Editing Celia Johnson

{{short description|English actress (1908–1982)}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = [[Dame]]
| name             = Celia Johnson
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DBE}}
| image            = Celia Johnson.jpg
| birth_name       = Celia Elizabeth Johnson
| birth_date       = {{birth date|df=yes|1908|12|18}}
| birth_place      = [[Richmond, London|Richmond]], [[Surrey]], England
| education        = [[St Paul's Girls' School]]
| death_date       = {{death date and age|df=yes|1982|4|26|1908|12|18}}
| death_place      = [[Nettlebed]], [[Oxfordshire]], England
| years_active     = 1928–1982
| spouse           = {{marriage|[[Peter Fleming (writer)|Peter Fleming]]<br>|10 December 1935|18 August 1971|end=d}}
| children         = 3, including [[Lucy Fleming|Lucy]]
}}

'''Dame Celia Elizabeth Johnson''' (18 December 1908&nbsp;– 26 April 1982) was an English actress, whose career included stage, television and film.<ref>Obituary ''[[Variety Obituaries|Variety]]'', 28 April 1982.</ref> She is especially known for her roles in the films ''[[In Which We Serve]]'' (1942), ''[[This Happy Breed (film)|This Happy Breed]]'' (1944), ''[[Brief Encounter]]'' (1945) and ''[[The Captain's Paradise]]'' (1953). For ''Brief Encounter'', she was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]]. A six-time [[BAFTA Award]] nominee, she won the [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role]] for ''[[The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (film)|The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie]]'' (1969).

Johnson began her stage acting career in 1928, and subsequently achieved success in [[West End theatre|West End]] and [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] productions. She continued performing in theatre for the rest of her life, though much of her later work was in television, including winning the [[British Academy Television Award for Best Actress|BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress]] for the [[BBC]] ''[[Play for Today]]'', ''[[Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (novel)|Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont]]'' (1973). She suffered a [[Cerebrovascular accident|stroke]] in 1982 and died later the same day, aged 73.

==Early life and education==
Born in [[Richmond, London|Richmond]], Surrey, and nicknamed "Betty", Johnson was the second daughter of John Robert Johnson and Ethel (née Griffiths) Johnson. Her first public performance was in 1916, when she played a role in a charity performance of ''King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid'' to raise funds for returned [[First World War]] soldiers.{{Citation needed|date=February 2014}}

She attended [[St Paul's Girls' School]] in London from 1919 until 1926, and played the oboe in the school's orchestra under [[Gustav Holst]]. She acted in school productions, but had no other acting experience, when she was accepted to study at [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]] in 1926, where she was in the same class as [[Margaretta Scott]]. She later spent a term in Paris, studying under [[Pierre Fresnay]] at the [[Comédie Française]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Celia Johnson Biography |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0424743/bio |website=IMDb |access-date=1 November 2019}}</ref> She later recalled her choice of an acting career with the comment, "I thought I'd rather like it. It was the only thing I was good at. And I thought it might be rather wicked."<ref name="Kate Grimond"/>

==Career==
Her stage début, and first professional role, was as Sarah in [[George Bernard Shaw]]'s ''[[Major Barbara]]'' at the [[Huddersfield|Theatre Royal, Huddersfield]] in 1928. She went to London the following year to take the place of [[Angela Baddeley]] in the part of Currita in ''A Hundred Years Old'', which was performed at the [[Lyric Hammersmith|Lyric Theatre]] in [[Hammersmith]]. In 1930 Johnson played in ''Cynara'' with [[Gerald du Maurier|Sir Gerald Du Maurier]] and [[Dame Gladys Cooper]]. She made her first trip to the United States the following year to star as [[Ophelia (character)|Ophelia]] in a New York City production of ''[[Hamlet]]''.{{Citation needed|date=February 2014}}

She returned to London, where she appeared in a number of minor productions, before establishing herself with a two-year run in ''The Wind and the Rain'' (1933–35).<ref name="blueplaque">{{cite web |title=Blue plaque for actress Celia Johnson |url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.15256 |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20090507022530/http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.15256 |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 May 2009 |publisher=[[English Heritage]] |date=18 December 2008 |access-date=3 May 2009}}</ref> She married the journalist [[Peter Fleming (writer)|Peter Fleming]] in 1935, and in 1939 gave birth to their first child, a son.<ref name="blueplaque"/> Her theatre career flourished with her portrayals of [[Elizabeth Bennet]] in ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'' (1940) and the second Mrs. de Winter in ''[[Rebecca (novel)#Theatre|Rebecca]]'' (1940); the production of the latter was halted when the theatre was destroyed by a [[Luftwaffe]] bomb in September 1940.{{Citation needed|date=February 2014}}

During the [[Second World War]] Johnson lived with her widowed sister and sister-in-law, and helped care for their combined seven children. Unable to commit her time to the often lengthy run of a play, Johnson preferred the less time-consuming schedules of film and radio,<ref name="Kate Grimond">{{cite web |last=Grimond |first=Kate |title=Growing up with a movie icon Celia Johnson as mum |url=http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article5360307.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615191543/http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article5360307.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 June 2011 |work=[[The Times]] |location=London |date=18 December 2008 |access-date=4 May 2009}}</ref> which allowed her to devote time to her family and her work for the Women's Auxiliary Police Corps.<ref name="blueplaque"/> She appeared in ''[[In Which We Serve]]'' (1942) and ''[[This Happy Breed (film)|This Happy Breed]]'' (1944), both directed by [[David Lean]] and written by [[Noël Coward]].

