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 is a member of The Society of Friends Dubbed Paola Mori's role in Orson Welles's "Confidential Report" (aka "Mr. Arkadin"). Her second husband was the playwright, drama critic and occasional screenwriter Robert Muller (now deceased). They had one son, Matthew Muller. She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) in 1991. Commutes between her apartment in London-Hampstead and her cottage in Suffolk. When her son Matthew (born 1968) was five years old, he developed an appalling form of meningitis. The doctors gave him three days to live, but miraculously he pulled through. However, it took about two years for him to get entirely well again. Met her husband Robert Muller at a party given by Bob Monkhouse. She said it had been a very calm, very quiet understanding of the fact that this was the man who would be the father of her child. And she added she hadn't doubted it for a second. Has two stepdaughters (both her husband Robert's children by his first marriage): Clare (born 1962) and Sophie (born 1964) Became an Associate Member of RADA. Graduated from RADA. Samuel Beckett referred to her as 'The perfect actress'. Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1970