Lila Kaye photo

🎭 Acting

Lila Kaye

Lived · 82 Born · Nov 7, 1929 From · Worthing, Sussex, England, UK Films · 23

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Biography

Lila Kaye (7 November 1929 – 10 January 2012) was an English actress. She spent a number of years working in the United States, on Broadway and in television, before returning to England.

She often played motherly and/or comedic characters, mostly on television, including Cathy Come Home (1966) as a staff member at a homeless shelter, and My Son Reuben (1975), co-starring Bernard Spear, as a Jewish mother and her bachelor son who jointly run a dry-cleaning business. She also appeared in films including Blind Terror (1971), The Black Panther (1977) and Quincy's Quest (1979), and found film success in later years for her performances in An American Werewolf in London (1981) as the conflicted rural barmaid trying to warn off the two doomed American backpackers, in Nuns on the Run (1990) as a formidable nun, and in Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story (1991; an American television film), in which she played Dorothy Ireland, the real-life mother of cancer-stricken actress Jill Ireland (played by Jill Clayburgh).[1] Kaye appeared in Bert Rigby, You're a Fool (1989) as Mrs. Pennington, and in Dragonworld (1994) as Mrs. Cosgrove.

Known for

Eskimo Day poster

Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris poster

Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris

Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story poster

Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story

The Sign of Four poster

The Sign of Four

Career timeline

1996

Eskimo Day Notable

Mother Polly · 1996

1994

Mrs. Cosgrove · 1994

1992

Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris Notable

Vi Butterfield · 1992

1991

Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story Notable

Dorothy, Jill's mother · 1991

1990

Antonia and Jane

Jane's Mother · 1990

Nuns on the Run

Sister Mary of the Annunciatio · 1990

1989

Bert Rigby, You're a Fool

Mrs. Pennington · 1989

1987

The Trial of Klaus Barbie

Lagrange · 1987

The Sign of Four Notable

Mrs Mordecai Smith · 1987

The Return of Sherlock Holmes

Ms. Houston · 1987

1986

The Canterville Ghost

Mrs. Umney · 1986

1984

Pericles, Prince of Tyre Notable

1981

Sredni Vashtar Notable

Mrs. Woolridge · 1981

An American Werewolf in London Notable

Barmaid · 1981

1979

Griselda · 1979

1977

The Black Panther

1973

A Place to Die Notable

1971

Gypsy Mother · 1971

Mr. Horatio Knibbles

Nancy's Mother · 1971

1968

The Fiction Makers Notable

Frequently appears with

Angela Lansbury

Mrs. Ada Harris

Lothaire Bluteau

Full filmography

Eskimo Day poster

Dragonworld poster

Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris poster

Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris

Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story poster

Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland Story

Antonia and Jane poster

Antonia and Jane

Nuns on the Run poster

Nuns on the Run

Bert Rigby, You're a Fool poster

Bert Rigby, You're a Fool

The Trial of Klaus Barbie poster

The Trial of Klaus Barbie

The Sign of Four poster

The Sign of Four

The Return of Sherlock Holmes poster

The Return of Sherlock Holmes

Making Waves poster

The Canterville Ghost poster

The Canterville Ghost

Camille poster

Pericles, Prince of Tyre poster

Pericles, Prince of Tyre

Sredni Vashtar poster

An American Werewolf in London poster

An American Werewolf in London

Quincy's Quest poster

The Black Panther poster

The Black Panther

The Kitchen poster

A Place to Die poster

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Eskimo DayView movie page

Mrs. 'Arris Goes to ParisView movie page