# Adrienne Corri
**Adrienne Corri** (born Adrienne Riccoboni; 13 November 1930 – 13 March 2016) was a British (Scottish-born) actress of film, television, and stage whose career ran from 1949 to 1992, best remembered as Mrs. Alexander, the rape victim in [Stanley Kubrick](https://www.edgepedia.org/stanley-kubrick)'s *A Clockwork Orange* (1971)[1](https://entities.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PBJpJcVCP4PkWbGccyjvrbd.html) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/adrienne_corri). She also played Valerie in [Jean Renoir](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-renoir)'s *The River* (1951) and Lara's mother in [David Lean](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-lean)'s *Doctor Zhivago* (1965)[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Birth | Adrienne Riccoboni; 13 November 1930 (WorldCat, Fandango, Guardian); other sources give 1931 or 1933[1](https://entities.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PBJpJcVCP4PkWbGccyjvrbd.html) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0180920/) • [5](https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Miscellaneous/television-annual-1961-uk.pdf) |
| Death | 13 March 2016, London[1](https://entities.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PBJpJcVCP4PkWbGccyjvrbd.html) |
| Training | Entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at 13, becoming its youngest student; repertory at Croydon and Eastbourne[5](https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Miscellaneous/television-annual-1961-uk.pdf) |
| Film debut | *The Romantic Age* (released as *Naughty Arlette*), 1949, while still a teenager[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/adrienne_corri) |
| Signature role | Mrs. Alexander in *A Clockwork Orange* (1971)[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0180920/) |
| Signature films | *The River* (1951), *Doctor Zhivago* (1965), *Bunny Lake Is Missing* (1965), *Vampire Circus* (1972)[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary) |
| Writing | *The Search for Gainsborough* (1984), an art "whodunit" on a portrait of David Garrick[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary) |
## Early life and training
Corri was born Adrienne Riccoboni to an Italian father and, by most accounts, a Scottish mother, and grew up in Scotland[6](https://www.stjohnswoodmemories.org.uk/content/new-contributions/adrienne-corri-1931-2016). Her father's family was theatrical, and at 13 she insisted on training for the stage, entering RADA as its youngest student; after 18 months she appeared in repertory at Croydon and then [Eastbourne](https://www.edgepedia.org/eastbourne)[5](https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Miscellaneous/television-annual-1961-uk.pdf). She later chose the stage name Corri from a family branch, joking that the Corris "started as singers, became Mozart's agents and ended up in Edinburgh teaching nice young ladies to play piano"[7](https://mcmweb.co.uk/tvtimes/1971/July%203rd%201971.pdf).
Contemporary references give her birth year differently: WorldCat, Fandango, and the Guardian obituary state 13 November 1930, IMDb and Legacy.com state 1931, and the *International Television Almanac* who's-who entry gives 1933[1](https://entities.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PBJpJcVCP4PkWbGccyjvrbd.html) • [8](https://www.legacy.com/legacy/notable-deaths/adrienne-corri) • [9](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-International-Television-Almanac/1999/International-Television-%26-Video-Almanac-1999-Whos-Who.pdf). The birthplace is likewise split between Glasgow (WorldCat, Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes) and Edinburgh in the Guardian obituary[1](https://entities.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PBJpJcVCP4PkWbGccyjvrbd.html) • [2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/adrienne_corri) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary).
## Film career
Her film debut came as a teenager in *The Romantic Age* (1949), released in some markets as *Naughty Arlette*[2](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/adrienne_corri) • [9](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-International-Television-Almanac/1999/International-Television-%26-Video-Almanac-1999-Whos-Who.pdf). A walk-on as a young Christian girl in *Quo Vadis* (1951), shot in Rome, was followed by what the Guardian obituary calls her best film, Jean Renoir's *The River* (1951), made in India, in which her red hair stood out in [Technicolor](https://www.edgepedia.org/technicolor) as the most mature and spoiled of three teenage girls[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary).
**Horror and genre work.** Through the 1950s and 1960s she appeared steadily in low-budget thrillers and quota quickies. In *Devil Girl from Mars* (1954) she played a Scottish barmaid resisting abduction by an alien; in *Corridors of Blood* (1958) she was a lowlife who induced [Boris Karloff](https://www.edgepedia.org/boris-karloff)'s doctor to write false death certificates; in *The Tell-Tale Heart* (1960), from [Edgar Allan Poe](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgar-allan-poe), she was a flower seller watched by a timid librarian[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary). She made what the obituary counts as three-and-a-half Hammer films: *The Viking Queen* (1967) as a pro-druid princess, the lunar western *Moon Zero Two* (1969), and *Vampire Circus* (1972) as a fiery gypsy running a supernatural circus, the half film being the second part of *Journey into Darkness* (1968)[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary).
**Prestige pictures.** She played Lara's mother (credited as Amelia) opposite [Julie Christie](https://www.edgepedia.org/julie-christie) in David Lean's *Doctor Zhivago* (1965) and took minor roles in three films of her friend [Otto Preminger](https://www.edgepedia.org/otto-preminger): *Bunny Lake Is Missing* (1965), *Rosebud* (1975), and *The Human Factor* (1979)[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary) • [10](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/7714).
## A Clockwork Orange
In Kubrick's 1971 adaptation of [Anthony Burgess](https://www.edgepedia.org/anthony-burgess)'s novel, Corri played Mrs. Alexander, the wife assaulted by Alex and his droogs while they sing "Singin' in the Rain" during a home invasion[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0180920/). According to her own recollection, the scene was choreographed "like a dance scene" and filmed so that the audience perceived more than was shown; it took days to film and caused outrage on release[8](https://www.legacy.com/legacy/notable-deaths/adrienne-corri). Legacy.com notes she was cast after earlier actresses dropped out because of the role's physical demands and Kubrick's meticulous filmmaking style[8](https://www.legacy.com/legacy/notable-deaths/adrienne-corri).
