Eileen Way
Quick Facts
Biography
Eileen Mabel Elizabeth Way (2 September 1911 – 16 June 1994) was an English actress who appeared in film and television roles in a career dating back to the 1930s. She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from the age of 16.
She was in some of the first productions of Tennessee Williams' plays in Great Britain and appeared at the Bristol Old Vic and Nottingham Playhouse.
She appeared in the TV series Doctor Who, in the serials An Unearthly Child (as Old Mother, the programme's first on-screen death) and The Creature from the Pit (as Karela), as well as in the 1966 film Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (as Old Woman), based on the serial The Dalek Invasion of Earth (1964). She also appeared in the second series of Poldark (1977) as Aunt Agatha; Century Falls; Upstairs, Downstairs; By the Sword Divided; Inspector Morse; Bergerac; and Ripping Yarns.
She was married to the prominent British psychiatrist Felix Warden Brown.
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1951 | Cheer the Brave | Unknown | |
1952 | The Happy Family | Mrs. Potter | |
The Stranger Left No Card | Secretary | ||
Venetian Bird | Woman Detective | ||
1953 | Street of Shadows | Mrs. Thoms | |
Blood Orange | Mme. Fernande | ||
1954 | They Who Dare | Greek Woman | |
Knave of Hearts | 1st Landlady | Uncredited | |
Aunt Clara | Maggie Mason | ||
1957 | Bullet from the Past | Lady At No. 72 | Uncredited |
1958 | The Vikings | Kitala | |
1960 | Kidnapped | Jennet Clouston | |
1961 | TheSinger Not the Song | Unknown | Uncredited |
1962 | Village of Daughters | Gloria Balbino | |
1964 | The Bargee | Onlooker | Uncredited |
The Comedy Man | Landlady | ||
1966 | Daleks – Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. | Old Woman | |
Drop Dead Darling | Italian Dressmaker | ||
1969 | Vendetta for the Saint | The Maid | |
1981 | Sphinx | Aida | |
1984 | Memed My Hawk | Seuneh | |
1985 | Bad Medicine | Sra. Madera | |
1989 | Queen of Hearts | Mama Sibilla |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1938 | The Gay Lord Quex | Unknown | TV movie |
1939 | The Day Is Gone | Florrie | TV movie |
1947 | The Gay Lord Quex | Miss Moon | TV movie |
1954 | Thunder Rock | Ellen Kirby | TV movie |
1955 | The Blakes | Gypsy Rebecca | Season 1, Episode 1 |
Barbie | Miss McGinty | Season 1: (2 episodes) | |
1955 1957 | BBC Sunday-Night Theatre | La Cachiporra Sarah Becker | Season 6, Episode 16: "Midsummer Fire" Season 8, Episode 49: "Counsellor at Law" |
1956 | Armchair Theatre | Unknown | Season 1, Episode 11: "The Right Thing" |
1958 | Television World Theatre | Woman of Troy | Season 1, Episode 3: "Women of Troy" |
General Electric Theatre | Old Maid | Season 6, Episode 15: "Time to Go Now" | |
ITV Television Playhouse | Susan | Season 4, Episode 10: "Breakdown" | |
1959 | William Tell | Reynolds | Season 1, Episode 32: "The Black Brothers" |
The Vagrant Heart | Mrs Smith | TV movie | |
1960 | International Detective | Mama Carlucci | Season 1, Episode 5: "The Winthrop Case" |
Hancock's Half Hour | Mavis Smith | Season 6, Episode 4: "The Reunion Party" | |
BBC Sunday-Night Play | Ruth Kellner Senora River | Season 1, Episode 15: "Twentieth Century Theatre: Glorious Morning" Season 1, Episode 27: "Playhouse 90: A Town Has Turned to Dust" | |
Rendezvous | Signora Zampino | Season 1, Episode 18: "Next Time You'll See Venice" | |
1961 | Rashomon | The Medium | TV Movie |
Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond | Mrs Evans | Season 3, Episode 27: "The Confesion" | |
Dixon of Dock Green | Isa Capon | Season 8, Episode 7: "Desperation" | |
1962 | Sir Francis Drake | Pastora | Season 1, Episode 22: "The Gypsies" |
Benny Hill | Lorna | Season 2, Episode 1; "The Mystery of Black Bog Manor" | |
1963 | Crane | Unknown | Season 1, Episode 5: "The Executioners" |
Man of the World | Catrina | Season 2, Episode 6: "The Bullfighters" | |
Drama 61 -67 | Landlady | Season 3, Episode 14: "Drama 63: Rasputin Was A Nice Old Man" | |
Maupassant | Mme. Padoie | Season 1, Episode 10: "Bachelors" | |
Maigret | Unknown | Season 4, Episode 3: "The Lost Life" | |
The Sentimental Agent | Miss Mithras | Season 1, Episode 7: "A Little Sweetness and Light" | |
