Editing Sarah Miles

{{distinguish|text = American actress [[Sylvia Miles]] (1924–2019)}} 
{{Short description|English actress (born 1941)}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Sarah Miles
| image              = Sarah Miles in 1980 (cropped).jpg
| caption            = Miles in 1980
| birth_name         =
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|1941|12|31|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Ingatestone]], Essex, England
| death_date         =
| death_place        =
| occupation         = Actress
| years_active       = 1961–2004
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Robert Bolt]]|1967|1976|reason=divorced}}
* {{marriage||1988|1995|reason=died}}
}}
| children           = 1
| relatives          = [[Christopher Miles]] (brother)
}}

'''Sarah Miles''' (born 31 December 1941) is a retired English actress. She is known for her roles in films ''[[The Servant (1963 film)|The Servant]]'' (1963), ''[[Blowup]]'' (1966), ''[[Ryan's Daughter]]'' (1970), ''[[The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (film)|The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing]]'' (1973), ''[[White Mischief (film)|White Mischief]]'' (1987), and ''[[Hope and Glory (film)|Hope and Glory]]'' (1987). For her performance in ''Ryan's Daughter'', Miles received a nomination for the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]].

==Early life==
Sarah Miles was born in [[Ingatestone]], Essex, in [[South East England]]; her brother was film director, producer, and screenwriter [[Christopher Miles]]. Miles's parents were Clarice Vera Remnant and John Miles, of a family of engineers; her father's inability to secure a divorce from his first wife meant Miles and her siblings were illegitimate.<ref>A Right Royal Bastard, Sarah Miles, Macmillan, 1993, p. 26</ref> Per Miles's own account, her maternal grandfather, Frank Remnant, was the illegitimate son of [[Prince Francis of Teck]] (1870–1910), which would make Miles a second cousin, once removed, of [[Queen Elizabeth II]].<ref name="miles">Sarah Miles, ''A Right Royal Bastard'' (1993), p. 20: "Clarice... the eldest child of Francis (Frank) Remnant, bastard son of Prince Francis of Teck, Queen Mary's brother. Sexy old Frank, as he was known, came over when Mary married Prince George, who became [[George V]], and had a cuddle with the seamstress in the [[White Lodge, Richmond Park|White Lodge]] at Richmond."</ref><ref>Rhoda Koenig, [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/book-review--confessions-of-a-wilful-pusscat-a-right-royal-bastard--sarah-miles-macmillan-1699-1467069.html BOOK REVIEW Confessions of a wilful Pusscat: 'A Right Royal Bastard'] dated Sunday 12 December 1993 at independent.co.uk. Retrieved 2 December 2011</ref> Unable to speak until the age of nine because of a [[stammer]]<ref name="planet">Barry Egan [http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/news-gossip/i-cant-wait-to-get-off-this-planet-1081452.html "I can't wait to get off this planet"], ''The Independent'' (Ireland), 16 September 2007 [https://web.archive.org/web/20100413125342/http://www.independent.ie:80/entertainment/news-gossip/i-cant-wait-to-get-off-this-planet-1081452.html archived] 13 April 2010</ref> and [[dyslexia]],<ref name="Barber">Lynn Barber [https://web.archive.org/web/20140227064256/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/interview-out-to-lunch-with-sarah-for-this-interview-she-wanted-to-take-her-top-off-and-talk-about-corn-circles-the-only-time-the-world-hears-about-sarah-miles-is-when-shes-being-dotty-or-getting-into-big-trouble-but-the-loss-of-her-reputation-may-be-the-price-of-something-more-precious-1532714.html "Interview: Out to lunch with Sarah"], ''The Independent'', 12 July 1992</ref> she attended [[Roedean School|Roedean]] and three other schools, but was expelled from all of them.<ref name="planet"/> Miles enrolled at the [[Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]] (RADA), graduating in 1960 with an acting (diploma).<ref name="rada">{{Cite web|url= https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/sarah-miles/ |title= RADA Student & graduate profiles - Sarah Miles |access-date= July 1, 2023}}</ref>

==Career==
===Early career===
Shortly after finishing at RADA, Miles performed in an episode of the TV series ''[[Deadline Midnight (TV series)|Deadline Midnight]]'' titled "Manhunt". Her film debut was as Shirley Taylor, a "husky, wide-eyed nymphet"<ref name="Thomson">David Thomson ''A New Biographical Dictionary of Film'', London: Little Brown, 2002, p.594</ref> in ''[[Term of Trial]]'' (1962), which featured [[Laurence Olivier]]; she was nominated for the [[BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer]].

