---
name: "Pauline Melville"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/pauline-melville"
roles: ["Actor","Writer"]
born: "1 January 1948"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 83
updated: "2026-09-16T21:18:24.542334+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Pauline Melville

Actor and writer. Born 1 January 1948 in Guyana.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor, Writer
- **Born:** 1 January 1948, Guyana
- **Active:** 1980–1993

## Biography

Pauline Melville is an English actress and writer of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry, born in Guyana. She began her career in theatre in the 1960s and appeared in films from 1967, including *Far from the Madding Crowd* (1967), *The Long Good Friday* (1980) as Dora, *Britannia Hospital* (1982), *Mona Lisa* (1986) as George's Wife, and *How to Get Ahead in Advertising* (1989).

On television she had roles in series such as *The Young Ones* (1982–1984) and *Blackadder's Christmas Carol* (1988). From the early 1990s she turned to writing short stories and novels. Her works include the collection *Shape-Shifter* (1990) and the novel *The Ventriloquist's Tale* (1997). She has received awards including the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Guyana Prize for Literature.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

- *Shadowlands* (1993), Fi1m 79, as Committee Chairwoman — [page](https://film.one/film/shadowlands.md)
- *Mona Lisa* (1986), Fi1m 83, as George's Wife — [page](https://film.one/film/mona-lisa.md)
- *The Long Good Friday* (1980), Fi1m 88, as Dora — [page](https://film.one/film/the-long-good-friday.md)

## Also credited on (not yet reviewed)

- *The Comic Strip Presents...* (1982), Writer

## Also known for

- *Brighton Rock* (2010), Mother Superior
- *How to Get Ahead in Advertising* (1989), Sylvia Wallace
- *Far from the Madding Crowd* (1967), Mrs. Tall
- *Britannia Hospital* (1982), Clarissa

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/pauline-melville