Billie Whitelaw first appeared on the radio aged 11. She made her theatrical debut in 1950 and in films from 1953. She has made a speciality of playing intense, single-purposed women. Also, (on stage), she has appeared in many of the stranger plays by Samuel Beckett. Billie was born in Coventry but taken to Bradford as a child and raised there and later joined the theatre school at the Civic Playhouse. She first played little boy parts on radio at BBC Manchester before moving into plays on television, On stage she appeared at the National Theatre but is mainly remembered for her 25 years association with the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett. in films she was twice cast with Albert Finney in Charlie Bubbles(1969) and Gumshoe (1995)