The Powell & Pressburger Pages Dedicated to the work of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and all the other people, both actors and technicians who helped them make those wonderful films. A lot of the documents have been sent to me or have come from other web sites. The name of the web site is given where known. If I have unintentionally included an image or document that is copyrighted or that I shouldn't have done then please email me and I'll remove it. I make no money from this site, it's purely for the love of the films. [Any comments are by me (Steve Crook) and other members of the email list]

She was probably the only movie star born in Fiji.

She was very 'out' and hung around with Ivor Novello and Noel Coward and once bet Noel she could beat him in a race to their (different) theatres. Not only did she win but she had time to arrange for flowers to be delivered to him on his arrival.

She made a brief trip to Hollywood in the 1930s and hung around on the MGM backlot in plus-fours and a cap, being nicknamed 'Little Clarkie' - though whether this was also an allusion to Clark Gable's ambiguous sexuality is uncertain !

She was extremely practical and eventually retired to a Swiss cowshed which she converted, almost single-handed, to a chalet but still gave quite a lot of interviews. One public appearance, just before her death, was when she turned up at the NFT, in biking leathers, for a showing of the Man from Morocco (with Anton Walbrook, of course).

Of course her main P and P interest is that she suggested Black Narcissus to him, although MP rather fudges over why he didn't cast her in the Kathleen Byron role.

If you want to see MM being fab in one of her later parts, I think the BBC version of Anna Karenina is probably available on video.

My source - mainly Stephen Bourne's excellent book Brief Encounters on lesbians and gays in British films (which of course has much more of Archers interest with chapters on Anton W and Eric Portman)

Nicky