Dinah Sheridan
Encyclopedia
Dinah Sheridan is an English
actress who appeared in the films 29 Acacia Avenue
(1945) and Genevieve
(1953).
She made her film debut in 1937, and has frequently appeared on television. She played Jane Huggett in The Huggetts Abroad (1949) and appeared as Steve in two Paul Temple
films.
Among her most noted roles are as the mother in the film version of The Railway Children
(1970), and as Angela in the 1980s British sitcom
, Don't Wait Up
(1983–90).
In 1983 she made a guest appearance in the BBC
science fiction
television series Doctor Who
as the Time Lady
Chancellor Flavia in the 20th anniversary special, The Five Doctors
.
starring Jean Forbes Robertson. Her parents, Lisa and James, changed their names to Sheridan as well at the same time. Her parents' photography establishment, "Studio Lisa", was highly successful and were known for their photographs of the royal family.
(1942–1952), with whom she had three children, then to the business executive Sir John Davis
(1954–1965), then to actor John Merivale
(1986–1990) and finally to Aubrey Ison from 1992 until his death in 2007.
Her son, Jeremy Hanley
, became an accountant and Conservative Party politician, and her daughter, Jenny Hanley
, became an actress and a co-presenter of the British television series Magpie
.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
actress who appeared in the films 29 Acacia Avenue
29 Acacia Avenue
29 Acacia Avenue is a play by Denis and Mabel Constanduros, and its 1945 film adaptation, directed by Henry Cass and released in the U.S. as The Facts of Love.-Plot:...
(1945) and Genevieve
Genevieve (film)
Genevieve is a 1953 British comedy film produced and directed by Henry Cornelius and written by William Rose. It starred John Gregson, Dinah Sheridan, Kenneth More and Kay Kendall as two couples comedically involved in a vintage automobile rally...
(1953).
She made her film debut in 1937, and has frequently appeared on television. She played Jane Huggett in The Huggetts Abroad (1949) and appeared as Steve in two Paul Temple
Paul Temple
Paul Temple is a fictional character created by British writer Francis Durbridge for the BBC radio serial Send for Paul Temple in 1938. Temple is an amateur private detective and author of crime fiction...
films.
Among her most noted roles are as the mother in the film version of The Railway Children
The Railway Children (film)
The Railway Children is a 1970 British drama film based on the novel of the same name by E. Nesbit. The film was directed by Lionel Jeffries, and stars Dinah Sheridan, Jenny Agutter , Sally Thomsett and Bernard Cribbins in leading roles...
(1970), and as Angela in the 1980s British sitcom
British sitcom
A British sitcom tends, as it does in most other countries, to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. Unlike American sitcoms, where twenty or more episodes in a season is the norm, British sitcoms...
, Don't Wait Up
Don't Wait Up
Don't Wait Up is a British sitcom that aired for six series from 1983 to 1990 on BBC1. It starred Nigel Havers, Tony Britton and Dinah Sheridan, and was written by George Layton...
(1983–90).
In 1983 she made a guest appearance in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
as the Time Lady
Time Lord
The Time Lords are an ancient extraterrestrial race and civilization of humanoids in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, of which the series' eponymous protagonist, the Doctor, is a member...
Chancellor Flavia in the 20th anniversary special, The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors
The Five Doctors is a special feature-length episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, produced in celebration of the programme's twentieth anniversary. It had its world premiere in the United States, on the Chicago PBS station WTTW and various other PBS member stations...
.
Personal life
Born as Dinah Nadyejda Ginsburg in Hampstead, London, to a Russian father and German mother, she changed her name to Dinah Sheridan when she auditioned for the role of Wendy in a theatrical production of Peter PanPeter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
starring Jean Forbes Robertson. Her parents, Lisa and James, changed their names to Sheridan as well at the same time. Her parents' photography establishment, "Studio Lisa", was highly successful and were known for their photographs of the royal family.
Family
She has been married four times: first to the actor Jimmy HanleyJimmy Hanley
Jimmy Hanley was a British actor.Born in Norwich, Norfolk, Hanley began his career as a child actor before becoming popular in juvenile roles...
(1942–1952), with whom she had three children, then to the business executive Sir John Davis
Sir John Davis
Sir John Davis was an English accountant and film executive.-Early life:John Davis was born in the City of London in 1906 and educated at the City of London School.-Career:...
(1954–1965), then to actor John Merivale
John Merivale
John Herman Merivale , also known as Jack Merivale, was a British theatre actor, and occasional supporting player in British films.-Biography:...
(1986–1990) and finally to Aubrey Ison from 1992 until his death in 2007.
Her son, Jeremy Hanley
Jeremy Hanley
Sir Jeremy James Hanley, KCMG , is a politician and chartered accountant from the United Kingdom. He served as the Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1994-95, and as a Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Richmond and Barnes from 1983-97.Hanley was educated at Rugby School,...
, became an accountant and Conservative Party politician, and her daughter, Jenny Hanley
Jenny Hanley
Jenny Hanley is an English actress, the daughter of Dinah Sheridan and Jimmy Hanley.She remains best known for being one of the presenters of the ITV children's magazine programme Magpie....
, became an actress and a co-presenter of the British television series Magpie
Magpie (TV series)
Magpie was a children's television programme shown on ITV from the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. It was a magazine format show intended to compete with the BBC's Blue Peter, but attempted to be more "hip", focusing more on popular culture...
.
Filmography
- Father Steps OutFather Steps Out (1937 film)Father Steps Out is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring George Carney, Dinah Sheridan, Bruce Seton and Peter Gawthorne.-Cast:* George Carney - Joe Hardcastle* Dinah Sheridan - Helen Hardcastle* Bruce Seton - Johnnie Miller...
