Sheila Gish (born Sheila Anne Syme Gash; 23 April 1942 – 9 March 2005) was an English actress. For her role in the 1995 London revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical Company, she won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical.
Her film appearances included an A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972), Quartet (1981), Highlander (1986) and Mansfield Park (1999) On television, she starred in the 1969 BBC series The First Churchills, the 1992 TV miniseries of Danielle Steel's Jewels and the short-lived ITV sitcom Brighton Belles (1993–94).
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Early life and education
Gish was born in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating with an Acting (RADA Diploma) in 1962.
Career
Her first starring role in the West End was as Bella in Robert and Elizabeth. She continued to be best known for her stage work. In 1976 she appeared in Alan Aykbourn's Confusions in London's West End, playing the roles of Rosemary, Bernice, Councillor Mrs Pearce and Doreen, for which she won the Clarence Derwent Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1996, Gish played the role of Joanne in Stephen Sondheim's Company at the Donmar Warehouse directed by Sam Mendes, for which, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical. In 1999 she played Mrs Venable in Tennessee Williams's Suddenly Last Summer, directed by Sean Mathias with Rachel Weisz at the Comedy Theatre, London. One of her last stage roles was as Arkadina in the Chichester Festival Theatre's production of The Seagull in 2003.
Gish also appeared in many television dramas, she played Mary of Modena in The First Churchills (1969). She played the eccentric and outrageous Lady Montdore in the successful adaptation of Love in a Cold Climate (2001). She also appeared as June Boyse, a villain's wife, in the episode "A Harmless Vanity" of The Sweeney (1975), and played a suspicious housewife in an episode of Tales of the Unexpected (1982).
Gish occasionally appeared in films, her most notable performances being in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (1972), Hitler: The Last Ten Days (1973), the Merchant Ivory film Quartet (1981), Merisairas (1996), and as Mrs Norris in Jane Austen's Mansfield Park (1999). She is also known for her appearance as Rachel Ellenstein in the film Highlander (1986), and its 2000 sequel Highlander: Endgame.
Personal life
Gish had two daughters: the actresses Lou Gish and Kay (Katharine Ghislaine S. A.) Curram (born 1974) by her first husband, the actor Roland Curram. While filming That Uncertain Feeling for BBC2 at BBC Cymru/Wales’ studios in Llandaf, Cardiff in 1985, she met actor Denis Lawson, who was to become her second husband.
In 2003, Gish lost her right eye to skin cancer.
In March 2004, Gish married her partner Denis Lawson in Antigua.
Gish died of cancer in 2005 in Camden, London, aged 62.