Dutch postcard, sent by mail in 1960, no. 115821. Photo: Rank. Publicity still for Rooney (George Pollock, 1958).
Lovely, delicate-looking actress Muriel Pavlow (1921) belongs firmly to the British cinema of the 1950’s. She was a comely heroine in thrillers and war-themed pictures, and was usually cast as an altruistic bride, wife or girlfriend. In many light comedies she often provided a nice counterbalance to the hectic goings-on.
Muriel Lilian Pavlow was born in 1921, in Leigh, England. She was a dominant stage actress despite her petite frame and made her theatrical debut at age 15 with a production of The Old Maid (1936). Other sprightly teen roles on stage followed including Oedipus Rex (1936), Victoria Regina (1937), Dear Octopus (1938), Dear Brutus (1940) and Old Acquaintance before she began to get a strong foothold in films. Muriel started out with a bit role in the Gracie Fields musical comedy film Sing As We Go (1934, Basil Dean), and at 15 she appeared in Romance in Flanders (1937, Maurice Elvey). but she wouldn't come into her own for nearly two decades. Perennially radiant and youthful, she often times played ingénue roles much younger than her actual age. She appeared in the film Quiet Wedding (1941, Anthony Asquith) starring Margaret Lockwood and Derek Farr, and was prominently seen in the war-time film Night Boat to Dublin (1946, Lawrence Huntington). While making a beguiling Ophelia on a live, early tv version of Hamlet (1947, Basil Adams), for the most part she tried to build up her theatrical credits.
In 1947 Muriel Pavlow married actor Derek Farr and went on to appear with him in such British-made films as The Shop at Sly Corner (1947, George King) and Doctor at Large (1957, Ralph Thomas). Peaking in mid-1950’s, she appeared as the Maltese girl Maria in Malta Story (1953, Brian Desmond Hurst) with Sir Alec Guinness, as Joy, the girlfriend of Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde) in the first of the popular British ‘Doctor’ comedy series, Doctor in the House (1954, Ralph Thomas), and as Thelma Bader, the wife of World War II fighter pilot Douglas Bader (Kenneth More) in Reach for the Sky (1956, Lewis Gilbert). Muriel also continued to perform theater roles, notably in Shakespeare pieces, like A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, and Troilus and Cressida.
In the early 1960’s Muriel Pavlow eased into character roles in films like the Agatha Christie adaptation Murder She Said (1961, George Pollock). She and her husband worked for the most part on stage and in television. The couple appeared together in such plays as Wolf's Clothing (1959) and Mary, Mary (1963). Following Farr's death in 1986, she resumed her career and was spotted in the late 1980’s and 1990’s in a number of matronly roles, including the tv-series Final Cut (1995, Mike Vardy) starring Ian Richardson. One of her last roles was at age 83 in the tv-film Belonging (2004, Christopher Menaul) in the company of Brenda Blethyn, Rosemary Harris and Anna Massey. Recently she was interviewed by the BBC for the documentary series, British Film Forever and in 2007, she guest-starred in the audio play Sapphire and Steel: Cruel Immortality.
Sources: Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Hal Erickson (All Movie Guide), Wikipedia, and IMDb.