The Ayr-born star passed away at home on Tuesday surrounded by her family.
The Daily Record
By Kirsten McStay
November 11, 2021
Gwyneth
played Mrs Mack in Take the High Road, who was well-known for her unflattering
hats. The Ayr-born star passed away peacefully at home on Tuesday surrounded by
her family.
Her family released a statement following her death.
They said: “It is with a heavy heart we announce the passing of our amazing mum, Gwyneth Guthrie. She passed peacefully on Tuesday the 9th of November, at home and surrounded by her loving family. She will be playing to her next audience in Heaven.”
Take the High Road ran from 1980 to 2003. The soap was set in the fictional community of Glendarroch, but was filmed in Luss on the shores of Loch Lomond.
Last year, Gywneth revealed that she didn't like to watch herself back on the show but was delighted that Take The High Road was available on the STV player during lockdown.
She said: "I’ve never watched myself because I know myself and I just
thought that’s not for me,” she explained. “It’s an honour that it’s back on.
It’s lovely that people enjoy it so much. I’m so pleased, it means it’s got a
longer life than I realised and does our country no harm.”
Gwyneth Guthrie was born on 28 April 1937 in Ayr, Ayrshire.
Her daughter Debbie Love explained: “Mum was always quite critical of herself so wouldn’t watch herself. She enjoyed the process but doesn’t particularly like to watch herself. She never had a big ego.”
Gwyneth previously revealed that she believed landing the role in the soap in 1983 was a 'fluke' after the first audition didn’t go well because she didn’t realize the character was written to be 'something of a battle-axe'.
Gwyneth said: “My agent said they need a nice, kind gentle person so I went along and did that. I got really cross when I was then told the person they were looking for Mrs. Mack was a difficult busy body.”
But Gwyneth was determined not to give up and set off to a charity shop to buy a coat and hat she thought would suit the character. She then went back to ask if she could have another audition.
She told them: "Stop searching, Mrs. Mack has arrived’.
She later said in an interview: "It was a metamorphosis. The hat I found was a real cracker. And I told them I wasn’t going to wear any make-up or lipstick.”
Gwyneth worked in radio from around the age of 12, trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
She appeared in numerous radio, theatre and TV productions over the years.
She met husband John Borland in 1957 and the pair married two years later
and had three daughters. They were devoted to each other until John sadly
passed away in 2018.
Her father was an Ayrshire bank manager and her mother's family came from
Cumbria. Her Christian name was inherited from a Welsh grandmother.
As a child she had a quick ear and a passion for mimicry. At the age of 12 she
first read a story for Auntie Kathleen on Children's Hour. By that time she
could speak three languages: proper English, Cumbrian English, and Burns.
The family had no connections with the theatre.
GUTHRIE, Gwyneth
Born: 4/28/1923, Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland, U.K.
Died: 11/9/2021, Scotland, U.K.
Gwyneth Guthrie’s western – actress:
Hawkeye, the Pathfinder – 1973 (woman in black)
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