Edith MacArthur
Scottish actress (1926–2018)
title: "Edith MacArthur" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1926-births", "2018-deaths", "members-of-the-order-of-the-british-empire", "people-from-ardrossan", "scottish-television-actresses", "scottish-stage-actresses", "20th-century-scottish-actresses", "21st-century-scottish-actresses", "alumni-of-the-royal-college-of-music", "people-educated-at-ardrossan-academy"] description: "Scottish actress (1926–2018)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_MacArthur" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Scottish actress (1926–2018) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Edith MacArthur |
| image | EdithMacArthur1989.jpg |
| alt | Older white woman in profile, in a black-and-white newspaper photograph from 1989. |
| caption | Edith MacArthur, from a 1989 newspaper. |
| other_names | Edith Macarthur |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Ardrossan, Ayrshire |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| nationality | Scottish |
| occupation | Actress |
| :: |
| name = Edith MacArthur | image = EdithMacArthur1989.jpg | alt = Older white woman in profile, in a black-and-white newspaper photograph from 1989. | caption = Edith MacArthur, from a 1989 newspaper. | other_names = Edith Macarthur | birth_date = | birth_place = Ardrossan, Ayrshire | death_date = | death_place = Edinburgh, Scotland | nationality = Scottish | occupation = Actress Edith MacArthur (8 March 1926 – 25 April 2018) was a Scottish actress noted for her elegant screen presence.
Early life
MacArthur was born in Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, the daughter of Donald MacArthur and Minnie Ross MacArthur. She studied at Ardrossan Academy and the Royal College of Music. During World War II, she worked at the Admiralty Map Correction station in Ayrshire.
Career
MacArthur began acting with the amateur Ardrossan & Saltcoats Players. She made her professional stage debut with the Wilson Barrett Company at the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. She worked in various Scottish stage companies, including Perth Rep, the Edinburgh Gateway and the Glasgow Citizens, before moving to London in 1960.
She made her London stage debut that year, in Alec Coppel's The Gazebo, at the Savoy. With the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 1960s, she played Lady Montague in Romeo and Juliet. She was twice in London productions of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, in different roles, in 1966 and in 1994–1995. She and Tom Fleming were known for Carlyle and Jane, their staged readings of the letters of Thomas Carlyle and Jane Welsh Carlyle. She was long associated with the Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
MacArthur was frequently seen on television, with a long list of credits including Z-Cars, The Borderers, The Troubleshooters, Sutherland's Law, The Standard, The Omega Factor, The Sandbaggers, Doctor Finlay, Hamish Macbeth, Casualty and Sea of Souls. In 1972, she played the tragic Scottish mother Jean Guthrie in Sunset Song, the television adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's novel. Her best-known role was the Lady Laird Elizabeth Cunningham in Take the High Road, which she portrayed from the first episode in 1980, until December 1986 when the character was killed off in a car crash.
MacArthur was said to have discovered the future Doctor Who actor David Tennant. After seeing his first performance at age 10 in Paisley, she told his parents he would become a successful stage actor. Tennant went on to play MacArthur's son twice on stage, in Long Day's Journey into Night and Hay Fever.
In 2000, MacArthur was made an MBE for her contribution to the dramatic arts.
Personal life
MacArthur died 25 April 2018 at the age of 92, in Edinburgh. In her obituary in The Scotsman, she was described as "an actress whose breathtaking elegance and beauty – and uncompromising dedication to the craft she loved – was matched by a brilliant intelligence, and wicked, earthy sense of humour." Her papers are archived at the National Library of Scotland.
Theatre
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Role | Company | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 & 1985 | Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaites | Chastitie | Scottish Theatre Company | Tom Fleming | play by Sir David Lindsay, adapted by Robert Kemp |
| 1982-83 | Jamie the Saxt | Scottish Theatre Company | Tom Fleming | play by Robert McLellan | |
| 1985 | The Wallace | Scottish Theatre Company | Tom Fleming | play by Sydney Goodsir Smith | |
| 1985 | Love: Poetry and Song | The Saltire Society | George Bruce | programme arranged by Paul Henderson Scott | |
| 1989 | The Cherry Orchard | Ranevskaya | Lyceum Theatre Company, Edinburgh | Hugh Hodgart | play by Anton Chekov, adapted by Stuart Paterson |
| :: |
References
References
- Hayward, Anthony. (2018-05-07). "Edith Macarthur obituary". The Guardian.
- McMillan, Joyce. (4 May 2018). "Obituary: Edith MacArthur, Theatre and television leading lady".
- Edinburgh International Festival Programme, The Saltire Society, August 1985
- [https://digital.nls.uk/catalogues/guide-to-manuscript-collections/inventories/acc13182.pdf Inventory Acc.13182 Edith Macarthur], National Library of Scotland.
- Quinn, Michael. (2018-05-15). "Obituary: Edith MacArthur - 'the grande dame of Scottish theatre'".
- (2018-04-26). "PFT express their sadness at the passing of Edith MacArthur".
- Bonn, Melanie. (2018-05-01). "Perthshire remembers top actress Edith".
- (4 May 2018). "Edith MacArthur". [[The Times]].
- Steven, Alasdair. (26 April 2018). "Obituary - Edith MacArthur, Scottish actress best known for Take The High Road".
- (2018-04-18). "Today's celebrity birthdays - April 18". NJ.com.
- "Ready Steady Cook with David Tennant and his father".
- (5 May 2018). "David Tennant Pays Tribute To Edith MacArthur".
- Buchan, Jamie. (2018-04-28). "Tributes to Perthshire theatre favourite and High Road star Edith MacArthur". The Courier.
- Steven, Alasdair. (27 April 2018). "Obituary - Edith MacArthur, Scottish actress best known for Take The High Road". The Herald.
- [http://archive.list.co.uk.s3-website.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/the-list/1989-03-24/26/index.html review of ''The Cherry Orchard'' by Sarah Hemming], ''The list'', Issue 90, 24 March - 6 April 1989, p. 22
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