(1937) - Landslide (1937) (as Dinah Shaw)
- Behind Your Back (1937)
- Merely Mr. Hawkins (1938)
- Irish and Proud of ItIrish and Proud of It (film)Irish and Proud of It is a 1938 British-Irish comedy film directed by Donovan Pedelty and starring Richard Hayward, Dinah Sheridan and Gwenllian Gill. A popular London-based Irish singer announces one evening how much he would love to go home to his home village in rural Ireland. For a prank, some...
(1938) - Full Speed Ahead (1940)
- Salute John CitizenSalute John CitizenSalute John Citizen is a 1942 British drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Edward Rigby, Mabel Constanduros and Jimmy Hanley. The Bunting family face up to the fortunes of war during the Second World War. It was based on the novels Mr. Bunting and Mr. Bunting at War by Robert...
(1942) - Get CrackingGet CrackingGet Cracking is a 1943 British, black-and-white, comedy, war film, directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Ronald Shiner as Everett Manley and George Formby. It was produced by Marcel Varnel, Ben Henry and Columbia Productions.-Synopsis:...
(1943) - Murder in ReverseMurder in ReverseMurder in Reverse? is a 1945 British thriller film directed by Montgomery Tully and starring William Hartnell, Jimmy Hanley, Petula Clark, Dinah Sheridan, and Chili Bouchier. After many years serving a prison sentence for a murder he didn't commit, a man tries to seek the truth behind the crime and...
(1945) - 29 Acacia Avenue29 Acacia Avenue29 Acacia Avenue is a play by Denis and Mabel Constanduros, and its 1945 film adaptation, directed by Henry Cass and released in the U.S. as The Facts of Love.-Plot:...
(1945), Pepper - For You AloneFor You AloneFor You Alone is a 1945 British World War II romance melodrama, one of only two films directed by cinematographer Geoffrey Faithfull, starring Lesley Brook, Dinah Sheridan and Jimmy Hanley...
(1945), Stella White - The Hills of DonegalThe Hills of Donegal (film)The Hills of Donegal is a 1947 British drama film directed by John Argyle and starring Dinah Sheridan, James Etherington and Moore Marriott. A young Irish woman abandons a promising career as singer to get married, but soon discovers her husband is not the man she thought he was.-Cast:* Dinah...
(1947) - The Story of Shirley York (1948), Shirley Yorke
- Calling Paul TempleCalling Paul TempleCalling Paul Temple is a 1948 British crime film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring John Bentley, Dinah Sheridan and Margaretta Scott. Paul Temple is called in to help Scotland Yard track down a serial killer who has murder several wealthy woman...
(1948) - The Huggetts AbroadThe Huggetts AbroadThe Huggetts Abroad is a 1949 British film starring Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Petula Clark and Susan Shaw. It was the final film of the Huggetts Trilogy. After Joe Huggett loses his job, the family decide to emigrate to South Africa travelling via a land route which takes them across Africa....
(1949) - Dark Secret (1949)
- Paul Temple's TriumphPaul Temple's TriumphPaul Temple's Triumph is a 1950 British crime film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring John Bentley, Dinah Sheridan and Jack Livesey. It was the third in the series of Paul Temple films. Temple is on the trail of a gang of international criminals trying to steal atomic secrets.-Cast:* John...
(1950) - No TraceNo TraceNo Trace is a 1950 British crime film directed by John Gilling and starring Hugh Sinclair, Dinah Sheridan and John Laurie. It is also known by the alternative title Murder by the Book...
(1950) - Blackout (1950)
- Where No Vultures FlyWhere No Vultures FlyWhere No Vultures Fly is a 1951 British film. It was released under the title Ivory Hunter in the United States. It was directed by Harry Watt and starred Anthony Steel and Dinah Sheridan. The film was inspired by the work of the conservationist Mervyn Cowie...
(1951) - The Sound BarrierThe Sound Barrier (film)The Sound Barrier is a British 1952 film directed by David Lean. It is a fictional story about attempts by aircraft designers and test pilots to break the sound barrier. In the US it was retitled Breaking the Sound Barrier. David Lean's third and final film with his wife Ann Todd was also his first...
(1952), Jess Peel - Appointment in LondonAppointment in LondonAppointment in London is a 1952 war film starring Dirk Bogarde and set during World War II. The film was directed by Philip Leacock from a screenplay by John Wooldridge and Robert Westerby and based on an original story by Wooldridge...
(1952), Eve Canyon - The Story of Gilbert and SullivanThe Story of Gilbert and SullivanThe Story of Gilbert and Sullivan is a 1953 British technicolor film that dramatises the story of the collaboration between W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. Gilbert and Sullivan authored 14 comic operas, later referred to as the Savoy Operas, which became the most popular series of musical...
(1953), Grace Marston - GenevieveGenevieve (film)Genevieve is a 1953 British comedy film produced and directed by Henry Cornelius and written by William Rose. It starred John Gregson, Dinah Sheridan, Kenneth More and Kay Kendall as two couples comedically involved in a vintage automobile rally...
(1953), Wendy McKim - The Railway ChildrenThe Railway Children (film)The Railway Children is a 1970 British drama film based on the novel of the same name by E. Nesbit. The film was directed by Lionel Jeffries, and stars Dinah Sheridan, Jenny Agutter , Sally Thomsett and Bernard Cribbins in leading roles...
(1970), Mrs. Waterbury - The Mirror Crack'dThe Mirror Crack'dThe Mirror Crack'd is a 1980 film British mystery film based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side...
(1980)