Miles appeared in ''The Rehearsal'' (1963) for TV, and then played Vera from Manchester in [[Joseph Losey]]'s ''[[The Servant (1963 film)|The Servant]]'' (1963), and "thrust sexual appetite into British films" according to [[David Thomson (film critic)|David Thomson]].<ref name="Thomson"/>

Miles was in a short film directed by her brother, "The Six-Sided Triangle" (1963), and a feature film directed by and starring [[Laurence Harvey]], ''[[The Ceremony (1963 film)|The Ceremony]]'' (1963). She did ''[[Ring Round the Moon]]'' (1964) for TV.

On 16 June 1965, [[Ken Annakin]]'s ''[[Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines]],'' a [[Cinema of the United Kingdom|British]] [[Period film|period]] [[comedy film]] revolving around the craze of early aviation ''circa'' 1910, was released. A pompous newspaper magnate ([[Robert Morley]]) is convinced, by his daughter (Miles) and her fiancé ([[James Fox]]), to organise an air race from London to Paris. A large sum of money is offered to the winner, hence it attracts a variety of characters to participate. The film received positive reviews, described as funny, colourful, and clever, capturing the early enthusiasm for aviation.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C0DEEDF173BE13ABC4F52DFB066838E679EDE|title=Movie Review: Those Magnificent Men In their Flying Machines (1965)|last=Crowther|first=Bosley|date=17 June 1965|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/1964/film/reviews/those-magnificent-men-in-their-flying-machines-or-how-i-flew-from-london-to-paris-in-25-hours-11-minutes-1200420712/|title=Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines – Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes|date=1965-01-01|website=Variety|language=en|access-date=2019-12-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/movies/magnificent-men-flying/review/120398|title=Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines{{spaced ndash}}Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes: TV Guide Review|website=TV Guide.com|access-date=18 February 2010}}</ref>

She was in ''[[Time Lost and Time Remembered]]'' (1966), directed by [[Desmond Davis]].

In 1966, Miles gained another BAFTA nomination, this time as [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role|Best Actress]]. She had a "peripheral" part in [[Michelangelo Antonioni]]'s ''[[Blowup]]''.<ref name="Thomson" /> At Antonioni's death in 2007, she referred to him as "a rogue and a tyrant and a brilliant man".<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6923785.stm "Blow-Up director Antonioni dies"], BBC News, 31 July 2007</ref>

===Robert Bolt===
After acting in several plays from 1966 to 1969, Miles was cast as Rosy in the leading title role of [[David Lean]]'s ''[[Ryan's Daughter]]'' (1970). It was critically savaged, which discouraged Lean from making a film for some years, despite Miles's performance gaining her an [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Oscar nomination]] and an Oscar win for John Mills, and the film making a substantial profit. In Terence Pettigrew's biography of [[Trevor Howard]], Miles describes the filming of ''Ryan's Daughter'' in Ireland in 1969. She recalls, "My main memory is of sitting on a hilltop in a caravan at six in the morning in the rain. There was no other actor or member of the crew around me. I would sit there getting mad, waiting for either the rain to stop or someone to arrive. Film-acting is so horrifically belittling."<ref>Terence Pettigrew ''Trevor Howard: A Personal Biography'', London: Peter Owen, 2001, p.149</ref>

Miles married the film's screenwriter, [[Robert Bolt]]. He wrote and directed ''[[Lady Caroline Lamb (film)|Lady Caroline Lamb]]'' (1972) starring Miles in the title role.<ref>Movies: Bolt of lighting hits the screen...
Martin, James. Chicago Tribune 4 Mar 1973: e10.</ref> She then appeared in ''[[The Hireling]]'' (1973).

