Miriam Karlin

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Miriam Karlin

Michael Samuels
(brother)

Miriam Karlin

OBE (23 June 1925 – 3 June 2011) was an English actress whose career lasted for more than 60 years. She was known for her role as Paddy in The Rag Trade, a 1960s BBC and 1970s LWT sitcom,[1] and in particular for the character's catchphrase
"Everybody out!" Her trademark throughout her career was her deep, rough, and husky voice.

Early life

Born Miriam Samuels

Auschwitz. She was the daughter of Céline (née Aronowitz) and Harry Samuels
, a barrister, who specialised in industrial and trade union law.

Her elder brother was

Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary.[3]

When performing in one of her first radio shows,

rent tribunal chaired by her father.[4][5]

Career

After training at RADA, Karlin made her stage debut for the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) in wartime shows, and subsequently appeared in repertory theatre and cabaret. She appeared in the West End in Women of Twilight (1951-52), The Bad Seed (1955), The Diary of Anne Frank (1956-57), The Egg (1957-58), Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be (1960-61), Fiddler on the Roof (1967-69), Bus Stop (1976), Torch Song Trilogy (1985-86) and Separate Tables (1993), among others.[6]

She made her film debut in Down Among the Z Men (1952), as well as featuring in A Touch of the Sun, Room at the Top, The Millionairess, Heavens Above!, Ladies Who Do, The Small World of Sammy Lee, The Bargee, Just like a Woman, A Clockwork Orange and Mahler (by Ken Russell). In 1954, she had the part of a Martian alien in the BBC radio series Journey into Space.[7]

In 1960, she appeared opposite Sir

Verfremdungseffekt.[4]

In television, she became known for playing the belligerent

shop steward Paddy in The Rag Trade, a BBC sitcom set in a textile factory, between 1961 and 1963.[9] Her character would take advantage of the slightest opportunity to call a strike; her trademark was blowing a whistle and shouting "Everybody out!" The show was revived by rival channel ITV in 1977.[1]

In 1966, she appeared as a regular team member in the Australian satirical series

Jekyll & Hyde (1990) starring Michael Caine.[citation needed
]

Karlin performed on stage for the

Sherman Theatre, Cardiff. From 1992 to 1994, she appeared as a Jewish ghost, Yetta Feldman, in the BBC sitcom So Haunt Me, alongside Tessa Peake-Jones and George Costigan.[10]

In 2008, at the age of 83, she appeared in Stewart Permutt's Many Roads to Paradise at the Finborough Theatre in London.[11]

Personal life

Karlin, who never married, lived in South London. A self-proclaimed atheist,[12] she was a lifelong campaigner for Jewish and left-wing political causes, as well as an anti-fascist activist.[13]

A member of the

Nazi sympathies of the Austrian politician Jörg Haider.[13]

She was an active member of the actors' union,

Burma) and Dignity in Dying (which campaigns for changes to laws on assisted dying) and a trustee of the Eddie Surman Trust (an HIV charity).[15]

She admitted to a lifelong battle with anorexia and bulimia that began in 1956 and lasted over 48 years. She often claimed that her peripheral neuropathy was a side effect of a chronic eating disorder and years of laxative and appetite suppressant abuse.

Death

In 2006, while filming an Agatha Christie TV mystery, By the Pricking of My Thumbs, Karlin was told that she had cancer and that part of her tongue would have to be removed. She died on 3 June 2011.[2]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1952 Down Among the Z Men Woman in Shop
1955 The Deep Blue Sea Barmaid
The Woman for Joe Gladys
1956 Fun at St. Fanny's 'The Private Eye'
A Touch of the Sun Alice Cann
The Big Money Lady in Nightclub Uncredited
1957 The Flesh Is Weak Betty Uncredited
1958 Carve Her Name with Pride Jennie Wilson, Bus Conductress Uncredited
1959 Room at the Top Gertrude Uncredited
1960 The Entertainer Soubrette
The Millionairess Mrs. Maria Joe
Crossroads to Crime Connie Williams
1961 Hand in Hand Mrs. Mathias
Watch It, Sailor! Mrs. Lack
On the Fiddle Waaf Sergeant
The Fourth Square Josette Edgar Wallace Mysteries
1962 The Phantom of the Opera Charwoman
I Thank a Fool Woman in the Black Maria
1963 The Small World of Sammy Lee Milly
Heavens Above! Winnie Smith
Ladies Who Do Mrs. Higgins
1964 The Bargee Nellie Marsh
1965 The Mavis Bramston Show Various characters Australian satirical sketch show
1967 Just like a Woman Ellen Newman
1971 A Clockwork Orange Catlady
1974 Mahler Aunt Rosa
1975 Dick Deadeye, or Duty Done Little Buttercup / Utopian Maiden Voice
1992 Utz Grandmother
1997
Incognito
 Marina
2000 The Man Who Cried Madame Goldstein
2004 Suzie Gold Sadie
2005 Dalziel and Pascoe Judith Bateman Episode: "Heads You Lose"
2006 Children of Men Caged German Grandmother
2008 Flashbacks of a Fool Mrs. Rogers (final film role)

Works

  • Karlin, Miriam (2007). Jan Sargent (ed.). Some Sort of a Life. London:
    ISBN 978-1-84002-780-8
    .     (Autobiography)

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-1-84854-195-5
    .
  2. ^ a b "Rag Trade Star Miriam Karlin Dies". BBC News Online. 3 June 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  3. ^ Kay, Christian (15 December 2010). "Michael Samuels Obituary". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  4. ^ a b Barker, Dennis (3 June 2011). "Miriam Karlin Obituary". The Guardian. London.
  5. ^ Miriam Karlin Obituary, The Daily Telegraph; accessed 15 June 2018.
  6. ^ "Miriam Karlin | Theatricalia".
  7. ^ BBC
  8. IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  9. ^ "Rag Trade Actress Miriam Karlin Dies". 3 June 2011. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
  10. ^ "Search result for So Haunt Me". BBC Genome. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  11. ^ "Review: Many Roads To Paradise". The Jewish Chronicle. 20 June 2008. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  12. British Humanist Association. Archived from the original
    on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
  13. ^ a b "A Tribute to Miriam Karlin (1925–2011)". Unite Against Fascism. 4 June 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  14. ^ "No. 46593". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 June 1975. p. 7379.
  15. ^ Eddie Surman Trust Patron Miriam Karlin Dies Aged 85 Archived 25 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine

External links

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