Carla Lehmann Explained

Carla Lehmann
Birth Date:26 February 1917
Birth Place:Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Death Place:Berkshire, England, United Kingdom
Othername:Carla Hillerns Lehmann
Carla Hillerns Townsend
Alma Mater:RADA
Occupation:Stage actress
Film actress
Television actress
Years Active:1938-1952

Carla Lehmann (26 February 1917 – 1 December 1990) was a Canadian stage, film and television actress.[1] [2]

Career

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada, Lehmann was the youngest of the five children of Dr Julius Lehmann and Elsa Hillerns. She was educated at Riverbend School (now Balmoral Hall), where she edited the school newspaper, and from the age of fifteen appeared at the Little Theatre, Winnipeg. Gaining a place to train for an acting career at RADA in London, she then joined the Croydon Repertory Company for a year before first appearing in the West End.[2] Her stage work included appearances in several Aldwych farces.[2] During the Second World War she starred in war films opposite Stewart Granger and James Mason. She also played in Cottage to Let opposite John Mills and Alistair Sim in 1941.

Lehmann notably played Susan Foster in the film Candlelight in Algeria (1944) and Lady Mary Hannay in the BBC television series The Three Hostages (1952).

Private life

Lehmann spent most of her adult life living in England. In 1941 she married George Anderson McDowell Elliot,[3] a former Royal Marine officer recently commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps,[4] but they later divorced. In 1947 she married her second husband, John R. Townsend, an insurance broker, in Westminster,[5] and they had three sons, John Anthony (born 1948), Nicholas (born 1949),[6] and Alain (1954).[7] She died in Berkshire in 1990.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1938Luck of the Navy Uncredited
1939So This Is London Elinor Draper
1940Sailors Three Jane
1941Cottage to Let Helen Barrington
Once a Crook Estelle
1942Flying Fortress Sydney Kelly
Secret Mission Michèle de Carnot
Talk About Jacqueline Jacqueline Marlow
1944Candlelight in Algeria Susan Foster
194529 Acacia Avenue Fay Jones
1947Fame Is the Spur Lady Lettice

References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20090114165758/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/19803 Profile
  2. Book: McFarlane, Brian. The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition. 16 May 2016. Oxford University Press. Google Books. 9781526111975.
  3. Register of Marriages for Surrey South West, volume 2a, p. 1633.
  4. The London Gazette dated 10 May 1940 (Supplement), p. 2795
  5. Register of Marriages for Westminster, volume 5c, p. 736
  6. http://westenddumplings.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/look-back-at-winnipeg-actress-carla.html Carla Lehmann: From Winnipeg Little Theatre to London's Stage UPDATE
  7. Register of Births for Ealing registration district: Jan-Mar 1948, volume 5e, p. 201; July-Sept 1949, volume 5e, p. 152; April–June 1954, volume 5e, p. 151