Mary Taviner

Mary Taviner
Mary Taviner c. 1939
(from the archive of the British Library,
Add MS 89481/10, f. 50)
Born
Mary Russell Taviner

(1909-11-28)28 November 1909
Turnham Green, London
Died21 September 1972(1972-09-21) (aged 62)
St Pancras, London
Other namesMara Russell-Tavernan
Mara Tavernan
Mary Tavernan
Myra Tavernan
Mary Russell-Tavernan
Mara Russell Tavernan
Mary Russell Tavernan
Mary Russell Taviner
Mary Russell Tavinor
Mara Tavanan
Mary Tavener
Mary Russell Tavener
Mary Taverner
Mara Tavana
Baroness Marovna
Mary Marovna
Mrs Alexis Marovonoff

Mary Taviner (also known as Mara Russell-Tavernan and by several other names;[1] 28 November 1909 – 21 September 1972), was a British stage and film actress active during the early- and mid-20th century, known for her roles in British second feature ('B')[2] drama and mystery films. She was also an active member of the far-right from the pre-Second World War days of British fascism and continuing into the late 1960s. She had an affair with Sir Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union of Fascists, sued him for slander, and British Intelligence concluded she was blackmailing him.

Biography

Early life

Mary Russell Taviner[3][4] was born on 28 November 1909 in Turnham Green, London. Her parents were Mabel Caroline Griffiths and Horace Russell Taviner, who had a florist business in Hammersmith. They later divorced.[5]

Stage and film career

As a child, Mary appeared as a ballerina in educational short films, and in a drama film Darby and Joan (1920).[6] Picturegoer described her as a "British child talent" and her interpretation "stands out as a performance".[7] Kine Weekly later commented that she "started her career as one of England's leading child film stars."[8] She also made 115 appearances on stage in 1924–1925, taking part in "pretty and charming" dances as a fairy[9] in A Midsummer Night's Dream[10] at The Old Vic and at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane .

The reception of her acting career after childhood is mixed; her stage performances portraying Mary, Queen of Scots were described as played "with reserve and dignity" (Royal Scapegoat, 1939) and giving "a most memorable performance … dignified, restrained, and deeply moving" (Mary Stuart, 1940).[11] Her adult film career consisted of three films: Castle Sinister (1948); The Trial of Madame X (1948, released 1955; she had previously appeared in stage versions of the play in 1944), for which Kine Weekly commented that she "displays all the confidence but unfortunately little of the talent of Sarah Bernhardt, [and] bites off more than she can chew as Jacqueline";[12] and The Devil's Jest (1954), in which Kine Weekly noted she "keeps forgetting her accent and exaggerates."[13]

Claims of royal or noble associations

Taviner claimed she could trace her lineage back to the House of Guise, and separately that she was descended from a German prince and an English or Irish aristocrat; there is no evidence for either assertion. She also claimed she had had an unconsummated marriage in France, resulting in her having the title of Baroness Marovna. She was later described as the "widow of a young Russian nobleman who claimed descent from the Romanoffs – the royal family of Imperial Russia."[14][15]

Taviner also claimed she had been elected in 1939 as spiritual leader of Scotland by a group of Scottish nationalists, and that she was the reincarnation of Mary, Queen of Scots. This claim was based on a supposed resemblance; on Taviner saying she "had always felt drawn to the queen"; and on the testimony of a "famous Highland seeress". She had a portrait painted of her dressed as Mary, Queen of Scots,[16] played the queen on stage, and often portrayed monarchs and aristocrats on stage and in film.

Fascism and Oswald Mosley

In June 1933, Taviner met the newly-widowed Sir Oswald Mosley, founder and leader of the British Union of Fascists at a film studio (she was visiting as a potential producer and he with a view to making a film about fascism),[17][18] and they had an affair. Taviner declared she wanted to marry him, and wrote him lengthy, rambling and spiteful letters.[17] Several months later Taviner wrote him a very long letter, referring to a discussion of marriage between them, and claiming royal descent for herself. After this, Mosley would not return her phone calls and may have given orders that she should not be allowed into his house. Rumours spread of compromising letters, which might have serious political consequences for Mosley and the BUF.

She enlisted the help of William Joyce (later known as Lord Haw-Haw), who had been sacked from the BUF by Mosley in 1937 and had set up the rival National Socialist League and was seeking revenge. He wrote that Mosley was guilty of breach of promise to Taviner, had cast aspersions about her, and had freely shown off a compromising photograph of her. In July 1937, Taviner was observed visiting the NSL's headquarters, and British Intelligence concluded she was blackmailing Mosley.[19] In February 1938, Taviner, described as "a noted society beauty, [who] has appeared on the stage and in several films",[20] launched a lawsuit for slander against Mosley[21] on the grounds of breach of promise and displaying a 'lightly veiled'[18] or nude photograph of herself, which was missing. She represented herself in court, and the case was eventually dismissed, She later accused Joyce of running a 300-strong pre-war spy ring under the noses of the intelligence services, an unlikely claim.[22] Joyce rebutted this charge on air.[23] In 1949 she was declared bankrupt (giving her profession as film producer),[24] and she did not apply for discharge until 1957.[25]

After the war, Taviner remained in contact with Mosley, and was involved with post-war far-right political parties, including Mosley's Union Movement, and was treasurer of the White Defence League. Mosley used her as an intermediary in discussions with rival far-right factions.[26] She was also the chief organiser of the Young Britain Movement,[27] organising secretary for the fascist Friends of Europe group, and stood unsuccessfully as a UM candidate in the 1962 Kensington borough council election.[28]

The Devil's Jest (1954) was the first and only film produced by Taviner's own company, Terra Nova Productions, and gives an insight into her post-war political views.[15] The film starts with a voiceover, which says:

In the year 1939, those who plan wars, that they might fatten upon the fruits of wars, once again loosed the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse across the western world. And when this story begins, two great nations were locked in deadly combat. Whilst, to the east, the red vultures waited to feast upon the carcasses of victor and vanquished alike.