On 11 February 1973, while filming ''[[The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing]]'', aspiring screenwriter [[David Whiting]], who was briefly one of her lovers,<ref>Christopher Hastings [https://web.archive.org/web/20120205072949/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/drama/3560030/Sarah-Miles-Sex-spooks-and-Steven-Spielberg.html "Sarah Miles: Sex, Spooks and Steven Spielberg"], ''The Sunday Telegraph'', 7 September 2008</ref> was found dead in her motel room. She was acquitted of culpability in his death.<ref name="planet"/><ref name="rosenbaum">Ron Rosenbaum, "The Corpse as Big as the Ritz", ''The Secret Parts of Fortune'' (reprinted from ''Esquire'')</ref> Miles later commented: "It went on for six months. Murder? Suicide? Murder! Suicide! Murder! Suicide! And, gradually, the truth came out, which I'm not going to speak about, but it certainly wasn't me. I had actually saved the man from three suicide attempts, so why would I want to murder him? I really can't imagine."<ref name=planet/> This led to the end of her first marriage to Bolt.

===Television===
Miles starred in some TV movies: ''[[Great Expectations (1974 film)|Great Expectations]]'' (1974), ''[[Requiem for a Nun]]'' (1975), and ''[[Dynasty (1976 film)|Dynasty]]'' (1976) as well as the Spanish film ''[[Bride to Be (film)|Bride to Be]]'' (1975).

Her performance as Anne Osborne in ''[[The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (film)|The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea]]'' (1976) was nominated for a [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama|Golden Globe]].

Miles appeared in ''[[The Big Sleep (1978 film)|The Big Sleep]]'' (1978), ''[[Venom (1981 film)|Venom]]'' (1981), ''[[Walter and June]]'' (1983), ''[[Ordeal by Innocence (film)|Ordeal by Innocence]]'' (1984), ''[[Steaming (film)|Steaming]]'' (1985), ''[[Harem (1986 film)|Harem]]'' (1986) and ''[[Queenie (miniseries)|Queenie]]'' (1987).

She received great acclaim for ''Hope and Glory''. Interviewer [[Lynn Barber]] wrote of Miles' appearances in ''[[Hope and Glory (film)|Hope and Glory]]'', ''[[White Mischief (film)|White Mischief]]'', and her two earliest films that she "has that Vanessa Redgrave quality of seeming to have one skin fewer than normal people, so that the emotion comes over unmuffled and bare."<ref name="Barber"/>

Filming ''White Mischief'' on location in [[Kenya]] in 1987, Miles worked for the second and last time with [[Trevor Howard]], who had a supporting role, but was by then seriously ill from alcoholism. The company wanted to fire him, but Miles was determined that Howard's distinguished film career would not end that way. In an interview with Terence Pettigrew for his biography of Howard, she describes how she gave an ultimatum to the executives, threatening to quit the production if they got rid of him. The gamble worked. Howard was kept on. It was his last major film; he died the following January.

===Later career===
She appeared in ''[[A Ghost in Monte Carlo]]'' (1990), ''[[The Touch (1992 film)|The Touch]]'' (1992), ''[[Dandelion Dead]]'' (1994), ''Jurij'' (2001) and ''The Accidental Detective'' (2004).

