Katie Johnson (English actress)

Summary

Bessie Kate Johnson (18 November 1878 – 4 May 1957) was an English actress who appeared on stage from 1894 and on screen from the 1930s to the 1950s.[1][2]

Katie Johnson
Publicity still for The Ladykillers (1955)
Born
Bessie Kate Johnson

18 November 1878
Clayton, Sussex, England
Died4 May 1957 (1957-05-05) (aged 78)
Elham, Kent, England
OccupationActress
Years active1894−1957
Spouse
Frank Goodenough Bayly
(m. 1908; died 1923)
Children2
AwardsBest British Actress
1955 The Ladykillers

Biography edit

In 1908 she married the actor Frank Goodenough Bayly (1873 – 28 November 1923, Newcastle upon Tyne).[3] The couple had two children, William Frank Goodenough Bayly (1910-1973) and Johnson Goodenough Bayly (1915-1980).

She first appeared in a film at age 53, in 1932, but never received critical acclaim for her performances until 1955, when she starred, aged 76, in the Ealing Studios comedy The Ladykillers as Mrs Louisa Wilberforce.[2] The role earned her a British Film Academy award for best British actress.[4] She died less than two years afterwards having only appeared in a single further film.[3]

She also appeared in the BBC science fiction serial The Quatermass Experiment (1953) and played a spy in I See a Dark Stranger (1946).[5][6]

Selected filmography edit

Additional sources edit

  • Film academy awards, The Times, 13 February 1956, pg. 5
  • Obituary, The Times, 9 May 1957, pg. 12
  • Will, The Times, 29 July 1957, pg. 10

References edit

  1. ^ "Katie Johnson – Movies and Filmography – AllMovie". AllMovie.
  2. ^ a b http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/557746/index.html</>Johnson on the British Film Institute website
  3. ^ a b "Frank G. Bayly". Archived from the original on 14 January 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  4. ^ "BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org.
  5. ^ "The Quatermass Experiment Episode One Contact Has Been Established (1953)". Archived from the original on 21 September 2017.
  6. ^ "I See a Dark Stranger (1946)". Archived from the original on 7 September 2017.

External links edit