Lean and Coward sought Johnson for the next production, ''[[Brief Encounter]]'' (1945). She accepted the role with misgivings because of her family responsibilities, but was interested in the part, writing to her husband, "There is no getting away from the fact that it is a very good part and one which I should love to play. I have found myself already planning how I should play bits and how I should say lines..."<ref name="Kate Grimond"/> A romantic drama about a conventional middle-class housewife who falls in love with a married doctor she meets in the refreshment room at a railway station, the film was well-received, and is now regarded as a classic. Johnson was awarded the [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress]] and was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]].

After the war, Johnson concentrated on her family life, which included two daughters born in 1946 and 1947 and her occasional acting work was secondary for the following decade.<ref name="blueplaque"/>

In 1957 she acted with [[Ralph Richardson]] in ''The Flowering Cherry''.<ref name="blueplaque"/> In 1958, she opened ''[[The Grass is Greener (play)|The Grass is Greener]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theoldie.co.uk/blog/my-encounter-with-celia-johnson | title=My encounter with Celia Johnson - Simon Williams }}</ref> As a member of [[Laurence Olivier]]'s [[National Theatre Company]], Johnson appeared in the plays ''[[The Master Builder]]'' (1964) (with Olivier) and ''[[Hay Fever (play)|Hay Fever]]'' (1965), and later reprised her roles in the television productions.<ref name="blueplaque"/>

==Awards==
For her role in ''[[The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (film)|The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie]]'' (1969), she received the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She was created a Commander of the [[Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) in 1958, "for services to the theatre",<ref name="blueplaque"/> and was raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1981.

==Personal life and death==
Johnson was married to Peter Fleming (who during the Second World War became a Lieutenant Colonel in the [[Special Operations Executive]], and who was known as the author of travel literature such as ''[[Brazilian Adventure]]'' and non-fiction works including ''the Siege at Peking'') from 1935 until Fleming's death from a heart attack in 1971, while on a shooting expedition near [[Glencoe, Highland|Glencoe]] in [[Argyll]], Scotland. He was the brother of the [[James Bond]] creator, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Commander, and MI6-SIS Information Research Division (IRD) spy [[Ian Fleming]].

They had three children:
*Nicholas Peter Val Fleming (3 January 1939&nbsp;– 9 May 1995),{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}} spent most of his life at the Fleming family home in [[Nettlebed]], Oxfordshire, as a farmer. He was also a journalist, and the author of thriller novels published in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and a non-fiction historical work, ''August 1939''. From his early twenties he lived with his partner Christopher Balfour, a merchant banker.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hope |first=Jonathan |title=OBITUARIES: Nichol Fleming|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaries-nichol-fleming-1585538.html |work=[[The Independent]] |date=9 June 1995 |access-date=5 May 2009}}</ref>
*Kate Fleming (born 1946),{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}} now Kate Grimond, is married to John Grimond (son of politician [[Jo Grimond]]), former foreign editor of the news magazine ''[[The Economist]]'', now writer-at-large for the publication; the couple have three children. She is the author of ''Celia Johnson: A Biography'' (1991).<!-- ISBN needed -->
*[[Lucy Fleming]] (born Eve Lucinda Fleming, 15 May 1947),{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}} is an actress. In the 1970s she starred as Jenny in the [[BBC]]'s [[apocalyptic fiction]] series ''[[Survivors (1975 TV series)|Survivors]]''. She is married to the actor and writer [[Simon Williams (actor)|Simon Williams]].

Since the late 1990s, the two sisters, Kate Grimond and Lucy Fleming, have co-owned the Ian Fleming estate.{{Citation needed|date=February 2014}}

Johnson distanced herself from her acting career while her children were young, preferring to devote her attention to her family. She was described as a woman "always ready to laugh" and "maternal in a light-hearted way" and her daughter recalled that she was often torn between her desire to care for her family and her need to be involved in the "mechanics" of acting.<ref name="Kate Grimond" />

In 1982, she was touring with Sir [[Ralph Richardson]] in [[Angela Huth]]'s ''The Understanding'' and the play's [[West End theatre|West End]] run had been announced. On one of her days off, she was at her home in Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, playing [[Contract bridge|bridge]] with friends, when she collapsed from a [[Cerebrovascular accident|stroke]]. She died a few hours later in her home.<ref name="Kate Grimond" /> She left an estate worth £150,557.<ref>Douglas-Home 2004.</ref>

