Helen Horton

Known for ActingBorn 1923-09-28Died 2007-09-28Chicago, Illinois, USA

Helen Virginia Horton (November 21, 1923 – September 28, 2007) was an American actress. She was born in Chicago and had a brief career in New York. She married Hamish Thomson and lived near London. She worked extensively in British television, radio and theatre, and had three children; her granddaughter is the English actress Lily James. Horton voiced the ship's computer, "Mother", in the 1979 film Alien. Horton attended Northwestern University where she became lifelong friends with Patricia Neal (Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still). She was well thought of in the drama department and was cast as Viola, the lead role in Twelfth Night, with Neal cast as Olivia, in a university production of the Shakespeare play. In September 1945, Horton and Neal took a shared apartment in New York and looked for work. They both got parts in a production of Seven Mirrors at the Blackfriars Theatre. Horton took over from Vivien Leigh as Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire after the play's London run was completed and it began to tour the United Kingdom. When Neal mentioned the connection to Leigh, she remarked "No one takes over for me, dear. When I leave a play, it's over."Read more

Movies & web series

The Woman He Loved

The Last Shot You Hear

Espionage

Forgotten Prisoners: The Amnesty Files

Agatha Christie's Poirot

Alien

Two's Company

Danger Man

The Benny Hill Show

Never Take Sweets from a Stranger

Minder

Out of the Unknown

Widows' Nest

Centre Play

Tales of the Unexpected

The Razor's Edge

Phase IV

Van der Valk

Endless Night

Reunion at Fairborough

Superman III

The Chairman

Let's Be Happy

BBC Play of the Month

The Two Mrs. Grenvilles

The Mark of the Hawk

The Best of Friends

Auntie Kathleen's Old Clothes

The Pueblo Affair

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Hurricane

Thunder on Sycamore Street

Strange Stories