Shirley Anne Field, The Entertainer and Alfie actor, dead at 87

English actor rose to prominence after starring opposite Laurence Olivier in 1960’s ‘The Entertainer’

Shirley Anne Field in 2004 (Getty Images)

Shirley Anne Field, the English actor known for her film roles in The Entertainer and Alfie, has died aged 87, her family has announced.

A statement from a representative for her family said: “It is with great sadness that we are sharing the news that Shirley Anne Field passed away peacefully on Sunday 10 December 2023, surrounded by her family and friends.

“Shirley Anne will be greatly missed and remembered for her unbreakable spirit and her amazing legacy spanning more than five decades on stage and screen.”

Field was born in Forest Gate on 27 June 1936 and grew up in Children’s Homes before working as a model for pin-up magazines Reveille and Titbits. She made her first film appearance as an extra in 1955’s Simon and Laura.

She appeared in small roles in a string of British films and television shows throughout the remainder of the Fifties, before her breakthrough came with the role of model Tina Lapford opposite Laurence Olivier in 1960’s The Entertainer.

The same year, Field appeared as Doreen, the would-be girlfriend of rebellious teddy boy machinist Arthur (Albert Finney) in the classic kitchen sink drama Saturday Night and Sunday Morning.

Field with Leslie Phillips in 1966’s ‘Doctor in Clover' (Harry Dempster/Getty Images)

In the following decade, Field’s star grew after she appeared alongside Steve McQueen and Robert Wagner in the World War II film The War Lover (1962) and took the lead role in the romantic drama Lunch Hour (1962).

In 1966, she starred in both Alfie, with Michael Caine, and Doctor in Clover with Leslie Phillips.

Her career continued through the decades until her final film appearance in 2011’s The Power of Three.

Other notable performances include her roles in 1985’s My Beautiful Laundrette, which also starred Daniel Day-Lewis, and 1989’s The Rachel Papers with Dexter Fletcher. Her television credits include Murder She Wrote, Last of the Summer Wine and Doctors.

Field married the RAF pilot and racing driver Charles Crichton-Stuart on 7 July 1967. They had a daughter, Nicola Crichton-Stuart, in 1969. The marriage ended in divorce during the Seventies, before Charles Crichton-Stuart’s death in 2001.

“I didn’t have a strong sense of identity when I was growing up because I’d lost it along with my family,” Field told The Yorkshire Post in 2012. “I hung on and the film industry literally saved me from despair because they all accepted me.

“I don’t think one has to be a diva and I’ve never been a bitch. I think you have to have lesser talent to be a bitch. I’m a fighter. My biggest weakness is that I always want a level playing field. It drives me mad.”