Freda Dowie

British screen actress (1928–2019)

Freda Mary Dowie (22 July 1928 – 10 August 2019) was an English actress. Her television credits include: Dixon of Dock Green, Doomwatch, Edna, the Inebriate Woman, Upstairs, Downstairs, I, Claudius, The Old Curiosity Shop, The Pickwick Papers, Lillie, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Our Friends in the North, Common As Muck, Lovejoy, Agatha Christie's Poirot, Crown Court and Heartbeat. Dowie frequently portrayed long suffering roles, most notably as the Mother in the 1988 film Distant Voices, Still Lives, for which she was nominated for a European Film Award. Her film career also includes roles in Subterfuge (1968), The Omen (1976), The Monk (1990), Butterfly Kiss (1995), Jude (1996), Cider with Rosie (1998), and Fragile (2005).

Freda Mary Dowie was born in Carlisle, Cumbria on 22 July 1928 to John Dowie, a fried fish seller, and his wife Emily Davidson. She attended Barrow Girls Grammar School, where she excelled in Latin, English Literature and foreign languages including French and German. She later gained a place to study teaching at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, graduating in 1948.

Dowie was married three times. Her first marriage was to Lionel Butterworth in Barrow in Furness in 1952. She then married John Goodrich in Hampstead in 1961. Both marriages ended in divorce. Her third marriage in 1970 was to the artist and documentary filmmaker David Thompson; they remained together until his death in April 2019. Dowie died later in 2019, aged 91.