She complained to Kubrick about the many takes but kept up a short friendship with him afterward, giving him a pair of bright red socks for Christmas, a joke referencing the scene in which her character, stripped of her red pajama suit, is left naked except for red socks[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0180920/). In a 1990 interview she described Kubrick as difficult, recalling his remark during the scene, "You're playing the Debbie Reynolds part, Adrienne"[11](https://www.geocities.ws/malcolminterviews/corri96.html).
## Television and stage
Television occupied her steadily from the early 1950s. Notable credits include [Milady de Winter](https://www.edgepedia.org/milady-de-winter) in the BBC serial *The Three Musketeers* (1954), a 23-episode run as Angelica Verdi in *Sword of Freedom* (1957–1958), seven appearances in *Armchair Theatre*, a regular role in *A Family at War* (1971), Mena in the *Doctor Who* serial "The Leisure Hive" (1980), Veronica Chaddesley-Corbett in *Love in a Cold Climate* (1980), and two episodes of *Lovejoy* (1992)[12](https://www.valeorine.com/reference/adrienne-corri) • [13](https://archives.arts.ac.uk/calmview/Record.aspx?id=DS%2FUK%2F390&src=CalmView.Persons).
On stage she was part of the Old Vic company in 1962–63 and appeared on Broadway in [Jean Anouilh](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-anouilh)'s *The Rehearsal* (1963)[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary). She had a leading role in [John Osborne](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-osborne)'s musical satire *The World of Paul Slickey* (1959), which was booed on its first night; the Guardian reports she answered the audience with a two-fingered salute[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary). Her Shakespearean television work included Olivia in ITV's *Twelfth Night* (1969) opposite [Ralph Richardson](https://www.edgepedia.org/ralph-richardson) as Toby Belch and Alec Guinness as Malvolio, Violet in Shaw's *Man and Superman* (1968) alongside Maggie Smith, and Mistress Overdone in the BBC's *Measure for Measure* (1979)[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary). In 1968 she took part in an early English staging of Samuel Beckett's *Come and Go* at the Royal Festival Hall, with Marie Kean and Billie Whitelaw[14](https://www.netflixmovies.com/s/actor/adrienne-corri).
## Personal life and writing
Corri married the actor Daniel Massey in 1961; the marriage ended in divorce in 1967, though the Guardian describes it as lasting nearly a decade and ending in 1968[15](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0180920/bio/) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary). Massey said of the union, "We were agonisingly incompatible, but we had an extraordinary physical attraction"[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary). She later married the actor [Derek Fowlds](https://www.edgepedia.org/derek-fowlds)[13](https://archives.arts.ac.uk/calmview/Record.aspx?id=DS%2FUK%2F390&src=CalmView.Persons). Her children, Patrick and Sarah, came from a mid-1950s relationship with the film producer Patrick Filmer-Sankey[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary).
She was also an enthusiast for portrait painting. Her book *The Search for Gainsborough* (1984) argued that an unattributed portrait of the actor David Garrick she found in a run-down Birmingham theater was an early work by the young Thomas Gainsborough, using original research including banking records[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary) • [13](https://archives.arts.ac.uk/calmview/Record.aspx?id=DS%2FUK%2F390&src=CalmView.Persons).
She died on 13 March 2016 in London[1](https://entities.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PBJpJcVCP4PkWbGccyjvrbd.html).
## References
1. [Adrienne Corri, OCLC WorldCat Entities](https://entities.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PBJpJcVCP4PkWbGccyjvrbd.html)
2. [Adrienne Corri, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/adrienne_corri)
3. [Adrienne Corri obituary, The Guardian (28 March 2016)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/adrienne-corri-obituary)
4. [Adrienne Corri, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0180920/)
5. ["Your Friends the Stars: Adrienne Corri," Television Annual 1961](https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Miscellaneous/television-annual-1961-uk.pdf)
6. [Adrienne Corri 1931-2016, St John's Wood Memories](https://www.stjohnswoodmemories.org.uk/content/new-contributions/adrienne-corri-1931-2016)
7. [TV Times, 3 July 1971](https://mcmweb.co.uk/tvtimes/1971/July%203rd%201971.pdf)
8. [Adrienne Corri Obituary, Legacy.com](https://www.legacy.com/legacy/notable-deaths/adrienne-corri)
9. [International Television & Video Almanac 1999, Who's Who](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-International-Television-Almanac/1999/International-Television-%26-Video-Almanac-1999-Whos-Who.pdf)
10. [Adrienne Corri, AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/PersonDetails/7714)
11. [Interview with Adrienne Corri on A Clockwork Orange (1990)](https://www.geocities.ws/malcolminterviews/corri96.html)
12. [Adrienne Corri television credits, Valéorine](https://www.valeorine.com/reference/adrienne-corri)
13. [Corri, Adrienne, RADA Archives (DS/UK/390)](https://archives.arts.ac.uk/calmview/Record.aspx?id=DS%2FUK%2F390&src=CalmView.Persons)
14. [Adrienne Corri movies, NetflixMovies.com](https://www.netflixmovies.com/s/actor/adrienne-corri)
15. [Adrienne Corri biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0180920/bio/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › Scottish actors › Surnames A to L*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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