A monologue by her character in the film says that Britain and Germany should have been allies against communism during the Second World War, rather than fighting each other:

It is a shame that England allied itself with half the decadent countries of Europe and was used as a tool by the communist conspiracy to enslave the world to communism through a path of filth and degeneration. I believe that England will rue the day that she opposes the German plan for a new order in Europe, and that the day will come when we Englishmen will be glad when, shoulder to shoulder with the Germans, we face our own destruction, we preserve and tame the monster we so blindly helped create.

The Sunday Express reported Taviner as saying at the time "I have Fascist sympathies, but the film is not pro- German. I love Germany because I had a German grandmother",[29] an untrue statement. A contemporaneous interview in Der Spiegel observed that a "bracelet with the Iron Cross clinked softly on her wrist." In the same interview, she claimed that during the war, she worked in the British Intelligence Service, uncovering communist activities,[15] a claim which is almost certainly fictional.

Death

Taviner died from a heart attack on 21 September 1972 in St Pancras, London. She lived with her mother for her entire adult life, and there is no evidence that she married or had children.[30] Her death went almost unnoticed, and was not reported even in The Stage, the theatre’s leading newspaper.[22]

Stage appearances

Partial list:[31]

Filmography

Unconfirmed sources refer to Taviner appearing in several films directed by Maurice Elvey in 1918 and 1919, and in other films in the 1920s.[36]

Notes

  1. ^ Vance Youdan, Youden or Uhden may have been related to Taviner, whose maternal grandmother's surname was Youdan.[32]

References

  1. ^ St John-McAlister 2022, p. 1.
  2. ^ Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-8445-7319-6.
  3. ^ "Births registered in January, February and March 1910. [TAU - TAY]", Civil Registration Index of Births, Marriages and Deaths for England and Wales, vol. 3a, Brentford, p. 182
  4. ^ "Deaths registered in July, August and September 1972. [TAT - TAY]", Civil Registration Index of Births, Marriages and Deaths for England and Wales, vol. 5d, St Pancras, p. 2145
  5. ^ St John-McAlister 2022, p. 2.
  6. ^ Gifford, Denis, ed. (April 2016). British Film Catalogue: Two Volume Set – The Fiction Film/The Non-Fiction Film · Volume 1. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1579581992.
  7. ^ "British Child Talent on the Screen – Mary Taviner". Picturegoer. 22 November 1919. p. 5.
  8. ^ "The Devil's Jest". Kine weekly. Vol. 409–411. 1951. p. 26.
  9. ^ St John-McAlister 2022, p. 5.
  10. ^ Wearing, J. P. (27 March 2014). The London Stage 1920-1929: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 329. ISBN 9780810893023.
  11. ^ St John-McAlister 2022, pp. 5–6.
  12. ^ "The Trial of Madame X". Kine Weekly. 23 June 1955. p. 40.
  13. ^ "The Devil's Jest". Kine Weekly. 25 March 1954. p. 17.
  14. ^ St John-McAlister 2022, pp. 2–3.
  15. ^ a b c Der Spiegel 1954.
  16. ^ St John-McAlister 2022, pp. 3–5.
  17. ^ a b Spence 2015.
  18. ^ a b Dalley 2000.
  19. ^ Holmes 2016.
  20. ^ "Actress Sues Sir Oswald Mosley". Weekly Dispatch (London). 5 March 1939. p. 1.
  21. ^ "The Right Wing". Ken. Vol. 4–5. Ken, Incorporated. 1939. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
  22. ^ a b St John-McAlister 2023.
  23. ^ Kenny, Mary (1 October 2003). Germany Calling: A Personal Biography of William Joyce, Lord Haw Haw. New Island Books. p. 185. ISBN 978-1902602783.
  24. ^ "The Bankruptcy Acts 1914 and 1926: Receiving Orders", The London Gazette (38699): 4151, 26 August 1949
  25. ^ "The Bankruptcy Acts 1914 and 1926: Applications for Discharge", The London Gazette (41231): 6753, 19 November 1957
  26. ^ Macklin 2020.
  27. ^ "Your Money Could Be Used to Poison British Youth with Fascist Propaganda, Says Peter Bishop". The People. 30 July 1961. p. 4.
  28. ^ St John-McAlister 2022, p. 19.
  29. ^ "Iron Cross". Sunday Express. 11 April 1954. p. 7.
  30. ^ St John-McAlister 2022, pp. 20–21.
  31. ^ St John-McAlister 2022, pp. 5–8.
  32. ^ St John-McAlister 2022, pp. 3–7.
  33. ^ "Dr. Syn's Christmas, 1793". Theatricalia.
  34. ^ Film's credits.
  35. ^ Murphy, Robert (1 March 2001). British Cinema and the Second World War. Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. pp. 275, 278. ISBN 978-0826451385. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
  36. ^ St John-McAlister 2022, pp. 8–9.

Sources

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