ACTRESS Billie Whitelaw, whose career began at Bradford Playhouse, has died aged 82.

A leading name on the New Wave cinema 1960s movement, Miss Whitelaw was also famous for roles in films including The Omen, playing the demonic nanny, and had a long collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, who described her as a "perfect actress".

She starred in 1990 movie The Krays, playing the fiercely protective mother of the gangster twins, played Grace Poole in a 1996 film of Jane Eyre, and appeared in police comedy Hot Fuzz in 2007.

In the 1960s she was a member of the National Theatre Company and played Desdemona opposite Laurence Olivier's Othello.

Born in Coventry, she grew up in Bradford. She first appeared on the radio aged 11 and later acted with a repertory company at the Prince's Theatre in Bradford before training at RADA. She was made a CBE in 1991.

Derek Lister, a DJ on Bradford's 1950s and 60s music scene, became a friend of Miss Whitelaw when he interviewed her in 2003 for his book, Bradford's Own.

He said: "She always said Bradford was her first real home when she came to live in Haworth Road 1941. She had a great affection for Bradford from her time at Daisy Hill School, Thornton and Grange schools and later in living in Eldwick.

"She enrolled at the Bradford Playhouse and also worked at Busby's in the toy and lingerie department.

"In 2011 she was due to visit me for a few days as I was going to take her around places she had fond memories of, but she became ill and it was not to be.

"I used to enjoy my chats with Billie. She was a great actress, a lovely lady and a good friend."

Miss Whitelaw won a British Academy Award in 1969 for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in 1968 psychological thriller Twisted Nerve and 1967 film Charlie Bubbles, starring opposite Albert Finney. She was also nominated for a Most Promising Newcomer award in 1961 for Hell Is A City.

She was married to actor Peter Vaughan from 1952 until 1966 and later married writer Robert Muller.

Miss Whitelaw died yesterday at a London nursing home. In an interview with the Independent in 1997 Miss Whitelaw revealed that she was not overly concerned about dying.

"Oh, no. Death's not one of those things that frighten the life out of me," she said. "Getting up on stage with the curtain going up frightens me more."

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