Ellen Pollock

Heidelberg, Germany

Ellen Pollock (29 June 1902 – 29 March 1997) was a British character actress, mainly appeared on stage in London's West End. She also appeared in several films and TV productions. A devotee of Bernard Shaw, she was president of the Shaw Society from 1949. In their 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 husbands, Captain Leslie Hancock and the artist James Proudfoot. She had one child with Captain Hancock. Pollock was the subject of TV's This Is Your Life in 1992. Ellen Pollock's mother, Hedwig Kahn, was the sister of Otto Hermann Kahn (wealthy investment banker, collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts) and composer Robert Kahn. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)