# Rachel Roberts (actress)
**Rachel Roberts** (20 September 1927 – 26 November 1980) was a Welsh stage and film actress, born in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, who is best known for her roles as Brenda in Karel Reisz's *Saturday Night and Sunday Morning* (1960) and as Margaret Hammond in [Lindsay Anderson](https://www.edgepedia.org/lindsay-anderson)'s *This Sporting Life* (1963), for which she received an Academy Award nomination[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/bio/). She won the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress for the first of these films[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/awards/), and her second marriage, to the actor [Rex Harrison](https://www.edgepedia.org/rex-harrison) from 1962 to 1971, drew wide public attention[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/roberts-rachel-1927-1980).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | 20 September 1927, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Wales; 26 November 1980, Los Angeles, California[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/bio/) |
| Training | University of Wales, then the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art; repertory in Swansea from 1950[4](https://www.welshicons.org/wici/html/rachel_roberts.php) |
| Breakthrough | Brenda in *Saturday Night and Sunday Morning* (1960), a key British New Wave film[4](https://www.welshicons.org/wici/html/rachel_roberts.php) |
| Awards | BAFTA Best British Actress 1961 and 1964; BAFTA Best Supporting Actress 1980 for *Yanks*; Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for *This Sporting Life*[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/awards/) |
| Marriages | Alan Dobie (1955–1961); Rex Harrison (1962–1971); no children[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/roberts-rachel-1927-1980) |
| Posthumous book | *No Bells on Sunday: The Rachel Roberts Journals* (1984), edited by Alexander Walker[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/bio/) |
## Early life and training
Roberts was born at the manse of Emmanuel Church in the Tyisha Road area of Llanelli, the daughter of Richard Rees Roberts, a Baptist minister[5](https://www.llanellich.org.uk/files/49-rachel-roberts-actress). The family moved to Swansea when she was seven[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/roberts-rachel-1927-1980). After a Baptist upbringing from which she rebelled, she studied at the University of Wales and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, leaving RADA before completing the course to join a repertory company in Swansea in 1950[4](https://www.welshicons.org/wici/html/rachel_roberts.php). The National Portrait Gallery notes that she worked there alongside the actors [Kenneth Williams](https://www.edgepedia.org/kenneth-williams) and [Richard Burton](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-burton)[6](https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp55557/rachel-roberts).
Her early stage career included seasons at [Stratford-upon-Avon](https://www.edgepedia.org/stratford-upon-avon), work at the Irving Theatre Club in London, and a tour entertaining British troops in [West Germany](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-germany). She married the actor Alan Dobie in 1955[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/roberts-rachel-1927-1980).
## Film career
Roberts made her film debut in the Welsh-set comedy *Valley of Song* (1953)[4](https://www.welshicons.org/wici/html/rachel_roberts.php), followed by a role in J. Lee Thompson's *Young and Willing* (1954), a drama about women in prison[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/bio/).
**Breakthrough.** Her breakthrough was the part of Brenda, the unfaithful housewife, in *Saturday Night and Sunday Morning* (1960), Karel Reisz's adaptation of [Alan Sillitoe](https://www.edgepedia.org/alan-sillitoe)'s novel, one of the central films of the British New Wave[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/roberts-rachel-1927-1980). In 1961 she won the BAFTA Film Award for Best British Actress for the performance[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/awards/); according to IMDb's biography, she was the first Welsh actress to win a BAFTA[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/bio/).
Lindsay Anderson then cast her as the widowed Mrs Hammond in *This Sporting Life* (1963), opposite [Richard Harris](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-harris), opposite whom she is emotionally pursued by his rugby-league player[7](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/cd6e1bfd-850d-56a6-9692-16a1d9c24c07/this-sporting-life). The role brought her a second BAFTA for Best British Actress, an Academy Award nomination, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Drama[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/awards/). Both films are cited as leading examples of the British New Wave[4](https://www.welshicons.org/wici/html/rachel_roberts.php).
**Later films.** After the mid-1960s her film work shifted largely to supporting parts as tough or imposing women. Her credits from the late 1960s onward include *A Flea in Her Ear* (1968), *The Reckoning* (1969), *Doctors' Wives* (1971), *O Lucky Man!* (1973), *Murder on the Orient Express* (1974), [Peter Weir](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-weir)'s Australian-made *[Picnic at Hanging Rock](https://www.edgepedia.org/picnic-at-hanging-rock-film)* (1975), *[Foul Play](https://www.edgepedia.org/foul-play-1978-film)* (1978), *When a Stranger Calls* (1979), and *Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen* (1981)[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/roberts-rachel-1927-1980). In 1980 she won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress for *Yanks* (1979)[2](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/awards/).