[[File:Dame CELIA JOHNSON 1908-1982 Actress was born here.jpg|thumb|right|Blue plaque for Dame Celia Johnson]]

==Legacy==
On 18 December 2008, to mark the centenary of her birth, a [[blue plaque]] was unveiled at her childhood home in [[Richmond, London|Richmond]]. Among the guests at the ceremony were her daughters, [[Lucy Fleming]] and Kate Grimond. In ''[[The Times]]'', Grimond noted that the "tragedy of theatre" is that even the best performances fade from memory, and that her mother's current reputation rests almost entirely on her performance in ''Brief Encounter''. Grimond noted that the advent of video allowed the film to be seen by a new audience, and that modern appraisals of the film had led to its being regarded as a classic.<ref name="Kate Grimond"/>

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1941
|''[[A Letter from Home (film)|A Letter from Home]]''
|English Mother
|Short documentary
|- 
|1942
|''[[In Which We Serve]]''
|Mrs. Alix Kinross
|
|-
|1943
|''[[Dear Octopus (film)|Dear Octopus]]''
|Cynthia
|aka ''The Randolph Family''
|-
|1944
|''[[This Happy Breed (film)|This Happy Breed]]''
|Ethel Gibbons
|[[National Board of Review Award for Best Actress]]
|-
|1945
|''[[Brief Encounter]]''
|Laura Jesson
|[[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress]]<br>Nominated&nbsp;– [[Academy Award for Best Actress]]
|-
|1950
|''[[The Astonished Heart (film)|The Astonished Heart]]''
|Barbara Faber
|
|-
|1951
|''[[I Believe in You (film)|I Believe in You]]''
|Matty Matheson
|Nominated&nbsp;– [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role]]
|-
|1952
|''[[The Holly and the Ivy (film)|The Holly and the Ivy]]''
|Jenny Gregory
|
|-
|1953
|''[[The Captain's Paradise]]''
|Maud St. James
|Nominated&nbsp;– [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role]]
|-
|1955
|''[[A Kid for Two Farthings (film)|A Kid for Two Farthings]]''
|Joanna
|
|-
|1957
|''[[The Good Companions (1957 film)|The Good Companions]]''
|Miss Trant
|
|-
|1969
|''[[The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (film)|The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie]]''
|Miss Mackay
|[[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role]]
|-
|1973
|''[[Play for Today]]''
|Mrs. Palfrey
|Episode: "Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont"<br>[[British Academy Television Award|British Academy Television Award for Best Actress]]
|-
|1976
|''Dame of Sark''
|Dame [[Sibyl Hathaway]]
|TV movie
|-
|1978
|''[[Les Misérables (1978 film)|Les Misérables]]''
|Sister Simplice
|TV movie
|-
|rowspan=3|1980
|''[[The Hostage Tower]]''
|Mrs. Wheeler
|TV movie
|-
|''[[Staying On]]''
|Lucy Smalley
|TV movie<br>Granada<br>Nominated&nbsp;– [[British Academy Television Award|British Academy Television Award for Best Actress]]
|-
|''[[BBC_Television_Shakespeare#All's_Well_That_Ends_Well|All's Well That Ends Well]]''
|Countess of Rousillion
|TV movie
|-
|1981
|''[[Celebrity Playhouse]]''
|Mrs. Callifer
|Episode: "The Potting Shed"<br>Nominated – [[British Academy Television Award|British Academy Television Award for Best Actress]]
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[William Douglas-Home|Douglas-Home, William]]. "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31289 Johnson, Dame Celia Elizabeth (1908–1982)]." ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]''. 2004. (accessed 4 January 2009).

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography|Film|Theatre}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{IMDb name|0424743}}
* [http://www.bris.ac.uk/theatrecollection/search/people_sub_plays?forename=Celia&surname=JOHNSON&job=Actor&pid=866&image_view=Yes&x=19&y=17 Stage performances in Theatre Archive University of Bristol]
* {{Screenonline name|id=485258}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120204234411/http://www.lloydianaspects.co.uk/celia/celia.html Celia Johnson] bio

{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Celia Johnson
|list =
{{BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress 1968-1984}}
{{British Academy Television Award for Best Actress 1960-1979}}
{{National Board of Review Award for Best Actress}}
{{New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress}}
{{RTS Programme Award for Best Performance}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Celia}}
[[Category:1908 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English actresses]]
[[Category:Actresses awarded damehoods]]
[[Category:Actresses from London]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]]
[[Category:Best Actress BAFTA Award (television) winners]]
[[Category:Best Supporting Actress BAFTA Award winners]]
[[Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:English film actresses]]
[[Category:English stage actresses]]
[[Category:Fleming family]]
[[Category:People educated at St Paul's Girls' School]]
[[Category:Actors from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames]]
[[Category:Actresses from Surrey]]
[[Category:People from Richmond, London]]