Lorna Cowell

Lorna Cowell. (b. 08/02/1909 - d. 12/01/2004) was a South African actress.

Biography

Lorna Mary Beeston Beckwith married Peter James Ray Cowell in 1935 and used her married name on the stage. She had her early training in Durban, where she was a prominent member of the local drama group, appearing in plays by Shaw, Drinkwater, Lonsdale and Priestley. She was chairwoman of the Drama League in Pietermaritzburg and is said to have been the first woman to have broadcast from the SABC studio in Durban. Together with the likes of Siegfried Mynhardt, Vivien Drummond, Frank Wise, Leon Gluckman and André Huguenet, she was one of the early members of the National Theatre Organisation company that toured the country in 1948.

Credits

Theatre

1948 – Dear Brutus (Directed by Leontine Sagan for NTO) 1948 – An Inspector Calls (Directed by Leontine Sagan for NTO) 1950 – The Women (Directed by Taubie Kushlick at His Majesty’s Theatre) 1954 – The Firstborn (Directed by Leonard Schach for NTO) 1960 – Charley’s Aunt (Directed by Brian Brooke) 1968 – True Hearts Are More Than Coronets / Caste (Directed by Angus Neill for Neill-Firth Company) 1969 – A Month in the Country (Directed by Leonard Schach for PACT at Alexander Theatre) 198* - Skirmishes (at Market Theatre)

Film

1961 – The Hellions (Director: Ken Annakin) 1961 – Boerboel de Wet (Director: Al Debbo) 1962 – Gevaarlike Spel (Director: Al Debbo)

Television

1982 – The Touch of Pink (TV movie) (Director: Douglas Bristow) 1984 – Winchester (TV series) (Director: Chris du Toit)

Awards, etc.

In 1985 she was honoured for her contribution to the theatre world by the South African Film and Theatre Union.

Sources

Rinie Stead, 1985b

Percy Tucker, 1997

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0184706/

An Inspector Calls programme notes, 1948.

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