Rachel (Roberts) Harrison (1927 - 1980)

Born 20 Sep 1927 in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales, United Kingdom

Wife of Reginald Carey Harrison — married 1961 (to 1971) in Genoa, Genova, Liguria, Italy

Died 26 Nov 1980 at age 53 in Los Angeles, California, United States

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Biography

Born in Llanelly, Wales, the daughter of a Baptist clergyman, she studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began her professional career in 1953. Although she considered herself primarily a stage performer, Roberts made several notable film appearances and won a British Academy Award and a Best Actress Oscar nomination for "This Sporting Life" (1963). Her other films include "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" (1960), "O Lucky Man!" (in which she played three roles, 1973), "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974), "Picnic at Hanging Rock" (1976), "Foul Play" (1978), and "Yanks" (1979). An insecure and emotionally troubled woman, Roberts was married to actor Rex Harrison from 1962 to 1971; devastated over their divorce, she moved to Hollywood in 1975 and tried to forget the relationship. At 53, after a final, futile attempt to win Harrison back, she committed suicide by swallowing poison. She was cremated at the Chapel of the Pines in Los Angeles and the ashes were given to her friend, director Lindsay Anderson. In 1992 Anderson scattered Roberts' ashes on the Thames River in London and filmed the ceremony as part of his autobiographical documentary, "Is That All There Is?" (1994).

Sources

• Rachel Roberts Wikipedia article
• Rachel Roberts IMDb
• "California Divorce Index, 1966-1984," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPT6-YM9 : 15 May 2014), Rachel Roberts and Rex C Harrison, Feb 1971; from "California Divorce Index, 1966-1984," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2007); citing Los Angeles City, California, Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento.
• "California Deaths and Burials, 1776-2000", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HGWK-KMT2 : Sun Oct 15 06:36:08 UTC 2023), Entry for Rachel Roberts Ramirez and Richard Reese Roberts.
• "United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6K4H-38K9 : 11 February 2023), Rachel Roberts, .
• "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JG4H-6P5 : 11 January 2021), Rachel Roberts, Nov 1980; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
• "California Death Index, 1940-1997," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VP8J-PVG : 26 November 2014), Rachael Roberts, 26 Nov 1980; Department of Public Health Services, Sacramento.
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5861206/rachel-roberts: accessed 20 October 2023), memorial page for Rachel Roberts (20 Sep 1927–26 Nov 1980), Find a Grave Memorial ID 5861206; Cremated, Ashes scattered, Ashes scattered in the Thames River, London; Maintained by Find a Grave.
• Rachel Roberts at FamilySearch