Katharine Blake(1921-1991)
- Actress
- Writer
She was born in the Transvaal, but her ancestry was Irish, with her family once owning Renvyle House in Connemara. She was educated in Scotland and thrice won an award as Canada's Best Actress. She sought fossils in the Colorado canyons and the volcanic area of her native Transvaal and collected archaeological remains in Mexico, but regarded London as her home. She wrote historical mysteries and adapted Brigid Brophy's The Snowball and Brecht's Galileo for television, the latter directed by her husband Charles Jarrett. All this from a former stammering left-handed child who was educated by nuns at Leith, who tied her left hand and forced her to write with her right. The one thing they did do for her was to give her elocution lessons to cure her stammer, which is why she developed into an actress. At sixteen, she went into repertory at Perth, then to Amersham and Windsor. At seventeen, she made her West End debut with Edith Evans in Antony and Cleopatra. In the early 50's, she went to Canada and worked with a group that included author/playwright Arthur Haley and producer Sydney Newman, who came to London to make Armchair Theatre. For this, Katherine won Best TV Actress of the Year Award in 1964, which prevented her returning to the theatre. While she loved acting because it meant working with other people, the actual performances terrified her. It also meant losing about 5 Ilbs over two camera days.The first night in the theatre had the same effect on her and she always thought 'that's it, never again. She was much happier writing. She had a fear of machines which she was never able to overcome, so never learned to drive. The fear stems from when she was a schoolgirl during the blitz. Going up the steps from a tube station bombing caused a stampede of people knocking her over and trampling her, resulting in her left cheek bone being crushed. Her worst experience was when she had to fly to South Africa. Because of restrictions at the time, it took about 22 hours. She found that her marriage to Charles Jarrett helped her composure.
