Quick Facts
Biography
Eve Pearce (born 17 April 1929) is a Scottish actress. She has performed in many Royal Shakespeare Company productions.
Early life
Eve Pearce was born in Aberdeen to a very poor family and was brought up in a one-roomed tenement, her mother dying when she was seven years old. When she was twelve, her father remarried and she moved to London. She won an LCC Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 1948 and got married in her second term to James Ormerod. She began her acting career in 1950 in Preston Rep and in 1951 was part of the first season at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre. She made many appearances in television in the sixties including a squatter with six children in Coronation Street, and also played Mrs Dunstable in the 1971 film version of the TV series Please Sir!. Her career now spans six decades, including many roles with the RSC and in the West End, notably Amelia in Wild Oats and Rosamonde in Les Liaisons Dangereuses. She played Gilbert's Mother in Mike Leigh's Topsy-Turvy. She had a one-woman play, Woman in the Moon, written for her by Avi Nassa - seen at Edinburgh, and has worked with Ursula Martinez as her older self in Ursula Martinez OAP. Pearce is a published poet, often writing on her Scottish childhood. Her pamphlet Woman in Winter was published in 2007. She is a member of The Company of Elders and dances at Sadlers Wells.
Career
She first came to role as Kipps as the lady assistant. She has acted in many Royal Shakespeare Company productions including as Amelia in John O'Keeffe's play, Wild Oats at the Aldwych Theatre in London with Alan Howard, Zoë Wanamaker, Lisa Harrow, Simon Jones, Norman Rodway, Jeremy Irons, Joe Melia, and Ben Cross in the cast. Clifford Williams was director.
In November 2006, she appeared in Torchwood as Estelle Cole who died after drowning in the rain.
She portrayed the Gypsy Queen on TV mini-series The 10th Kingdom, directed by Herbert Wise.
She has appeared in numerous TV series, from Z-Cars to Taggart. Her most recent appearances have been in Him and Her, Doctors, Holby City, and Getting On (as Mrs Dethick). Her First Poetry Collection (Greenheart Press) will be published in November 2012.