Kidnapped | Jennet Clouston | Season 1, Episode 7: "Catriona" | |
1963 1979 | Doctor Who | Old Mother Karela | Season 1: (2 episodes) Season 17: (4 episodes) |
1968 | ITV Play of the Week | La Madrecita | Season 9, Episode 23: "Camino Real" |
First Night | Mrs Phillips | Season 1, Episode 30: "How Many Angels" | |
1964 1965 | Cluff | Mrs Bateson Amy Horrisey | Season 1, Episode 5: "The Daughter in Law" Season 2, Episode 9: "The Daughters" |
1965 1967 | The Troubleshooters | Mrs Murtagh Saroya | Season 1, Episode 9: "A Job for Willy" Season 4, Episode 11: "Who Buys Who" |
1966 | Court Martial | Woman | Season 1, Episode 15: "Where There Was No Echo" |
1966 1969 | The Wednesday Play | Aunt Erika Margeurite Rosmer Mrs Phillips Woman in pub | Season 1: (4 episodes) |
1967 | Mickey Dunne | Sophia Lombardi | Season 1, Episode 13: "Are there any more at Home like You?" |
1967 1974 1977 | Z-Cars | Mrs Hancock Mrs McGann Mrs Riley | Season 9, Episode 49: "The Great Art Robbery: Part 1" Season 10, Episode 1: "Bits An' Bats" Season 12, Episode 2: "Rage" |
1968 | The Spanish Farm | Berthe | TV movie |
1968 1970 | ITV Playhouse | Gypsy woman Woman | Season 2, Episode 9: "The Kindness of Mrs Ratcliffe" Season 3, Episode 32: " A Sound from the Sea" |
1969 | The Saint | The Maid | Season 6: (2 episodes) |
Omnibus | Old Dorothy | Season 2, Episode 16: "The Women from the Shadows" | |
The Gold Robbers | Dowager | Season 1: (2 episodes) | |
The Flaxton Play | Macena | Season 1, Episode 8: "1854: The Witches" | |
1970 | The Germinals | Ma Brǔlé | Season 1: (2 epsisodes) |
The Doctors | Alice Platt | Season 1, Episode 103 | |
1972 | New Scotland Yard | Mrs Esther Grubber | Season 1, Episode 3: "Memory of a Gauntlet" |
The Onedin Line | Old Woman | Season 2, Episode 3: "A Woman Alone" | |
Thirty Minutes Worth | Unknown | Season 1, Episode 6 | |
1973 | The Adventures of Black Beauty | Maggie | Season 1, Episode 25: "The Barge" |
1974 | Upstairs, Downstairs | Madame Francini | Season 4, Episode 8: "The Glorious Dead" |
1976 | The Glittering Prizes | Mrs Hersh | Season 1, Episode 6: "A Double Life" |
1977 | The Mackinnons | Christina McSween | Season 1, Episode 7: "Shame the Devil" |
Poldark | Agatha Poldark | Season 2: (5 episodes) | |
Ripping Yarns | Old woman | Season 1, Episode 5: "Across the Andes by Frog" | |
Just William | Mrs Marsh | Season 2, Episode 5: "William the Philanthropist" | |
1978 | Les Miserabales | Lodger | TV movie |
1979 | Secret Army | Woman Patient | Season 3, Episode 10: "Collaborator" |
1980 | Fair Stood the Wind for France | Grandmother | Season 1: (3 episodes) |
1982 | Minder | Mrs Chambers' mother | Season 3, Episode 1: "Dead Men Do Tell Tales" |
1983 | The Old Men at the Zoo | Mrs Langley-Beard | Season 1, Episode 4: "Armageddon" |
Macbeth | Second Witch | TV movie | |
1983 1985 | By the Sword Divided | Minty | Season 1: (8 episodes) Season 2: (8 episodes) |
1984 | Sakharov | Ruf Grigorievna | TV movie |
1985 | Mussolini: The Untold Story | Vendor | Season 1, Episode 1 |
1986 | Paradise Postponed | Dora Nowt | Season 1, Episode 10: "Faith Unfaithful" |
All Passion Spent | Genoux | Season 1: (3 episodes) | |
1987 | Screen Two | Finn's Grandma | Season 3, Episode 6: "Naming the Names" |
One by One | Mrs Maplin | Season 3, Episode 1: "Changing Places" | |
Vanity Fair | Mrs Tinker | Season 1, Episode 3:"Crawley of Queen's Crawley" | |
1988 | The Rainbow | Lydia Brangwen | Season 1: (2 episodes) |
1989 | War and Rememberace | Mrs Stern | Season 1: (2 episodes) |
1990 | Screen One | Aunt Anna | Season 2, Episode 6: "One Last Chance |
1991 | Bergerac | Mrs Edwards | Season 9, Episode 7: The Waiting Game |
Inspector Morse | Mrs Papas | Season 5, Episode 4: "Greeks Bearing Gifts" | |
Birds of a Feather | Irene | Season 3, Episode 10: "Cuckoo" | |
1992 | Mistress of Suspence | Edna | Season 1, Episode 11: "Under a Dark Angels Eye" |
The Bill | Mrs Collins | Season 8, Episode 74: "A Blind Eye" | |
1992 1993 | Sean's Show | Mrs Pebbles | Season 1: (4 episodes) Season 2, Episode 1 (Last appearance) |
1993 | The Detectives | Old Lady | Season 1, Episode 2: "Hostage" |
Century Falls | Alice Harkness | Season 1: "5 episodes" |