Yvonne Mitchell/ The Writer

Yvonne Mitchell, taken during the run of 'The Same Sky' ; at the Duke of York Theatre, London, UK ; 1953 ;John Vickers / University of Bristol / ArenaPAL

Television Interviews with Yvonne Mitchell are short and far between. Yvonne appeared on programmes such as the Book Programme with Robert Robinson, sadly if not swiped, no interviews are yet to be repeated.

An episode of ‘Those British Faces’, occasionally shown on television, has in its series a documentary on Yvonne’s films, which touches on her written work. Narrated by Richard Todd, this lifts sections from Yvonne’s own book, Actress.

Luckily, we have interviews via the printed press and magazines, with the bonus of others' books where Yvonne Mitchell appears in the pages of.

It is worth tracking down a copy of Ivor Brown's series of photographic records and critical analysis for a look back at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre of 1953. Titled, 'Shakespeare Memorial Theatre 1951-53,' this book contains some stunning pictures of the 1953 cast. Which included a young Robert Shaw, an author in his own right. Yvonne and Robert both share a career path of being an author, playwright and film and stage actors. 

With photography by Angus McBean, pictures inside include portraits and on-stage photographs of Yvonne Mitchell.

But what about Yvonne herself, about her writing?

In an interview for the Express in February 1960, conducted by Margret Stevenson, Yvonne gave some insights into her writing, and authors she admired.

“To enjoy life, one should live in the present.” A passionate reader, authors she admired. Kingsley Amis, William Goulding, Graham Greene. No set time for writing, snatching time where she can. She never writes in the morning.

A more thorough interview by The Scotsman, August 14, 1976, Yvonne discussed seeing herself primarily as an actress. Maybe questioned?

The interview starts with a look at Yvonne’s first written work, with her play. On moving to France, the time spent there; she wrote five novels and three children's books. During her pregnancy, she wrote her first novel, which took approximately as long as her pregnancy. A verdict on her own early novels, Yvonne sees as just stories, lacking any sense of urgency or necessity.

This, I would venture to argue, is Yvonne playing her own work down. J C Trewin, the drama critic, when writing for Plays and Players in 1979, spoke of her modesty when referring to herself on stage. Referring to role opposite Michael Redgrave in Hamlet as Ophelia, she described her performance as ‘inadequate’, Trewin writes, “but historians are likely to fix on her Ophelia as gentle as heartfelt. Of all the autobiographers Yvonne Mitchell must not be taken at her own valuation”.

Her second novel, for example ‘Frame For Julian’, there is most certainly an urgency attached to Julian as a painter and main character in the book. His tortured outlook, desire for recognition, with a family in witness to his struggle, pulls the reader into his mental difficulties. The ending took me by surprise; I never saw it coming.

The interview continues with Yvonne coming to her fifth novel. Here, with this written work, we hear Yvonne, in her own words, quoted.

“But then came my fifth novel, ‘Martha on Sunday’, when I suddenly discovered the theme I was going to explore, from then on. It’s the idea that we don't just live one life on one level, or if we do, it's a pretty blinkered life.”

It was the later novels, ‘Martha on Sunday’ and ‘God is Inexperienced’ which explores the difference between behaving and being where the critics; we are told, started taking Yvonne as a serious novelist. This later recognition of Yvonne’s obvious talent as a writer, has an air of snobbery about it, with this now acceptance. An actress that writes. It’s if the accepting of such things, as an actress and a novelist is alien to the critics, when referring to her earlier novels.

Yvonne is most obviously an actress and a writer of talent, not only in the form of her novels but also from her biographical work. ‘Actress’, her own early story published in 1957 and ‘Colette: A Taste For Life’ published in 1977, which is exceptional in the way it skillfully combines the depth of a well-researched book with a storytelling writing style that reads like a novel. You come away from reading with a feeling of getting to know Colette as the person, from somebody who is well versed in stage craft and well acquainted in using the pen on paper for telling a story. Much like Colette herself.

Reading her novels in order of publication. I can guarantee you, Yvonne Mitchell, has an ability to relate conflict in its many forms put upon the human condition, evoking emotions we can all relate to.

With seeing herself primarily as an actress, well, maybe not.

“Until a few months ago, I always told myself I was an actress first, but I published a few books. Now I’m wondering if writing will not win in the end. Of course, there is a link between the two.”

On writing. In longhand.

“I'm completely haphazard and quite disorganised, for one thing. I write in the bath, with a sort of board stretched across. I write on envelopes, backs of bills, often forgetting to number them. I think I discovered in my adolescence that if I aimed and planned for something, nothing would happen at all. I’m a creature of muddle.”