Beryl Reid

Beryl Elizabeth Reid was born on 17 June 1919 in Hereford, Herefordshire, the daughter of Leonard Reid, an estate agent and valuer, and Anne Burton, née McDonald. Both of her parents were of Scottish origin, and Reid grew up in Manchester, where she attended Withington and Levenshulme High Schools. Among her childhood friendships was a lasting bond with Nancy Wrigley, daughter of the classical soprano Dame Isobel Baillie. Reid left school at sixteen and made her performing debut in 1936 as a music hall entertainer at the Floral Hall in Bridlington. She received no formal theatrical training but went on to work with both the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

In the years before and during the Second World War, Reid took part in variety shows and pantomimes. Her first major breakthrough came through the BBC radio programme Educating Archie, in which she played the mischievous schoolgirl Monica and later the Brummie character Marlene. Her stage career reached a significant milestone in 1966 when she appeared on Broadway in The Killing of Sister George, a role for which she received the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play in 1967. She subsequently reprised the performance of a lesbian soap opera star for the 1968 film adaptation of the same title, earning a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Drama. The touring production of the play proved difficult, as Reid and fellow cast members encountered hostility from members of the public due to the gay subject matter of the work.

Reid's stage achievements extended beyond Broadway. She won the 1980 Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for Born in the Gardens. Her television work brought further recognition, most notably through her appearances as Connie Sachs in both Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) and Smiley's People (1982). She received British Academy Television Award nominations for Best Actress for both performances and won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress in 1982 for Smiley's People. In 1982 she also appeared in the Doctor Who serial Earthshock, playing Captain Briggs opposite the Fifth Doctor. Between 1981 and 1983, Reid co-presented the children's television programme Get Up and Go for Yorkshire Television alongside a green puppet cat called Mooncat and human co-star Stephen Boxer. After her departure, the programme was retitled Mooncat and Co.

Among her film appearances were The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954), The Assassination Bureau (1969), and No Sex Please, We're British (1973). On television she appeared in a range of situation comedies and variety programmes, including the BBC's long-running music hall series The Good Old Days. In 1976 she was the subject of This Is Your Life, surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the car park of Thames Television's Teddington Studios. In 1987 she and her home, Honeypot Cottage, featured in the comedy panel programme Through the Keyhole, presented by David Frost and Loyd Grossman. That same year she played an elderly feminist and political subversive in the television drama The Beiderbecke Tapes. Reid published an autobiography, So Much Love, in 1984, and an authorised biography, Roll Out the Beryl, written by Kaye Crawford, was published by Fantom Films on 22 August 2016.

From the late 1950s until shortly before her death, Reid lived at Honeypot Cottage, a small African-styled rondavel house built in 1933 and situated overlooking the Thames at Wraysbury, west of London. She bequeathed the property to actor Paul Strike, who as of 2021 still owned it. Reid married twice but had no children. Her second husband, Derek Franklin, was a member of the Hedley Ward Trio. She died on 13 October 1996 at a hospital in Wexham, Buckinghamshire, at the age of 77, following complications from knee replacement surgery, with severe osteoarthritis and kidney failure cited among the causes of death.