THN were sad to hear the news that prolific actress Billie Whitelaw had passed away aged 82 yesterday, and as well as offering our heartfelt condolences to her family and friends, we wanted to share this wonderful memory piece from Edgar Wright, the director who got to work with Billie on her very final film in HOT FUZZ in 2007.
Billie was a star of the stage and screen for 64 years having making her debut treading the boards in 1950, before also sharing her work on the big screen in 1953. Hitchcock directed her in FRENZY (1972), and you’ll also know her in the likes of THE OMEN (1976), QUILLS and many, many more titles in television, theatre and cinema. She was also a muse to Samuel Beckett, one of the most important and original writers of all-time, and had a very distinct influence on his work and he loved her work in return.
We wanted to share what Edgar had to say, as it’s tremendously poignant but also reflects how I came to learn of her work in the first place. For the full obituary, please head to Edgar Wright’s site but here’s a little opening snippet:
‘Hot Fuzz’ was Billie Whitelaw’s final film. She told me it would be in the summer of 2006, on her final day of the shoot. When she walked into the Market Place in Wells, Somerset to film her part of the climatic action, she greeted me and we hugged. I was very fond of her and felt like her long lost nephew sometimes. That morning, she breezily said “This is it, this is my last day in the movies”. I replied “Billie, don’t say that, it makes me sad”. It was a bittersweet moment, but she seemed very firm about this notion, much as I protested that it may not be the case. She was right.
Billie was so happy shooting that day. And I mean literally, as some of her final setups involved her letting rip with several rounds from a sub machine gun. Even this was not a novelty to her, (“I had a machine gun in a film called ‘Tangiers’, darling.”). Indeed Billie really had done it all before.
Billie Honor Whitelaw, actor, born 6 June 1932; died 21 December 2014
