The art of acting Mary Taylor, 90, starred in Robin Hood, acted with Laurence Olivier – and then gave it all up to become an artist
Acting (left) under her stage name, Mary Manson, with Carol Gray in Curse of the Fly (1965)
20TH CENTURY FOX FILM CORP / COURTESY EVERETT COLLECTION / ALAMY
M
y second life – the one I have lived for the past 40 years – has been as an artist. It is a life I did not imagine as a child growing up in Oxford, although my mother was an artist of some note, painting landscapes and flower studies. Although my early artistic efforts displayed some aptitude, they were greeted by her with a gruff ‘I should think I’m the artist in the family!’ My first life, starting 70 years ago, was totally different… My father, an academic, had had a brief early career as an actor, which may have inspired my parents to decide I should be an actress. I auditioned for RADA and was rather surprised when I got in. Two years later, I graduated and my ‘first life’ – the one that would occupy the next 21 years – began. 38 The Oldie March 2022
Using a family name of my mother’s, I made my debut as Mary Manson at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. I played the sister of another beginner, Geraldine McEwan. Several years in repertory, during which I played juvenile leads, followed. At Bridgwater in Somerset, one of my fellow actors was John Osborne, whose first wife, Pamela Lane, had been at RADA with me. I joined a company that went round the country in an enormous lorry, driven by one of the girls, to perform religious plays. In Cardiff Cathedral, my part required me to stand motionless with my arms spread in the form of a cross. Stealing a glance downwards, I saw an enormous black spider creeping in beneath my long skirt. It took all my powers not to run down the aisle screaming! My first London engagement was as an understudy. It was at the Royal Court
Theatre in Sloane Square, enjoying a brilliantly successful 1956 season, which included my old friend John Osborne’s play Look Back in Anger. I understudied the juvenile lead – and got what all understudies dream of – but rarely get: one evening, I ‘went on’! I played opposite Richard Pasco and Alan Bates and it went so well that I was offered a place in the company. I went on tour with John’s Osborne’s next play, The Entertainer, starring Laurence Olivier. I also acted with Bob – later Sir Robert – Stephens, in a strange play called How Can We Save Father?, which did not run very long. It was at this time that I married. My husband, Forbes Taylor, was a film director and for our first year he was off to the studio at the crack of dawn and I was on stage until late most nights, so we saw little of each other. My husband was working on the