## Theatre
On stage, Roberts appeared at the Royal Court and played the title role in Lionel Bart's musical *Maggie May* in 1964[4](https://www.welshicons.org/wici/html/rachel_roberts.php). Her most celebrated stage work came in 1973, when the New Phoenix Company staged *The Visit* and *Chemin de Fer* back to back; her performances in the two contrasting roles brought her a single Tony nomination in 1974[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/roberts-rachel-1927-1980) • [11](https://www.tonyawards.com/nominees/year/1974/category/any/show/any/). A 2013 Edinburgh Fringe play about her life credited her with two Evening Standard Best Actress Awards and three BAFTAs[8](https://www.broadwayworld.com/scotland/article/WHOS-AFRAID-OF-RACHEL-ROBERTS-Presented-the-Edinburgh-Fringe-in-August-20130731).
## Marriage to Rex Harrison
Roberts met Rex Harrison in 1960, when she played opposite him in the Chekhov play *Platonov* at the Royal Court; she divorced Dobie and became Harrison's fourth wife in March 1962[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/roberts-rachel-1927-1980). The marriage, which lasted nine years[5](https://www.llanellich.org.uk/files/49-rachel-roberts-actress), coincided with a period when her own film career stalled. When Harrison played Professor Higgins in the film version of *My Fair Lady* (1964), the couple relocated to Hollywood, and her drinking worsened; back in Europe, she had to leave the cast of *Maggie May* mid-run[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/roberts-rachel-1927-1980). Harrison left her for the actress Elizabeth Harris, and they divorced in 1971[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/roberts-rachel-1927-1980).
## Later years and death
After the divorce Roberts returned to Los Angeles, working in film and television, including the American sit-com *The Tony Randall Show*, and sought treatment for alcoholism and depression[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/roberts-rachel-1927-1980).
She died on 26 November 1980 at her home in Los Angeles at the age of 53[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/roberts-rachel-1927-1980). IMDb records the death as suicide by drug overdose[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/bio/); the coroner reported the cause as "swallowing a caustic substance" and later "acute barbiturate intoxication", and ruled it a suicide[4](https://www.welshicons.org/wici/html/rachel_roberts.php). She was cremated at the Chapel of the Pines Crematorium in Los Angeles, and Lindsay Anderson later scattered her ashes on the [River Thames](https://www.edgepedia.org/river-thames) together with those of the actress [Jill Bennett](https://www.edgepedia.org/jill-bennett-british-actress)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/bio/).
## Journals
Roberts kept a diary during the last 18 months of her life[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/roberts-rachel-1927-1980), an account she maintained up to the eve of her death[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/bio/). It was published posthumously in 1984 as *No Bells on Sunday: The Rachel Roberts Journals*, edited by Alexander Walker with commentary and interviews from friends and colleagues[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/bio/).
## Notes on other people named Rachel Roberts
The name refers to several other public figures. A Canadian model and actress born in 1978, married to director [Andrew Niccol](https://www.edgepedia.org/andrew-niccol), played the title character in *S1m0ne* (2002)[9](https://auteurgraph.com/person/rachel-roberts/ratings). A separate Rachel Roberts worked as a film editor on British shorts and television productions[10](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7373541/).
## References
1. [Rachel Roberts – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/bio/)
2. [Rachel Roberts – Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731499/awards/)
3. [Roberts, Rachel (1927–1980), Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/roberts-rachel-1927-1980)
4. [Rachel Roberts, Welsh Icons](https://www.welshicons.org/wici/html/rachel_roberts.php)
5. [Rachel Roberts actress, Llanelli Community Heritage](https://www.llanellich.org.uk/files/49-rachel-roberts-actress)
6. [Rachel Roberts – Person, National Portrait Gallery](https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp55557/rachel-roberts)
7. [This Sporting Life (1963), British Film Institute](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/cd6e1bfd-850d-56a6-9692-16a1d9c24c07/this-sporting-life)
8. [Who's Afraid of Rachel Roberts?, BroadwayWorld Scotland](https://www.broadwayworld.com/scotland/article/WHOS-AFRAID-OF-RACHEL-ROBERTS-Presented-the-Edinburgh-Fringe-in-August-20130731)
9. [Rachel Roberts Ratings, AuteurGraph](https://auteurgraph.com/person/rachel-roberts/ratings)
10. [Rachel Roberts (XXII), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7373541/)
11. [The Tony Award Nominations](https://www.tonyawards.com/nominees/year/1974/category/any/show/any/)
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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 › Welsh actors*
*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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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license