Ellen Pollock

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British actress (1902–1997)

title: "Ellen Pollock" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1903-births", "1997-deaths", "actresses-from-heidelberg", "british-theatre-directors", "british-women-theatre-directors", "british-stage-actresses", "british-film-actresses", "actresses-from-london", "20th-century-british-actresses", "german-emigrants-to-the-united-kingdom"] description: "British actress (1902–1997)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Pollock" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British actress (1902–1997) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
nameEllen Pollock
image"Ellen_Pollock".jpg
birth_nameEllen Maria Meyer
birth_date26 April 1903
birth_placeHeidelberg, Germany
death_date
death_placeLondon, England, UK
spouseLeslie Hancock (1929–1944; his death)
James Proudfoot (1945–1971; his death)
children1
occupationActress, director
nationalityBritish
::

| name = Ellen Pollock | image = "Ellen_Pollock".jpg | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = Ellen Maria Meyer | birth_date = 26 April 1903 | birth_place = Heidelberg, Germany | death_date = | death_place = London, England, UK | spouse = Leslie Hancock (1929–1944; his death) James Proudfoot (1945–1971; his death) | children = 1 | occupation = Actress, director | nationality = British}}

Ellen Pollock (26 April 1903 – 29 March 1997) was a British character actress who mainly appeared on stage in London's West End. She also appeared in several films and TV productions.

The second child of Hanover merchant Adolf Meyer (1890-?) and Hedwig née Kahn (1876-1965), sister of Otto Hermann Kahn (wealthy investment banker, collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts) and composer Robert Kahn, she became the stepdaughter of Raymond Anselmo Pollak (c. 1872-c. 1930) when her divorced mother remarried in April 1904 to the Austrian businessman, who himself had two sons from a first marriage to Elsa Julia Harris, a New Zealander.

A devotee of Bernard Shaw, she was president of the Shaw Society from 1949. In its obituary, The Independent wrote "Pollock is believed to have played, in a career spanning 72 years, more Shavian heroines than anyone else. She directed London seasons of his plays; and it was during the London premiere of one of his lesser-known works – Farfetched Fables (Watergate, 1950) – that she announced Shaw's death from the stage."

Pollock's dedication to acting began as a seven-year-old, when she saw Sarah Bernhardt on stage; she knew then that she wanted to be an actress herself. Pollock was also a theatre director and a teacher of drama at RADA and Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art; and her varied television work included several appearances in The Forsyte Saga for the BBC.

She outlived both of her husbands, Captain Leslie Hancock and the artist James Proudfoot. She had one child with Hancock. Pollock was the subject of TV's This Is Your Life in 1992.

Selected filmography

References

References

  1. Ancestry, Baden und Hessen, Deutschland, evangelische Kirchenbücher, 1502-1985, Entry for Ellen Marie Meyer https://www.ancestry.de/discoveryui-content/view/7426616:61060?ssrc=pt&tid=169072388&pid=202202106579. The frequently cited date of birth 29 June 1902 uses the baptism date for the day and month. The year of birth is based on a reading error.
  2. Benedick, Adam. (12 April 1997). "Obituary: Ellen Pollock". [[The Independent]].
  3. "Ellen Pollock".

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1903-births1997-deathsactresses-from-heidelbergbritish-theatre-directorsbritish-women-theatre-directorsbritish-stage-actressesbritish-film-actressesactresses-from-london20th-century-british-actressesgerman-emigrants-to-the-united-kingdom