Actress and comedian Natasha Parry, wife of director Peter Brook, has died in France aged 84
By David Chazan London Telegraph 9:15PM BST 24 Jul 2015
The actress Natasha Parry, the wife of the famous theatre and film director Peter Brook, has died after a stroke in France, her daughter Irina Brook announced on Friday.
The family have been based in France since the 1970s and she passed away while on holiday in La Baule, on the Brittany coast.
A renowned actress, Parry starred in a number of critically acclaimed films including Franco Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet” in 1968. As recently as last year, she played the leading lady in a French film, “The Taste of Blueberries”, with the French star Michel Piccoli.
Born in London to a Russian mother and an Anglo-Greek father, Parry appeared on stage for the first time at the age of 12.
She married Brook in 1951 and performed in many of his stage productions, including King Lear in 1953. The play was adapted for American television, with Parry co-starring with Orson Welles.
She also appeared in the 1969 musical film “Oh! What a Lovely War”, directed by Richard Attenborough, with an all-star cast including Dirk Bogarde, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave, Maggie Smith and many others.
She also starred in Brook’s 1979 film, “Meetings with Remarkable Men”, and in his 1984 stage production in Paris, “Tchin Tchin”, alongside Marcello Mastroianni.
She often appeared at Brook’s Bouffes du Nord Theatre in Paris, where she was well known for reciting Shakespeare sonnets in English until 2009.
Her daughter Irina, head of the National Drama Centre in Nice, said she was “smiling like a fairytale princess” until the end.
Her intense black eyes and commanding presence left a lasting impression on many who saw her on stage at the Bouffes du Nord.
She is to be buried in Jouars, the village near Paris where the family lived for many years, on Monday 3 August.
R.I.P. Natasha Parry
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