Helen Horton
Actor
Biography
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."
Filmography
Superman III
as Miss Henderson 1983
Phase IV
as Mildred Eldridge 1974
The Razor's Edge
as Red Cross Lady 1984
Endless Night
as Aunt Beth 1972
Never Take Sweets from a Stranger
as Sylvia Kingsley 1960
The Chairman
as Susan Wright 1969
The Mark of the Hawk
as Barbara Craig 1957
Reunion at Fairborough
as Mrs Bigard 1985
Let's Be Happy
as Sadie Whitelaw 1957
The Woman He Loved
as Martha 1988
Forgotten Prisoners: The Amnesty Files
as ALA Group Leader 1990
Strange Stories
as Marie ('Strange Journey') 1953
The Pueblo Affair
as Mrs. Bucher 1970
Widows' Nest
as Ana 1977
Auntie Kathleen's Old Clothes
as Nancy 1977
Thunder on Sycamore Street
as Clarice Morrison 1957