Hilary Dwyer
Encyclopedia
Hilary Dwyer is a former actress, businessperson
and film producer
.
.
s distributed by American International Pictures
in the late 1960s and early 1970s, most notably Michael Reeves
' Witchfinder General
(1968), starring Vincent Price
. She also appeared in The Oblong Box (1969) and Cry of the Banshee
(1970), both again featuring Price, as well as Robert Fuest
's Wuthering Heights
(1970). Banshee was her final feature film appearance, and after that she worked only in television. Her many television roles included The Prisoner
, The Avengers
, Hadleigh
and Van der Valk. Her last credit as an actress was in 1976, in a small part in an episode of Space: 1999
.
, now the co-chairman of the Independent Talent Group Ltd. In a 2002 interview in the Financial Times, Heath said of Dwyer "She introduced me to a lot of people - if it wasn't for her it wouldn't have happened."
(1989) and Nil by Mouth
(1997) as well as TV-remakes of Daphne du Maurier
's Rebecca (1997) and Tennessee Williams
' The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003).
Duncan Heath
in 1974; they divorced in 1989. They have two children, Laura and Daniel. Laura Heath founded and runs the Hope-Martin Animal Foundation in Barbados
.
Businessperson
A businessperson is someone involved in a particular undertaking of activities for the purpose of generating revenue from a combination of human, financial, or physical capital. An entrepreneur is an example of a business person...
and film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
.
Early life
Dwyer is the daughter of an Orthopaedic Surgeon. As a youth, she practiced ballet and became a talented pianist. Dwyer trained in repertory theatres and appeared on stage at the Bristol Old VicBristol Old Vic
The Bristol Old Vic is a theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, England. The theatre complex includes the 1766 Theatre Royal, which claims to be the oldest continually-operating theatre in England, along with a 1970s studio theatre , offices and backstage facilities...
.
Acting career
Dwyer is best known for appearing in several horror filmHorror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
s distributed by American International Pictures
American International Pictures
American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
in the late 1960s and early 1970s, most notably Michael Reeves
Michael Reeves
Michael Reeves was an English film director and screenwriter. He is best known for the 1968 American International Pictures/Tigon motion picture Witchfinder General...
' Witchfinder General
Witchfinder General (film)
Witchfinder General is a 1968 British horror film directed by Michael Reeves and starring Vincent Price, Ian Ogilvy, and Hilary Dwyer. The screenplay was by Reeves and Tom Baker based on Ronald Bassett's novel of the same name. Made on a low budget of under £100,000, the movie was coproduced by...
(1968), starring Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
. She also appeared in The Oblong Box (1969) and Cry of the Banshee
Cry Of The Banshee
Cry of the Banshee is a 1970 horror film directed by Gordon Hessler, starring Vincent Price as an evil witchhunter. The film was released by American International Pictures. The film co stars Elizabeth Bergner, Hilary Dwyer, and Hugh Griffith...
(1970), both again featuring Price, as well as Robert Fuest
Robert Fuest
Robert Fuest is an English film director, screenwriter, and production designer who has worked mostly in the horror, fantasy and suspense genres....
's Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights (1970 film)
Wuthering Heights is a 1970 film directed by Robert Fuest. It is based on the classic Emily Bronte novel of the same name. Like the 1939 version, this film depicts only the first sixteen chapters concluding with Catherine Earnshaw Linton's death and omits the trials of her daughter, Hindley's son,...
(1970). Banshee was her final feature film appearance, and after that she worked only in television. Her many television roles included The Prisoner
The Prisoner
The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former...
, The Avengers
The Avengers (TV series)
The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...
, Hadleigh
Hadleigh (TV series)
Hadleigh was a British television series made by Yorkshire Television which originally ran from 1969 to 1976. Developed by Robert Barr, it was a sequel to the writer's earlier Gazette for the same company...
and Van der Valk. Her last credit as an actress was in 1976, in a small part in an episode of Space: 1999
Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television series that ran for two seasons and originally aired from 1975 to 1977. In the opening episode, nuclear waste from Earth stored on the Moon's far side explodes in a catastrophic accident on 13 September 1999, knocking the Moon out of orbit and...
.
Marriage
In 1973, Dwyer gave up her acting career in order to set up the talent agency Duncan Heath Associates, with her then husband-to-be Duncan HeathDuncan Heath
Duncan Heath is a leading British talent agent and the co-chairman of the Independent Talent Group, Europe's largest talent agency, based in Soho, London...
, now the co-chairman of the Independent Talent Group Ltd. In a 2002 interview in the Financial Times, Heath said of Dwyer "She introduced me to a lot of people - if it wasn't for her it wouldn't have happened."
