Vivien Merchant

Vivien Merchant (born on July 22, 1929 in Manchester, England) was a British actress, who was born Ada Thompson.

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July 22 - 1929 - Manchester, England

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Despite her great talent and many film appearances - including Alfie (1966) and Frenzy (1972), she is probably best known as the first wife of the playwright, Harold Pinter, whom she married in 1956.

Related Topics:
Alfie - 1966 - Frenzy - 1972 - Harold Pinter - 1956

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She appeared in many of his works, notably The Homecoming on stage (1965) and screen (1973). Their marriage began disintegrating in the mid-1960s and Pinter left Merchant suddenly in 1977 to live with historian Lady Antonia Fraser, daughter of the 7th Earl Longford, who left her husband, Sir Hugh Fraser, also a Roman Catholic and an IRA target who was almost blown up by a car bomb, and who would go on to die of cancer.

Related Topics:
The Homecoming - 1977 - Antonia Fraser

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Harold Pinter had also been unfaithful with Joan Bakewell previously, about which he wrote the dramatic play, Betrayal, which ended up on Broadway.

Related Topics:
Joan Bakewell - Broadway

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Merchant went public about her distress, and famously told the press that Pinter had not taken many clothes with him; but, she quipped, if he didn't have any shoes to wear, he could always borrow Fraser's: "she has very big feet, you know".

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However, Merchant never got over the dissolution of her marriage, which finally came about in 1980, and her premature death at the age of 54 on October 3, 1983 was brought about by acute alcoholism.

Related Topics:
October 3 - 1983

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