{"id":3359,"date":"2020-03-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=3359"},"modified":"2020-06-12T15:16:45","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T15:16:45","slug":"hilary-dwyer-actress-businessperson-film-producer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=3359","title":{"rendered":"Hilary Dwyer, actress, businessperson & film producer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Hilary Dwyer aka Hilary Heath \u2011 an English actress, businessperson, and film producer – passed  away after contracting Covid-19 on 30 March 2020.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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She was best known for her acting roles in films such as Witchfinder General (1968) and Wuthering Heights (1970). She also performed on the London stage.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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In 1974, she married the talent agent Duncan Heath, with whom she had two children, and helped to found Duncan Heath Associates, which was later bought by ICM Partners. They divorced in 1989. Later in her career, under her married name, "Hilary Heath", she produced the feature film An Awfully Big Adventure (1995), as well as TV remakes of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (1997) and Tennessee Williams's The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003). Her final producing role was the 2014 miniseries Jamaica Inn.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Born on 6 May 1945, in Liverpool, England, Hilary Dwyer was the daughter of Frederick Dwyer, a South African-born orthopaedic surgeon noted for his pioneering calcaneal osteotomy, who married Norah Eileen Milroy in 1940. They had two daughters, Hilary and Patricia, who would later marry the philosopher Bernard Williams.As a youth, Hilary practised ballet and became a talented pianist, winning a music scholarship to Lowther College in North Wales. At age 16 she attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art (now part of the Central School of Speech and Drama) in London. She trained in repertory theatres and appeared on stage at the Bristol Old Vic.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Dwyer is best known for appearing in several horror films distributed by American International Pictures in the late 1960s and early 1970s, most notably her first feature film, Michael Reeves' Witchfinder General (1968), starring Vincent Price, in which she played Sara Lowes, and gave a "sensitive performance…intelligent and articulate." Of the role, Dwyer later recalled "I don't think that I realised I was the star". Dwyer enjoyed working with Reeves, describing him as "terrific, we became really good friends". In a 2010 interview at the Southend Film Festival, Dwyer described her interview for Witchfinder General as her "first casting call", in which she was "absolutely terrified" because she "knew no-one".<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Dwyer also appeared in The Oblong Box (1969) and Cry of the Banshee (1970), both again featuring Price. Of working with Price, she said "I adored Vincent…I played his mistress, his daughter and his wife. And he said, 'if you ever play my mother, I'll marry you'." Dwyer also performed in Robert Fuest's Wuthering Heights (1970). Cry of the Banshee was her final feature film appearance.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Her many television roles included The Prisoner, The Avengers, Hadleigh, Z Cars, and Van der Valk. Her last TV appearance was in a 1976 episode of Space: 1999.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Dwyer also had a successful career on the stage. In 1970 she appeared in The Importance of Being Earnest and in Arms and the Man at the Theatre Royal, Bath, and later on tour with the Bristol Old Vic. In 1978 Dwyer performed in the play Whose Life Is It Anyway? alongside Tom Conti at the Mermaid Theatre in London, and later at the Savoy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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In 1973, she helped set up the talent agency Duncan Heath Associates with her then husband-to-be, Duncan Heath, working long hours to set up the business and even taking business calls on her wedding day. Duncan Heath Associates became a successful talent agency, and was later bought by ICM Partners. Today, Duncan Heath is co-chairman of the Independent Talent Group Ltd.In a 2002 interview in the Financial Times, Heath said of Dwyer "She introduced me to a lot of people – if it wasn't for her it wouldn't have happened." Dwyer married Heath in 1974; they had two children, Laura and Daniel. However, working with her husband was not always easy. The relationship was later described by Duncan Heath as “a nightmare”, in part because of her strong personality and also because she had begun to drink heavily.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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She began a career as a producer in the mid-1980s under her married name Hilary Heath. In 1988 she won a CableAce Award for the TV movie The Worst Witch (1986). Unfortunately her marriage did not prosper and she and her husband Duncan separated, and were divorced in 1989. Despite the divorce, she retained a relationship with her ex-husband, which continued to be the most important in her life, and the two continued to speak and meet regularly. She also embraced sobriety, giving up alcohol.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Heath is credited as either producer or executive producer for a number of feature films, including Criminal Law (1988) and An Awfully Big Adventure (1995), starring Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman.She co-produced Gary Oldman's 1997 film Nil by Mouth. She also produced TV-remakes of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca (1997) and Tennessee Williams's The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (2003). In 2014 she executive produced the miniseries Jamaica Inn.