Producing career
She began a career as a producer in the mid-1980s under her married name Hilary Heath. She is credited as either Producer or Executive Producer for several movies, including feature films Criminal LawCriminal Law (film)
Criminal Law is a film directed by Martin Campbell, released in 1989.-Plot:Attorney Ben Chase successfully defends Martin Thiel, a wealthy young playboy, getting him acquitted of a series of brutal murders — only to find out later that Thiel is indeed a serial killer...
(1989) and Nil by Mouth
Nil by Mouth (film)
Nil by Mouth is a 1997 British drama film portraying a family of characters living in South East London. It was Gary Oldman's debut as a writer and director; the film was produced by Douglas Urbanski and Luc Besson. It stars Ray Winstone as Raymond, the abusive husband of Valerie...
(1997) as well as TV-remakes of Daphne du Maurier
Daphne du Maurier
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
's Rebecca (1997) and Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
' The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003).
Family
Dwyer married talent agentTalent agent
A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, film directors, musicians, models, producers, professional athletes, writers and other people in various entertainment businesses. Having an agent is not required, but does help the artist in getting jobs...
Duncan Heath
Duncan Heath
Duncan Heath is a leading British talent agent and the co-chairman of the Independent Talent Group, Europe's largest talent agency, based in Soho, London...
in 1974; they divorced in 1989. They have two children, Laura and Daniel. Laura Heath founded and runs the Hope-Martin Animal Foundation in Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
.
Feature films
| Year | Film | Role | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Witchfinder General Witchfinder General Witch-Finder General is an office claimed by English witchhunter Matthew Hopkins .Witchfinder General may also refer to:* Witchfinder General , a British heavy metal band... |
Sara Lowes | Michael Reeves Michael Reeves Michael Reeves was an English film director and screenwriter. He is best known for the 1968 American International Pictures/Tigon motion picture Witchfinder General... |
| 1969 | Thin Air | Julie Slade | Gerry Levy |
| The Oblong Box | Lady Elizabeth Markham | Gordon Hessler Gordon Hessler Gordon Hessler is a British film and television director, screenwriter, and producer.He was raised in England and studied at the University of Reading. While a teenager, he moved to the United States and directed a series of short films and documentaries... |
|
| The File of the Golden Goose | Ann Marlowe | Sam Wanamaker Sam Wanamaker Samuel Wanamaker was an American film director and actor and is credited as the person most responsible for the modern recreation of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London... |
|
| Two Gentlemen Sharing | Ethne Burrows | Ted Kotcheff Ted Kotcheff Ted Kotcheff , sometimes credited as William Kotcheff or William T. Kotcheff, is a Canadian film and television director, who is well known for his work on several high-profile British television productions and as a director of films such as First Blood.-Early life:Kotcheff was born William... |
|
| 1970 | Wuthering Heights Wuthering Heights (1970 film) Wuthering Heights is a 1970 film directed by Robert Fuest. It is based on the classic Emily Bronte novel of the same name. Like the 1939 version, this film depicts only the first sixteen chapters concluding with Catherine Earnshaw Linton's death and omits the trials of her daughter, Hindley's son,... |
Isabella Linton | Robert Fuest Robert Fuest Robert Fuest is an English film director, screenwriter, and production designer who has worked mostly in the horror, fantasy and suspense genres.... |
| Cry of the Banshee Cry Of The Banshee Cry of the Banshee is a 1970 horror film directed by Gordon Hessler, starring Vincent Price as an evil witchhunter. The film was released by American International Pictures. The film co stars Elizabeth Bergner, Hilary Dwyer, and Hugh Griffith... |
Maureen Whitman | Gordon Hessler Gordon Hessler Gordon Hessler is a British film and television director, screenwriter, and producer.He was raised in England and studied at the University of Reading. While a teenager, he moved to the United States and directed a series of short films and documentaries... |
Television (incomplete)
| Year | TV Show | Role | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | About Religion | Gladys | |
| 1967 | ITV Play of the Week | Anthea | Christopher Hodson |
| The Avengers The Avengers (TV series) The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants... |
Hilary | Robert Asher | |
| The Prisoner The Prisoner The Prisoner is a 17-episode British television series first broadcast in the UK from 29 September 1967 to 1 February 1968. Starring and co-created by Patrick McGoohan, it combined spy fiction with elements of science fiction, allegory and psychological drama.The series follows a British former... |
Number Seventy-Three | Pat Jackson | |
| 1968 | Z Cars | Rita Pearson | John Glenister |