Rita Tushingham

Rita Tushingham looks at home playing people who do not fit in. Her large, expressive eyes help in close-up, but her naturalistic acting keeps the awkwardness from becoming a decorative little quirk. We were moved by her Jo in A Taste of Honey (1961), because she makes the working-class outsider's discomfort feel lived. That screen debut established the quality we still value in her: an apparent lack of interest in making a character tidier or easier company.

In The Knack... and How to Get It (1965), she plays Nancy Jones, bringing that offbeat presence to Swinging London comedy. Doctor Zhivago (1965) takes her into David Lean's much larger ensemble as The Girl. We find that film worth seeing, with reservations about its length and a hero who spends too much time watching. Julie Christie and Rod Steiger provide much of its feeling, while Freddie Young's cinematography makes the scale persuasive. Tushingham belongs in that company, but this is not the film we would choose to explain her appeal.

She then worked in European and North American productions, returning to British film and television roles from the 1990s. Getting beyond her sixties typecasting became a difficulty as the industry changed. We would be wary of treating every later appearance as a chance to recognise the young woman from A Taste of Honey: that leaves the actor with little opportunity to be seen afresh.

Last Night in Soho (2021) draws on that recognition, casting her as Peggy Turner in Edgar Wright's sixties-haunted thriller. Her presence connects it to the period it admires, but our enthusiasm for the film has limits. Its two leads and the pull of the nightclubs carry it; the cluttered murder mystery and repetitive scares make the second half a disappointment. There is pleasure in that casting, though a familiar face can only do so much when the story loses its way. For a first encounter with her acting, we would still choose A Taste of Honey.