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Barbara Mullen is a Actor American born on 9 june 1914 at Boston (USA)

Barbara Mullen

Barbara Mullen
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Birth name Barbara Eleanor Mullen
Nationality USA
Birth 9 june 1914 at Boston (USA)
Death 9 march 1979 (at 64 years) at London (United-kingdom)

Barbara Mullen (9 June 1914, Boston, Massachusetts – 9 March 1979, London, England) was an American actress well known in the UK for playing the part of Janet, the housekeeper, in Dr Finlay's Casebook. Although the role of Janet brought her fame in later years, she had already made her mark in the theatre.

Mullen's parents, Pat and Bridget, were from a fishing family on Inishmore island off the coast of Co. Clare, Ireland. The family had emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, where Mullen was born. She made her stage debut as a dancer at the age of three. When her father returned to Aran, becoming famous as the 'Man of Aran', in the classic documentary film by Robert J. Flaherty, her mother stayed in America to bring up the ten children. Mullen sang and danced in various theatres all over America, before crossing the Atlantic in 1934, and training at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.

She wrote her autobiography, Life is my Adventure, at 24. A year later she made her London debut, acting the title role in the London West End production of Jeannie, a comedy about a Scottish girl taking a European holiday after coming into money. She became an overnight star.

She later succeeded Celia Johnson as Mrs De Winter in the Daphne du Maurier classic, Rebecca, and played Maggie in a revival of What Every Woman Knows by J. M. Barrie, and as the aged sleuth Miss Marple in The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie.

Mullen repeated the role of 'Jeannie' on television and in the 1941 British film, which was her cinema debut, alongside Michael Redgrave, and she followed this with appearances in 20 further films, including A Place of One's Own, Corridor of Mirrors and Innocent Sinners. She also played a notable role in the 1942 film version of Robert Ardrey's Thunder Rock, as Ellen Kirby, the feminist who is jailed for her "subversive" ideas.

She was married to Man of Aran's cameraman, documentary film-maker John Taylor and they had two daughters - Briged and Susannah.

She appeared on television in America and Britain in programmes such as Juno and the Paycock and The Danny Thomas Show before being offered the role in Dr Finlay's Casebook, which began on the BBC in 1962. Her character, Janet, was the ever-efficient housekeeper to Doctors Finlay and Cameron at Arden House in the fictional Scottish village of Tannochbrae. When the series finished on television nine years later, it transferred to radio, running until 1978.

She was the subject of This Is Your Life in March 1964 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in central London.

Barbara Mullen died of a heart attack in London, England, on 9 March 1979.

Biography

Barbara Mullen est née à Boston de parents irlandais. Elle monte pour la première fois sur scène à l'âge de trois ans comme danseuse. Après avoir fait le tour des scènes des États-Unis, elle poursuit des études à partir de 1934 à la Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art de Londres.

En 1939, elle se fait remarquer dans le rôle-titre de Jeannie, une pièce de théâtre du West End qui sera adaptée en téléfilm en 1941. Mais c'est avec son rôle dans la série télévisée Dr. Finlay's Casebook de 1962 à 1971 qu'elle trouve le succès.

Elle est la première actrice à jouer le personnage de Miss Marple créé par Agatha Christie dans la pièce L'Affaire Protheroe en 1949.

Usually with

Gordon Dines
Gordon Dines
(3 films)
James Mason
James Mason
(2 films)
Martita Hunt
Martita Hunt
(2 films)
Helen Goss
Helen Goss
(2 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Barbara Mullen (12 films)

