Ellen Ray

Mary Ellen Ray (January 3, 1931 – September 10, 2004) was an American-born actress who built a career spanning stage and screen in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Born Mary Ellen McPherson in Springfield, Missouri, she was the daughter of Hayzle McPherson and Owen M. McPherson. Following her parents' divorce in 1937 and her mother's subsequent remarriage to Earl Ray, she adopted her stepfather's surname.

Ray trained with the ACT Theatre for two years before joining the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut, where her stage work included productions of The Crucible, Endgame, and Under Milk Wood. Her Broadway career included an appearance in the 1956 musical Bells Are Ringing. She later made her debut at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario in 1970, taking on the roles of Mariana in All's Well That Ends Well and Mrs. William Dudgeon in The Devil's Disciple. That same September she appeared in Othello at the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre, and she continued to work with repertory companies in both the United States and Britain. In 1993 she played Mrs. Pascal in The House of Yes at the Gate Theatre in London.

Her British television career began with a small role as a Telephone Operator in Long Distance in 1958, followed by an appearance in the BBC Sunday-Night Theatre episode Shadow of Heroes in 1959. She progressed through a series of television roles, including Nora in the Somerset Maugham Hour episode The Closed Shop in 1962 and Miss Cleaver in the Detective episode The Night of the Horns in 1964. She appeared in Theatre 625 in 1966 and provided the voice of Mrs. Dilber in the Oscar-winning animated television special A Christmas Carol in 1971. Her later television credits included Mrs. Abrams in Tender Is the Night in 1985, Aunt Hannah in Back Home in 1989, Lynn Nesbit in Selling Hitler in 1991, Landlady in Jeeves and Wooster in 1992, Rose Whitfield in The Bill in 1994, Marie in Holby City in 2000, and Eleanor Forsyth in Doctors in 2004. Her film appearances included roles in The Sender in 1982, The Lords of Discipline in 1983, and Invitation to the Wedding in 1983.

In 1952, Ray sailed aboard the RMS Queen Mary from New York to Spain, accompanied by her mother and two younger siblings. During that trip she met British poet Anthony Edkins, who was teaching English in Ibiza. The two married in Madrid in 1955 and had two daughters, Sarah Edkins and Lucy Edkins. In 1966 the family relocated to the United States for three years to support Ray's acting career. The couple separated in 1972 and divorced in 1974. Ray subsequently met playwright David Pownall in 1973, and the two had a son, Tom, born in 1974. She and Pownall collaborated through the theatre company Paines Plough in Lancaster and London. Ray died in Kensington, London in 2004 at the age of 73.