In Which We Serve , The October Man , This Happy Breed and Tunes of Glory co-star John Mills.
"It was a flea pit and smelled. There was a woman at the piano with the,light shining on her, and another woman who pumped disinfectant into,the air. I thought it had the scent of sweet lavender, and that the,palace - my palace - was the most wonderful place in the world. ",Referring to an cinema where her grandmother used to drop her off for,the afternoon.
My favourite role was the old barmaid in The Horses Mouth, with Alec,Guinness. I wore a horrible black wig.