Display filmography as list

Actress

The Challenge, 1h41
Directed by John Gilling
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller
Themes Heist films, Gangster films, Escroquerie
Actors Jayne Mansfield, Anthony Quayle, Carl Möhner, Barbara Mullen, Robert Brown, Dermot Walsh
Roles Ma Piper
Rating60% 3.044983.044983.044983.044983.04498
Mansfield plays Billy, a ruthless gang leader who dumps gang member Kristy when he is convicted of robbery. Kristy serves his time, then recovers the stolen loot when he's released. Billy and her gang then kidnap Kristy's son and demand money as ransom.
The Siege of Pinchgut, 1h40
Directed by Harry Watt
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Action, Crime
Actors Aldo Ray, Heather Sears, Neil McCallum, Victor Maddern, Carlo Giustini, Alan Tilvern
Roles Mrs. Fulton
Rating62% 3.1415153.1415153.1415153.1415153.141515
An ambulance drives through Sydney, having been hijacked by escaped convict Matt Kirk and his three accomplices, Matt's brother Johnny, Italian Luke and Bert. The four men manage to avoid detection at Sydney Hospital, and head out through Sydney Harbour in a purchased vessel, intending to go north. However the boat breaks down before they can get through Sydney Heads and the men decide to take refuge in Fort Denison (also known as Pinchgut), unaware it is occupied by caretaker Pat Fulton, his wife and daughter Ann.
Innocent Sinners, 1h35
Directed by Philip Leacock
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama
Actors Flora Robson, David Kossoff, Catherine Lacey, Barbara Mullen, Susan Beaumont, Lyndon Brook
Roles Mrs. Vincent
Rating69% 3.480513.480513.480513.480513.48051
Londres peu après la Seconde Guerre mondiale, une jeune fille tente d'égayer sa vie en créant un jardin dans les ruines d'une église.
The Gentle Gunman, 1h26
Directed by Basil Dearden
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Crime
Themes Films about terrorism, Théâtre, Political films, Films based on plays
Actors John Mills, Dirk Bogarde, Robert Beatty, Elizabeth Sellars, Barbara Mullen, Jack MacGowran
Roles Molly Fagan
Rating62% 3.146393.146393.146393.146393.14639
John Mills and Dirk Bogarde, bizarrely, were the actors chosen to play two IRA men under cover in London during World War II. The lads are captured after (Terry) starts questioning the worth of war, a line of thinking never popular with armies. They are sprung from captivity by Connolly (Liam Redmond) and his IRA men. Nice cameo by Jack McGowran.
So Little Time, 1h28
Directed by Compton Bennett
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, War, Romance
Themes Political films
Actors Marius Goring, Maria Schell, Lucie Mannheim, Gabrielle Dorziat, Barbara Mullen, John Bailey
Roles Anna
Rating68% 3.431713.431713.431713.431713.43171
In occupied Belgium during World War II, the chateau where Nicole de Malvines (Schell) lives with her mother (Gabrielle Dorziat) is partially requisitioned for use by German forces. Among those billeted there is Colonel Hohensee (Goring), a ruthlessly efficient officer. Having lost several male members of her family in the war, the proud and outspoken Nicole holds the Germans in contempt and has no hesitation in making her feelings clear.
Corridor of Mirrors
Directed by Terence Young
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Fantasy, Horror, Romance
Actors Eric Portman, Barbara Mullen, Edana Romney, Hugh Sinclair, Alan Wheatley, Joan Maude
Roles Veronica
Rating64% 3.240273.240273.240273.240273.24027
Les amours singulières et brèves d'une jeune Anglaise et d'un esthète, anciennement peintre, qui croit revivre avec elle de nos jours la passion de deux Vénitiens du XVIe siècle.
A Place of One's Own, 1h32
Directed by Bernard Knowles
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Thriller, Horror
Themes Ghost films
Actors James Mason, Margaret Lockwood, Barbara Mullen, Dennis Price, Dulcie Gray, Helen Haye
Roles Emilie Smedhurst
Rating61% 3.0942453.0942453.0942453.0942453.094245
(The plot summary is copied verbatim from the website "Britmovie".) Mr and Mrs Smedhurst (James Mason and Barbara Mullen) are a business couple wanting to retire. They find a mansion in the country, Bellingham House, at a bargain price. They move in along with their servants and soon learn the house is supposedly haunted – but Mr Smedhurst in particular is sceptical of the paranormal myth. They invite a young companion, Annette (Margaret Lockwood), to join them but within days of arriving she steadily begins hearing strange voices. The new owners learn that a young invalid girl was believed to have been murdered 40 years previously in the house – and their preconceptions of the supernatural are challenged.
Thunder Rock, 1h52
Directed by John Boulting, Roy Boulting
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, War, Fantasy
Themes Théâtre, Ghost films, Political films, Films based on plays
Actors Michael Redgrave, James Mason, Barbara Mullen, Lilli Palmer, Finlay Currie, Frederick Valk
Roles Ellen Kirby
Rating64% 3.245223.245223.245223.245223.24522
During the late 1930s, David Charleston (Redgrave) is an ambitious campaigning newspaper journalist, a fierce opponent of fascism and the British policy of appeasement. He wishes to alert his readers to the dangers of German rearmament and the folly of ignoring what is going on in Europe, but the reports he submits are censored by the editor of his newspaper. He subsequently quits his job and sets off on a speaking tour around the country under the slogan "Britain, Awake!" The lack of interest and response indicates that Britain is happy to keep slumbering. The final straw comes when Charleston is at the cinema, and the newsreel feature comes on the screen detailing the German occupation of the Sudetenland. The audience show themselves completely uninterested in the newsreel, taking the opportunity to chat among themselves or go in search of refreshments. In despair at the way his countrymen seem totally oblivious to the ever-more impending doom which is about to engulf them, and appear to be content to go about their daily business as normal while all the time sleepwalking towards disaster, he decides to turn his back on Britain and find a far-flung location where he can withdraw from the world and all its contemporary woes.
Jeannie
Jeannie (1941)
, 1h41
Directed by Harold French
Origin United-kingdom
Genres Drama, Comedy, Romantic comedy, Romance
Actors Michael Redgrave, Edward Chapman, Barbara Mullen, Hilda Bayley, Wilfrid Lawson, Gus McNaughton
Roles Jeannie McLean
Rating69% 3.4502553.4502553.4502553.4502553.450255
Jeannie McLean (Mullen) is a Scottish girl who finds that she has received an inheritance. The film follows her adventures of finding her family castle and being romanced by different men.