
Person
Lila Kaye
Acting · 1929–2012 · Worthing, Sussex, England, UK
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

Murder, She Wrote
Teresa Mancini

Cheers
Lillian Huxley

Theatre 625
Romaine

Sherlock Holmes
Mrs. Mordecai Smith

The Saint
Ma

BBC2 Play of the Week
Bertha

Birds of a Feather
Mrs. McCarthy

Dear John
Audrey

An American Werewolf in London
Barmaid
Festival
Sophie
Filmography
- 1996Eskimo DayMother Polly
- 1994DragonworldMrs. Cosgrove
- 1993Cafe AmericainMargaret Hunt
- 1992Mrs. 'Arris Goes to ParisVi Butterfield
- 1992Anglo Saxon AttitudesDr. Rose Lorimer
- 1991Reason for Living: The Jill Ireland StoryDorothy, Jill's mother
- 1990Antonia and JaneJane's Mother
- 1990Nuns on the RunSister Mary of the Annunciation
- 1989Birds of a FeatherMrs. McCarthy
- 1989Bert Rigby, You're a FoolMrs. Pennington
- 1988Dear JohnAudrey
- 1987The Trial of Klaus BarbieLagrange
- 1987The Sign of FourMrs Mordecai Smith
- 1987The Return of Sherlock HolmesMs. Houston
- 1987Making WavesMrs Nash
- 1986The Canterville GhostMrs. Umney
- 1984CamilleNanine
- 1984Pericles, Prince of TyreBawd
- 1984Ellis IslandKathleen O'Donnell
- 1984Murder, She WroteTeresa Mancini
- 1984The Invisible ManMrs Jenny Hall
- 1984Pull The Other OneGrandma
- 1984Sherlock HolmesMrs. Mordecai Smith
- 1984Mama Malone'Mama' Renate Malone
- 1982The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
- 1982CheersLillian Huxley
- 1981Sredni VashtarMrs. Woolridge
- 1981An American Werewolf in LondonBarmaid
- 1979Quincy's QuestGriselda
- 1977The Black Panther
- 1977The KitchenBertha
- 1977BBC2 Play of the WeekBertha
- 1973A Place to DieBess
- 1972King's Cross Lunch HourThe Manageress
- 1971See No EvilGypsy Mother
- 1971Mr. Horatio KnibblesNancy's Mother
- 1969The Flaxton BoysSarah Weekes
- 1968The Fiction MakersMa
- 1966David CopperfieldClara Peggotty
- 1964Theatre 625Romaine
- 1963FestivalSophie
- 1962The SaintMa
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