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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As a producer, she was skilled at managing talent. Jonathan Powell, former controller of BBC 1, said of her: “Everybody knew Hilary. And if they didn’t, they couldn’t stop her from getting to know them. She had a complete incapacity to understand what the word ‘no’ meant.”<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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In her mid 60s Dywer returned to education, studying cognitive behaviour therapy for a master’s degree at Oxford University, and forging a new career as an addiction counsellor. She was a good counsellor, thanks to her frankness, and her openness about her own past struggles with addiction. As her friend Charles Dance noted: “Our business is knee-deep in bullshit, and she had a total aversion to it.”<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Dwyer died on 30 March 2020, aged 74, from complications related to COVID-19. The health crisis caused by the virus meant that Dwyer's funeral did not take place as she had hoped or planned. The only individuals present were her daughter Laura and the presiding vicar. She was survived by her two children, Laura and Daniel.<\/p>\r\n<\/p>

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Hilary Dwyer aka Hilary Heath \u2011 an English actress, businessperson, and film producer – passed  away after contracting Covid-19 on 30 March 2020.   She was best known for her acting roles in films such as Witchfinder General (1968) and Wuthering Heights (1970). She also performed on the London stage.   In 1974, she married […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[46,7019,13],"tags":[6246,900,1088,6176,1125,6175,942],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/imageholder\/uploads\/Hilary_Dwyer.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11736,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=11736","url_meta":{"origin":3359,"position":0},"title":"Farrukh Jaffar, Veteran Actor and Radio Presenter","date":"October 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Farrukh Jaffar was born in Jaunpur in 1933 and had moved to Lucknow at the age of 16 when she married the freedom fighter and journalist Syed Muhammad Jaffar. The 88 year old, always being fond of cinema, had once said how she would see films back to back in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Filmfare Award\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/farrukh-jaffar.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2121,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2121","url_meta":{"origin":3359,"position":1},"title":"Abba Kyari, businessperson and lawyer","date":"April 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Abba Kyari \u2011 a Nigerian businessperson, lawyer, and government official. He served as Chief of Staff to the President of Nigeria from August 2015 to April 2020 \u2011 died on the evening of 17 April 2020 at age 67. \u00a0 Kyari was born on 23 September 1952, to a Kanuri\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "High Profilers"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2202,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=2202","url_meta":{"origin":3359,"position":2},"title":"Milena Jelinek, screenwriter","date":"April 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Milena Jelinek \u2011 a Czech American screenwriter, playwright and teacher \u2011 died in New York on 15 April 2020 of complications from COVID-19, aged 84. Jelinek wrote the screenplay for the film Forgotten Light, which was awarded three Czech Lions in 1997. Her name is associated with the golden generation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Noteworthy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3717,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=3717","url_meta":{"origin":3359,"position":3},"title":"Lee Fierro, actress","date":"April 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Elizabeth Lee Fierro \u2011 an American actress and theater promoter best known for playing Mrs. Kintner in the Jaws film franchise -\u00a0 died on April 5, 2020 in Aurora, Ohio, of COVID-19. Fierro had training as an actress in theater but not as a screen actress. Fierro acted in a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Noteworthy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4005,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=4005","url_meta":{"origin":3359,"position":4},"title":"Martine Crefcoeur, actress","date":"April 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Martine Crefcoeur \u2011 a Dutch stage and film actress \u2013 passed away on 18 April 2020 after contracting Covid-19 in Rotterdam. He was 84. Born in Rotterdam, Crefcoeur attended the Lyceum there. During her education at the Maastricht Academy of Dramatic Arts, she became the leading actor, playing Anne Frank,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Netherland"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3391,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=3391","url_meta":{"origin":3359,"position":5},"title":"Julie Bennett, actress & voice artist","date":"April 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Julie Bennett, an American actress and voice artist, died on March 31, 2020 from coronavirus. \u00a0 A native of Hollywood, Bennett worked as a character actress on stage, on radio, and in several film and television programs, including The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Adventures of Superman, and Dragnet.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Noteworthy"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3359"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6324,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3359\/revisions\/6324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}