She most recently (2008) appeared in ''[[Well (play)|Well]]'' at the [[Trafalgar Studios]] and the [[Apollo Theatre]] opposite [[Natalie Casey]].{{citation needed|date=February 2012}}

==Personal life==
Miles was married twice to the British playwright [[Robert Bolt]], 1967–1975 and 1988–1995.<ref>{{cite news|author=Calder, John|title=Obituary: Robert Bolt|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary--robert-bolt-1574410.html|work=[[The Independent]]|date=23 February 1995|access-date=6 February 2012}}</ref> He wrote and directed the film ''[[Lady Caroline Lamb (film)|Lady Caroline Lamb]]'', in which Miles played the eponymous [[heroine]], and wrote ''[[Ryan's Daughter]]'', as well. After his stroke, the couple reunited and Miles cared for him. "I would be dead without her", Bolt said in 1987, "When she's away, my life takes a nosedive. When she returns, my life soars."<ref>John Stark [http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20097645,00.html "Sarah Miles Stars in An Incredible Story of Scandal and Love—and No, It's Not Her New Film, Hope and Glory, It's Her Life"], ''People'', 28:21, 23 November 1987, [https://web.archive.org/web/20171015095025/http://people.com/archive/sarah-miles-stars-in-an-incredible-story-of-scandal-and-love-and-no-its-not-her-new-film-hope-and-glory-its-her-life-vol-28-no-21/ archive-url], archived 15 October 2017</ref> The couple had a son.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.carolinephillips.net/articles/archive/newspapers/evening-standard/the-astonishing-life-of-sarah-miles.html |title=Case Study |publisher=Caroline Phillips |access-date=25 July 2014}}</ref> Miles stated, in 2007, that she had been [[Urophagia|drinking her own urine]] for 30 years for health reasons.<ref name="planet"/> In 2016, she reported that she had written a sequel to ''Ryan's Daughter''.<ref>{{cite news |last1=O'Sullivan |first1=Majella |title='I was so innocent in the 60s, but Robert Mitchum corrupted me' |url=https://www.independent.ie/life/i-was-so-innocent-in-the-60s-but-robert-mitchum-corrupted-me-34550363.html |access-date=2 December 2019 |work=The Independent |publisher=Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Limited |date=19 March 2016}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%"
|- style="text-align:center;"
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes
|-
|1962
|''[[Term of Trial]]''
|Shirley Taylor
|Nominated – [[BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer]]
|-
|rowspan=2|1963
|''[[The Servant (1963 film)|The Servant]]''
|Vera
|Nominated – [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role|BAFTA Award for Best British Actress]]
|-
|''[[The Ceremony (1963 film)|The Ceremony]]''
|Catherine
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1965
|''[[Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines]]''
|Patricia Rawnsley
|
|-
|''[[I Was Happy Here]]''
|Cass Langdon
|Also known as ''Time Lost and Time Remembered''
|-
|1966
|''[[Blowup]]''
|Patricia
|
|-
|1970
|''[[Ryan's Daughter]]''
|Rosy Ryan
|Nominated – [[Academy Award for Best Actress]]<br>Nominated – [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role]]<br>Nominated – [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama]]
|-
|1972
|''[[Lady Caroline Lamb (film)|Lady Caroline Lamb]]''
|[[Lady Caroline Lamb]]
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1973
|''[[The Hireling]]''
|Lady Franklin
|
|-
|''[[The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (film)|The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing]]''
|Catherine Crocker
|
|-
|1974
|''[[Great Expectations (1974 film)|Great Expectations]]''
|Estella
|
|-
|1975
|''[[Bride to Be (film)|Bride to Be]]''
|Pepita Jiménez
|
|-
|1976
|''[[The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (film)|The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea]]''
|Anne Osborne
|Nominated – [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama]]
|-
|1978
|''[[The Big Sleep (1978 film)|The Big Sleep]]''
|Charlotte Sternwood
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1981
|''[[Priest of Love]]''
|Film Star
|
|-
|''[[Venom (1981 film)|Venom]]''
|Dr. Marion Stowe
|
|-
|1984
|''[[Ordeal by Innocence (film)|Ordeal by Innocence]]''
|Mary Durant
|
|-
|1985
|''[[Steaming (film)|Steaming]]''
|Sarah
|
|-
|1986
|Harem (mini series)
|Lady Ashley
|<ref>VHS Tape – 1992 R&G VIDEO L.P. Sherman Oaks, CA 91403. {{ISBN|1-56068-536-0}}</ref>
|-
|rowspan=2|1987
|''[[Hope and Glory (film)|Hope and Glory]]''
|Grace Rowan
|Nominated – [[BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role]]
|-
|''[[White Mischief (film)|White Mischief]]''
|[[Alice de Janzé]]
|
|-
|1992
|''{{ill|The Silent Touch|pl|3=Dotknięcie ręki|lt=The Silent Touch}}''
|Helena
|
|-
|rowspan=2|2001
|''[[Days of Grace (film)|Days of Grace]]''
|Sissi, La Madre
|
|-
|''[[Jurij (film)|Jurij]]''
|Martina, directrice clinica
|
|-
|2003
|''[[The Accidental Detective (2003 film)|The Accidental Detective]]''
|Smeralda Mazzi Tinghi
|
|}

