Biography for
Mary Ure More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

18 February 1933, Glasgow, Scotland, UK

Date of Death

3 April 1975, London, England, UK (accidental barbiturate overdose)

Birth Name

Eileen Mary Ure

Height

5' 5" (1.65 m)

Mini Biography

An enchantingly beautiful, luminous blonde, Mary Ure was born in Glasgow in 1933. Her first film was Zoltan Korda's Storm Over the Nile (1955), a misfiring remake of The Four Feathers (1939). Next was Windom's Way (1957) - a tale of rubber plantation strikes and marital strife, but more significant events had been occurring off-screen. In 1956, she starred as "Alison" in John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger" at the Royal Court theatre in London. She began an affair with the married Osborne and, after his divorce, they tied the knot in 1957. By 1958, however, the marriage was falling apart. Osborne could be cold and detached and he did not hold his wife in particularly high esteem, as he wrote in the second volume of his memoirs, "Almost a Gentleman".

She began an affair with Robert Shaw around 1959 though she wasn't divorced from Osborne until 1962 and was complicit in the charade that the father of her first child, Colin born 31 August 1961, was Osborne's. In the meantime, she transferred her fragile, captivating portrayal of "Alison Porter" from stage to screen in the 1959 film adaptation of Look Back in Anger (1959), which also starred Richard Burton and Claire Bloom. Her beautiful performance of "Clara Dawes" in 1960's Sons and Lovers (1960) won her an Oscar nomination. In this time, she also performed a season at Stratford and, while pregnant, "The Changeling" at the Royal Court with Shaw. At the time she was pregnant, Jennifer Bourke, Shaw's first wife, was also pregnant by him (at his death in 1978 he left 9 children).

In 1963, she married Shaw and, after an absence of three years, returned to cinema screens with a good performance in The Mind Benders (1963) with Dirk Bogarde, a thought-provoking sci-fi drama. Then it was The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1964) and the flawed Custer of the West (1967), both with Shaw. Neither of these productions made a significant impact, though Ure performed admirably. In 1968, she made her one and only bona-fide big-budget blockbuster, Where Eagles Dare (1968) with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood. It was a huge success but it would be five years before Ure's next, and last, film appearance.

In the meantime, she had continued to act on stage but her career had been subjugated to her husband's. A fiercely competitive man, Shaw's ego couldn't have withstood a successful wife. His first wife, Jennifer Bourke, had given up her career as an actress to be a wife and mother. Ure didn't give up her career but the demands of motherhood, she bore Shaw 3 more children, and her growing dependence on alcohol meant it lapsed. Her final film was, A Reflection of Fear (1973) with Shaw, an interesting horror psychodrama but Ure was third-billed and looked dissipated. After this, she returned to the stage but Shaw's affair with his secretary made her depressed and ill and her alcohol dependency grew.

She died on April 3rd, 1975, following a disastrous opening night on the London stage. Her death is variously listed as an accidental overdose of whiskey and tranquillizers or suicide. She was a wonderful actress whose luster lingers in the mind long after the film has ended. Sadly, her own life ended aged at just 42.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Graham William

Spouse

Robert Shaw	(13 April 1963 - 3 April 1975) (her death) 4 children
John Osborne	(1957 - 1963) (divorced) 2 children

Trivia

She had 4 children with Robert Shaw, and 4 stepchildren.

Was nominated for Broadway's 1958 Tony Award as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "Look Back in Anger."

In 1960 she became the second Scottish actress to have received an Oscar nomination for her role in Sons and Lovers (1960). The first was Deborah Kerr in 1949 for Edward, My Son (1949), who went on to receive a further five Oscar nominations. Both actresses, however, were unsuccessful in winning an Academy Award.

Is one of four Scottish actors to have received an Academy Award nomination. The others in chronological order are Deborah Kerr, Tom Conti and Sean Connery. As of 2011 Sean Connery is the only one to have won an Academy Award (for his performance in The Untouchables (1987)).

According to Richard Burton's biography "And God Created Burton" Ure had an affair with the actor when they were filming Look Back in Anger (1959) together.