Pat Heywood


Patricia Heywood, is a Scottish character actress who has appeared in stage productions, films and television. She is married to Oliver Neville, the former principal of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Career

She was one of five children of engineer John David Heywood. She was educated at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, transferring to the theatre company afterwards and appearing in their production of Salad Days as Rowena in 1954. The same year the entire production transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre in London, where it played for five years, a record for a musical at the time.
In 1968 her film debut at the age of 36 was as Juliet's nurse in Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, followed by small roles in Staircase and Battle of Britain. Her next role was as a maid in the psychodrama Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly by Freddie Francis. After that film she was seen in comedies, thrillers and horror films. Her other film roles include parts in All the Way Up, Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, 10 Rillington Place, Young Winston, Bequest to the Nation, Wish You Were Here, Young Toscanini, Getting It Right, and Franco Zeffirelli's Sparrow.
In 1978 Heywood played Ellen in the BBC's television production of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. She also appeared on the comedy television mini series Root Into Europe in which an elderly British couple visit several countries in Europe. She played Dickon's mother in the 1987 Hallmark Hall of Fame version of The Secret Garden. She was also in the Inspector Morse episode "Second Time Around".
She was nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Romeo and Juliet in 1969.

Filmography