==Television==
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%"
|- style="text-align:center;"
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Title
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role
! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes
|-
|1961
| ''[[Deadline Midnight (TV series)|Deadline Midnight]]''
| Vi Vernon
|
|-
|1965
|''[[Tonight at the London Palladium|Sunday Night At The London Palladium]]''
|Herself
|
|-
|1974
|''[[Great Expectations (1974 film)|Great Expectations]]''
|Estella
|
|-
| 1976
|''[[Dynasty (film)|Dynasty]]''
|Jennifer Blackwood
|
|-
|1983
|''[[Walter (1982 film)#Sequels|Walter and June]]''
|June
|
|-
|1987
|''[[Queenie (miniseries)|Queenie]]''
|Lady Sybil
|
|-
|1990
|''[[A Ghost in Monte Carlo]]''
|Emilie/Mme. Bluet
|
|-
|1994
|''[[Dandelion Dead]]''
|Catherine Armstrong
|TV mini-series
|-
|2004
|''[[Agatha Christie's Poirot|Poirot]]: [[The Hollow]]''
|Lady Angkatell
|
|}

==Books==
Sarah Miles has written the following books:
* {{cite book |title= A Right Royal Bastard |isbn= 0-330-33142-6 |date= 1994 |publisher= Pan Book |page= 368 |quote= 1st part of memoirs}}
* {{cite book |title= Serves Me Right |isbn= 0-333-60141-6 |date= 1994 |publisher= Macmillan |page= 384 |quote= 2nd part of memoirs }}
* {{cite book |title= Bolt from the Blue |isbn= 0-7538-0229-5 |date= 1997 |publisher= Phoenix |page= [https://archive.org/details/boltfromblue0000mile/page/272 272] |url= https://archive.org/details/boltfromblue0000mile/page/272 }}
* {{cite book |title= Beautiful Mourning |isbn= 0-7528-0140-6 |date= 1998 |publisher= Orion |page= 352 }}

==Other work==
In 1995, Miles was one of the readers of [[Edward Lear]] poems on a specially made spoken word audio CD bringing together a collection of Lear's nonsense songs.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://libcat.calacademy.org/title/nonsense-songs/oclc/426445707#details-allauthors |title=Nonsense songs (Audiobook on CD, 1995) [WorldCat.org&#93; |publisher=Libcat.calacademy.org |date=2019-01-04 |isbn=9781898608219 |accessdate=2021-03-16 |archive-date=15 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220215193405/http://libcat.calacademy.org/title/nonsense-songs/oclc/426445707#details-allauthors |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}

* {{AFI person | 138779-Sarah-Miles }}
* {{IMDb name}}
* {{Tcmdb name}}
* [https://officiallondontheatre.com/news/sarah-miles-101900/ Interview with Sarah Miles]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, Sarah}}
[[Category:1941 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art]]
[[Category:English film actresses]]
[[Category:English stage actresses]]
[[Category:People educated at Roedean School, East Sussex]]
[[Category:People from Ingatestone]]
[[Category:20th-century English actresses]]
[[Category:21st-century English actresses]]
[[Category:Actors with dyslexia]]
[[Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players]]
[[Category:Actresses from Essex]]
[[Category:Actors from the Borough of Brentwood]]