Faith Brook (1922-2012)

Deceased

Film, TV, and theatre actress

Faith Brook was born into a family of actors in York in February 1922. Her family soon moved to Hollywood where she spent her childhood. At the age of 18, she returned to England and attended RADA. Her first West End success was in Deep are the Roots at Wyndams and this was followed by a season at the Old Vic where her parts included Millamant in The Way of the World, Olivia in Twelfth Night, and Charlotta in The Cherry Orchard.

Her stage credits include Hamlet at Cambridge Theatre London with Ian McKellen, Mornings at Seven at the Westminster Theatre, The Old Country at Queen’s Theatre with Alec Guinness, Marguerite Duras'sSavannah Bay at the Edinburgh Festival, The Women at the Old Vic, El Cid at the National Theatre,Coriolanus at the Mermaid Theatre with Steven Berkoff, and Good at the Donmar Warehouse with Charles Dance for which she received the Clarence Derwent Award for Best Supporting Actress. Early in 2005 she played Marthe in The Colour of Poppies at the Nuffield Theatre, Southampton.

Films include Chase a Crooked Shadow, The Eye of the Needle, North Sea Hijack. TV credits includeWar and Peace, The Irish RM, Cream in my Coffee, Gentlemen and Players, Miss Marple, and Elgar’s Tenth Muse.

BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson said of her:

Although a dedicated member for many years, Faith never made a big public fuss about her membership of Humanists UK. In her life, however, she embodied so many of the qualities that humanists hold dear: tremendous emotional understanding and depth, personal resilience (even in the face of the failing eyesight that made her enjoyable letters to the office on faith schools and other topics sadly less frequent in later years) and hard work. She was an extraordinary actor who enriched the lives of viewer and audiences worldwide.