Sheila Gish

Sheila Gish 23 April 1942 9 March 2005 was a British stage and television actress She was born Sheila Anne Gash in Lincoln studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made her stage debut with a repertory company 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 but she also appeared in many television dramas from The First Churchills in which she played Mary of Modena to the successful adaptation of Love in a Cold Climate 2001 in which she played the eccentric and outrageous Lady Montdore She had two daughters the actresses Kay Curram and Lou Gish 19672006 by her first husband the actor Roland Curram While filming That Uncertain Feeling for BBC2 in 1985 she met actor Denis Lawson who was to become her second husband She rarely appeared on film her most notable performances being as Anna in the MerchantIvory film Quartet 1981 and as Mrs Norris in Jane Austens Mansfield Park 1999 She is also known for her appearance in the 1986 film Highlander as Rachel Ellenstein She took the part of the alcoholic Joanne in Stephen Sondheims musical Company directed by Sam Mendes at the Donmar Warehouse and in the West End in 1995 The following year she won the Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical In 1999 she played Miss Venable in Tennessee Williamss 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 Theatres production of The Seagull in 2003 By this time she had been diagnosed with cancer and had lost an eye as a result of surgery She died in Camden London Her final performance was for BBC Radio She is Ewan McGregors mothers sisterinlaw Her daughter Lou also died of cancer less than a year after her mother