We were saddened to hear of the the death of Susannah York at the weekend as not only was she a great British actress - famous for many roles in film, TV and on stage - but she was also a very nice person who we were lucky enough to meet a few times when she came to the Grand Theatre in Blackpool.Cinema and theatre goers of the 1960s, 70s and 80s will remember Susannah York as a superb actress from her roles in such great films as “Tom Jones” with Albert Finney, “The Battle Of Britain”, “Sands of the Kalahari”, “The Killing Of Sister George” and “They Shoot Horses Don’t They”, for which she received a BAFTA.
We also especially enjoyed her performance in the 1980s ITV series “Second Chance” opposite Ralph Bates and the wartime “We’ll Meet Again”.
We are fortunate that many of our best known actors and actresses are very fine all-round performers yet they do not always get the recognition they deserve.
The ACE Award idea was inspired by Kevin Kline’s unforgettable performances in the films “A Midsummernight’s Dream” and “De-lovely”, neither of which received the recognition we feel should have been forthcoming
Therefore, a group of people living on the Fylde Coast got together to do something about this: writer/broadcaster Paul Breeze, business woman Joan Shaw (author of “Blackpool to Bond Street”), entrepreneur Norman Bacon and Ceramic artist Marie Kershaw decided to instigate their own award and so the ACE Award (Admirable Contribution to Entertainment) was born.
Marie Kershaw was asked to design and make an appropriate figure and came up with “Ophelia”, a 10.5 inch statuette cast in fine white, glazed porcelain. Marie’s concept was to have a deliberate contrast to the rather macho Oscar statuette..
Although Susannah York received a BAFTA Award and was nominated for an Oscar, she never actually received an Oscar.
The Committee voted unanimously to award the ACE Award to Susannah York in recognition of her life-long work in the entertainment industry. She received the Award when she came to the Grand Theatre in April 2006 to star in Rosamunde Pilcher’s “The Shell Seekers” and our photo shows Paul presenting it to her. At that time the Ophelia statuettes were not quite ready so it was not until the following year that Susannah received her Ophelia from Paul and Marie – again on stage at the Grand Theatre during her performance in the Henry James story “On The Wings Of A Dove”
She will be sadly missed.
