| Joan Littlewood |
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| 1914 births | |
| 2002 deaths | |
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Born in Stockwell, South London, she had trained as an actress at RADA but left after an unhappy start and moved to Manchester in 1934 where she met Jimmie Miller (better known as Ewan MacColl ) and joined his troupe Theatre Of Action . Littlewood and Miller were soon married. After a brief move to London, they returned to Manchester and set up the Theatre Union in 1936. In 1945, after the end of World War II , Littlewood, her husband, and other Theatre Union members formed Theatre Workshop . In 1953, Theatre Workshop took up residence at the Theatre Royal in east London, where it gained international fame, performing international plays across Europe and in the USSR . One of Littlewood's most famous productions was the British première of Bertolt Brecht 's '' Mother Courage And Her Children '' (1955), which she directed and also starred in the lead role. Her production of '' Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be '', a musical about the London underworld, became a hit and ran from 1959 to 1962. The works for which she is now best remembered are probably the satirical musical, '' Oh! What A Lovely War '' (1963) and Shelagh Delaney 's '' A Taste Of Honey '' (1958), which gained great critical acclaim. Both were subsequently made into films. Many well-regarded television and stage actors began their professional careers at the workshop, including Yootha Joyce , Glynn Edwards , Harry H. Corbett , George Cooper, Richard Harris , Brian Murphy , Murray Melvin and Babs Windsor . The last three were hired by director Ken Russell to appear with Twiggy in the film version of '' The Boyfriend '' Littlewood and MacColl were married for nearly fifteen years when they divorced in 1950. They remained friends and collaborators for many years afterwards, and Joan was godmother to his two children. After her split with MacColl, her partner was Gerry Raffles , a founding member of Theatre Workshop who subsequently died in 1975. After Raffles's death, Littlewood left Theatre Workshop and stopped directing. After a time of drifting she settled in France and became the companion of Baron Philippe De Rothschild , the vintner and poet, and wrote his memoirs, ''Milady Vine''. In the mid-1980s, she commenced work on her autobiography, which was published in 1994, entitled ''Joan's Book''. Film of Joan Littlewood rehearsing young actors is available on the DVD of Bronco Bullfrog.
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