![]() ![]() The play opened at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, in 1954, Patience appearing as the governess, Charlotta, alongside Trevor Howard and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies. Patience got her big break, aged 43, in a West End production of The Cherry Orchard directed by John Gielgud, having been recruited by John Perry of Tennent Productions. She was especially known for her work reading serials for Woman’s Hour. She did extensive work with the BBC and had a succession of contracts across many departments, including early television. Post-war, Patience began a very successful radio career which continued into the 1950s. In Manchester in the late 1930s, she became organising secretary for Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Union in 1937, appearing in TU’s The Good Soldier Schweik in 1939, and in wartime rep. She was directed by Theodore Komisarjevsky in a couple of short-lived productions, including Louis Golding’s Magnolia Street in 1934. Patience’s early career on stage included club, repertory and touring theatre, with her first speaking role as Freda in a 1933 tour of Strange Orchestra by Rodney Ackland. She became great friends with fellow student Diana Churchill, daughter of Winston and Clementine Churchill. She attended RADA from 1930 until 1932, studying alongside some of the most celebrated actors and directors of her time, including Vivien Leigh and Joan Littlewood. Born Irene Marjorie Ritscher in Bayswater, into a Central European Jewish family, she was known in her youth as Rene Ritcher, but renamed herself Patience Collier in 1936 on her marriage to scientist Harry Collier. Patience Collier (1910-1987) was an actress who had an extensive career in theatre, radio, film and TV from the 1930s to the 1980s.
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