Shirley Anne Field

Born

June 27, 1938

Died

December 10, 2023 (85 years old)

Known For

Acting

Place of Birth

Forest Gate, Essex, England, UK

Shirley Anne Field (born Shirley Broomfield; June 27, 1938 - December 10, 2023) was an English actress who performed on stage, film and television since 1955, prominent during the British New Wave.

After a course at the Lucie Clayton School and Model Agency, she became a photographic model for pin-up magazines like Reveille and Titbits. She was subsequently spotted by Bill Watts, who ran a theatrical agency and obtained for her roles in late 1950s British films, usually uncredited. Her first appearance in a film was as an extra in Simon and Laura (1955). She had small parts in All for Mary (1955), Lost (1956), Yield to the Night (1956) (directed by J. Lee Thompson), It's Never Too Late (1956), It's a Wonderful World (1956), The Weapon (1956), Loser Takes All (1956), The Silken Affair (1956), Dry Rot (1956), The Good Companions (1957) (again for Thompson), Seven Thunders (1957), and The Flesh Is Weak (1957). She was in episodes of The New Adventures of Martin Kane (1957) and International Detective. Field's first sizeable film role was in Horrors of the Black Museum (1959). She had minor parts in Once More, with Feeling! (1960) and And the Same to You (1960). Field had a larger role in the controversial Peeping Tom (1960). She appeared on stage in The Lily White Boys with Albert Finney.

In 1960, Field's breakthrough came when she was chosen by Tony Richardson to play the role of model Tina Lapford in The Entertainer (1960), starring Laurence Olivier, distributed by Bryanston Films. Field had a supporting role in Beat Girl (1960), then appeared in probably her best known role as Doreen, the would-be girlfriend of rebellious Arthur Seaton (played by Albert Finney), in the New Wave film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960).

Field starred alongside Kenneth More in Man in the Moon (1960). With those three big film starring roles in 1960, she became one of the very few actors ever to have their name above the titles in all the major cinemas around Leicester Square simultaneously.

Although offered a role in A Kind of Loving (1962), Field turned it down to play the female lead in a Hollywood financed film, The War Lover (1962), with Steve McQueen. In the UK, she had the lead in Lunch Hour (1962), which was one of her favorite films. For Hammer films, Field starred in The Damned (1963), directed by Joseph Losey. She went to Hollywood to play the female lead in an epic directed by J. Lee Thompson, Kings of the Sun (1963). Thompson had her under personal contract at this stage.

Field went to Italy to appear in The Wedding March (1966), then back in England made Doctor in Clover (1966) and Alfie (1966). She had a supporting role in Hell Is Empty (1967) and later starred in With Love in Mind (1970) and A Touch of the Other (1970), then made House of the Living Dead (1974).

By the late 1970s Field was more commonly seen on TV, in shows such as Centre Play, Shoestring, Buccaneer, Never the Twain and a long run on Santa Barbara as well as TV movies like Two by Forsyth. She had roles in films like My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), Shag (1989), Getting It Right (1989), The Rachel Papers (1989), Hear My Song (1991), UFO (1993), Taking Liberty (1993), Loving Deadly (1994), and At Risk (1994).

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Beautiful Relics

Beautiful Relics

Evie

0.0

2014

The Power of Three

The Power of Three

Jenni

5.0

2011

The Kid

The Kid

Margaret

6.7

2010

Cash in the Celebrity Attic

Self · (1 episode)

0.0

2008

Waking the Dead

Waking the Dead

Monica Reynolds · (2 episodes)

7.2

2001

Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry

Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry

Mary the Mother of Christie

5.3

2000

Monarch of the Glen

Monarch of the Glen

Sadie · (1 episode)

7.5

2000

Madson

Madson

Elaine Dews · (6 episodes)

6.5

1996

Dalziel & Pascoe

Dalziel & Pascoe

Cissy Kohler · (1 episode)

6.4

1996

Bramwell

Bramwell

Peggy Heart · (1 episode)

4.2

1995

Loving Deadly

Loving Deadly

Madame

0.0

1994

U.F.O. The Movie

U.F.O. The Movie

Supreme Commander

6.2

1993

Lady Chatterley

Lady Chatterley

Mrs. Bolton · (4 episodes)

6.4

1993

Anna Lee: Headcase

Mrs. Westerman

5.2

1993

Hear My Song

Hear My Song

Cathleen Doyle

6.0

1991

El C.I.D.

Dolly · (1 episode)

0.0

1990

The Rachel Papers

The Rachel Papers

Mrs. Seth Smith

5.1

1989

Getting It Right

Getting It Right

Anne

7.0

1989

Shag

Shag

Mrs. Clatterbuck

6.2

1989

My Beautiful Laundrette

My Beautiful Laundrette

Rachel

6.7

1985

Murder, She Wrote

Murder, She Wrote

Anne Gillen · (1 episode)

7.5

1984

Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara

Pamela Capwell Conrad · (242 episodes)

4.9

1984

Countdown

Countdown

(6 episodes)

5.8

1982

Never the Twain

Never the Twain

Stephanie · (1 episode)

6.6

1981

Blankety Blank

Blankety Blank

(1 episode)

4.6

1979

Risking It

Risking It

Joanne Clewes

0.0

1977

House of the Living Dead

House of the Living Dead

Mary Anne Carew

4.3

1974

Last of the Summer Wine

Last of the Summer Wine

Eva · (1 episode)

7.1

1973

A Touch of the Other

A Touch of the Other

Elaine

0.0

1970

Hell Is Empty

Hell Is Empty

Shirley McGee

6.0

1967

Shotgun

Madeleine

0.0

1966

Alfie

Alfie

Carla

6.5

1966

Doctor in Clover

Doctor in Clover

Nurse Bancroft

5.5

1966

The Wedding March

The Wedding March

Laure

6.6

1966

Kings of the Sun

Kings of the Sun

Ixchel

6.1

1963

The Damned

The Damned

Joan

6.3

1962

The War Lover

The War Lover

Daphne Caldwell

6.0

1962

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

Self · (1 episode)

7.4

1962

Lunch Hour

Lunch Hour

Girl

6.8

1962

Man in the Moon

Man in the Moon

Polly

6.4

1960

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Doreen

7.0

1960

Beat Girl

Beat Girl

Dodo

5.9

1960

The Entertainer

The Entertainer

Tina Lapford

6.2

1960

Peeping Tom

Peeping Tom

Pauline Shields

7.4

1960

Once More, with Feeling!

Once More, with Feeling!

Angela Hooper

5.9

1960

And the Same to You

And the Same to You

Iris Collins

5.6

1960

Upstairs and Downstairs

Upstairs and Downstairs

Arriving Passenger 2 (uncredited)

5.6

1959

Horrors of the Black Museum

Horrors of the Black Museum

Angela Banks

5.7

1959

Seven Thunders

Seven Thunders

Prostitute

5.5

1957

The Flesh Is Weak

The Flesh Is Weak

Susan

5.8

1957

The Good Companions

The Good Companions

Redhead - Three Graces

0.0

1957

Loser Takes All

Loser Takes All

Attractive Girl in Salle Rivée (uncredited)

5.4

1956

The Weapon

The Weapon

5.9

1956

Lost

Lost

Girl Working at Taxi Garage

7.0

1956

All for Mary

All for Mary

Young Woman on Aeroplane

6.2

1955

Simon and Laura

Simon and Laura

Minor Role

5.6

1955