Maureen Swanson

Maureen Swanson
Born Maureen Swanson
(1932-11-25)25 November 1932
Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Died 18 November 2011(2011-11-18) (aged 78)
Other names Maureen Swanson
Occupation Actress
Years active 1952–1961
Spouse(s) William Ward, 4th Earl of Dudley; 7 children

Maureen Ward, Countess of Dudley (25 November 1932 – 16 November 2011), was a British actress. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Lady Dudley was the daughter of James Swanson. As Maureen Swanson, she featured in British pictures during the 1950s and retired from acting in 1961, following her marriage to Viscount Ednam.

Early life and career

Maureen Swanson was born in Glasgow on 25 November 1932. After her parents emigrated, she became a ward of Lady Phyllis Griffith-Boscawen. Maureen initially trained as a classical ballerina at the Sadler’s Wells Ballet School before moving into musical theatre and film. She had a successful cinema career with the Rank Organisation in the 1950s, retiring following her marriage to Viscount Ednam.

Marriage and children

She married Viscount Ednam on 24 August 1961 at Amersham registry office. She was his second wife. Initially titled Viscountess Ednam, she was styled as the Countess of Dudley on 26 December 1969, following her husband's succession to the earldom.

They had seven children:

Later life

As the Countess of Dudley, she managed the couple's homes in Cottesmore Gardens, Kensington, London and Devon. She also served as a lady in waiting to Princess Michael of Kent.

Filmography

Theatre

Libel case

In a 1989 libel case, Lady Dudley testified that she had an affair in the early 1950s with Stephen Ward,[1] the osteopath and artist who was one of the central figures in the 1963 Profumo affair. They became friends when he was commissioned to draw her portrait in 1953 — 10 years before the Profumo scandal. From the 1989 court case, Lady Dudley won "substantial" damages from the publishers of Honeytrap: the Secret Worlds of Stephen Ward by Anthony Summer and Stephen Dorril, in which the authors suggested that she had been one of the "popsies" whom Ward had procured for his influential friends.[1] In 2002, the Countess of Dudley again accepted substantial libel damages from the publishers of Christine Keeler: The Truth At Last, Keeler's own account of the events surrounding her notorious affair with the former war minister John Profumo, in which she referred to Lady Dudley as having been "one of Stephen’s girls".[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Obituary: The Countess of Dudley, Daily Telegraph, 26 November 2011
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