Micheline Patton

Micheline Patton was a British actress who worked on radio, stage and television from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s.

Radio

Between 1935 and 1947 Patton was regularly heard on BBC radio. She read several short stories for radio, including works by Katherine Mansfield,[1] Anton Chekhov,[2] and Helen Colvill.[3] She acted in radio plays including playing the role of Winifred in the 1947 BBC Radio adaptation of In Chancery from The Forsyte Saga.[4]

Television

Patton also acted on early BBC television. In December 1937, she controversially appeared in a backless dress in the final episode of the early fashion documentary Clothes-Line. Patton was filmed from behind, giving an illusion of nudity, which led to outraged viewers writing in to complain.[5] The episode was titled Grandmamma Looks Back, inspiring the co-presenter Pearl Binder's quip, "Grandmamma looks back but Micheline has no back to be seen."[5]

She went on to appear in a November 1938 adaptation of Robert J. Flaherty's book The Captain's Chair (produced as The Last Voyage of Captain Grant),[6] and in July 1939, a drama based on the Parnell Commission.[7]

In 1947 Patton had a small role in the 1947 television drama, Weep for the Cyclops, a biographical drama on Jonathan Swift.[8] It was written and produced by her cousin Denis Johnston, with whom Patton had had a brief affair in 1943.[9]

Patton's final recorded BBC appearance was in 1958, with a role in The Ordeal of Christabel Pankhurst.[10]

Theatre

Patton's best received role was probably as Emily Brontë in The Brontës, by Alfred Sangster, produced by the Sheffield Repertory Company.[11] She played this role from 1946-1949, receiving generally good notices. in 1946 a reviewer for the Brontë Society noted that Patton was so "exceptionally good that one suspected (perhaps too artlessly) a spiritual affinity. What strength that pale, frigid face reflected!"[12] Less enthusiastically, in 1947, a reviewer for Theatre World commented "Micheline Patton does all that could be done with her material," calling the part "poorly written."[11]

Film

Patton appeared as Mrs. Broome in The Yellow Teddy Bears in 1963.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Feuille d'Album, 31 January 1938". Genome: Radio Times 1923-2009. BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  2. ↑ "Rothschild's Fiddle, 16 August 1938". Genome: Radio Times 1923-2009. BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2014.; "The Kiss, 16 March 1939". Genome: Radio Times 1923-2009. BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  3. ↑ "Short Story (Angelina of Intro d'Acqua), 24 November 1935". Genome: Radio Times 1923-2009. BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  4. ↑ "In Chancery". Genome: Radio Times 1923-2009. BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  5. 1 2 Taylor, Lou, Establishing Dress History, chapter 2 (Manchester 2002) ISBN 0-7190-6639-5
  6. ↑ "The Last Voyage of Captain Grant". Genome: Radio Times 1923-2009. BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  7. ↑ "The Parnell Commission". Genome: Radio Times 1923-2009. BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "Weep for the Cyclops: The true history of Dr. Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin". Genome: Radio Times 1923-2009. BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  9. ↑ Stewart, Bruce. "Denis Johnston: Life". RICORSO: A Knowledge of Irish Literature. Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  10. ↑ "YOU ARE THERE: The Ordeal of Christabel Pankhurst". Genome: Radio Times 1923-2009. BBC. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  11. 1 2 "The Brontes, St. James, 25th June.". Theatre World (Iliffe Specialist Publications Ltd.). 43-44: 6. 1947.
  12. ↑ "Brontë Society Publications". 10-12, Part 61. Brontë Society. 1946.
  13. ↑ "The Yellow Teddy Bears (1963)". BFI. British Film Institute. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
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