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Late actress Mona Hammond was ‘born to be a star’

Published:Friday | July 8, 2022 | 12:05 AMAsha Wilks and Cecelia Campbell-Livingston/Gleaner Writers
Actress Mona Hammond died on Monday, July 4.
Actress Mona Hammond died on Monday, July 4.

Long before Jamaica-born Mona Hammond wowed theatre and television audiences in Britain with her pioneering work and commanding presence, she had already created ripples in the rural Clarendon district of Tweedside, where she grew up. The 91-year-...

Long before Jamaica-born Mona Hammond wowed theatre and television audiences in Britain with her pioneering work and commanding presence, she had already created ripples in the rural Clarendon district of Tweedside, where she grew up.

The 91-year-old actress, who had been ill for some time, died on Monday.

Dr Hyacinth Hue, who also hails from Tweedside, said she knew from very early that Hammond was “born to be a star” and destined for greatness.

“When she read, you knew she would be an actress. She had an unusual talent for reading and expression in reading, and the principal would brag of her and boast of her eloquence in reading,” Hue, 87, recalled in a Gleaner interview on Tuesday.

“Your mouth would drop in awe to hear her read. That gift was born in her to be an actress. You just sat and listened. You would be most attentive to her because she had an unusual accent,” Hue added.

That talent continued to attract admiration in local theatre before Hammond emigrated to the United Kingdom in her late 20s, leaving Jamaica to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) on a scholarship in 1959.

Hammond, despite residing in the UK for the majority of her life up until death, however, never left her Jamaicanness on the shores from which she departed.

Alma Mock-Yen, retired broadcast journalism trainer and radio personality, remembers Hammond as an “easygoing person” but who had a no-nonsense professional work ethic.

In a Gleaner interview on Tuesday, Mock-Yen reminisced about the small circle of friends – which included her, Hammond, veteran actress and presenter Leonie Forbes, as well as actress and theatre producer Yvonne Jones Brewster – who became a determined bunch that longed to establish themselves in the industry.

REMARKABLE THESPIAN

Brewster, who resides in the United Kingdom, recalled Hammond as a remarkable thespian who innovated theatre.

They first met a few years after Hammond emigrated to England, and their friendship mellowed following their studies in the arts.

The two were co-founders, in 1985, of the Talawa Theatre Company, one of the most well-known black theatre organisations in the UK.

The group performed black versions of plays written for whites as well as staged original Afro-Caribbean productions.

“That is a miracle. It has never happened to another theatre company,” she said.

“It’s something that is important for the young people to recognise that they have a culture that can be put on stage, put on television and that [people] can represent them without any apology at all.”

Brewster labelled herself and Hammond as “unruly Jamaican women” who would cause a stir in theatre.

She also described the late actress as a generous person who would share meals with her fellow crew members.

“When you going on tour, we used to say, ‘Mona, you have any food?’ and she would go digging in her bag and she would always have Johnny cakes or some salt fish and ackee. She was Jamaican right down to the core, right down to the end,” Brewster told The Gleaner.

Born Mavis Chin to a Chinese father and Jamaican mother on January 1, 1931, Hammond graduated from RADA and later married Michael Saunders in 1965. Their union lasted for 22 years.

Her professional career took flight in theatre productions such as Josephine House and Macbeth and she was awarded Best Actress 1958 for her part in the play The Queen and the Rebels.

The late Harold ‘Harry’ Milner, a civil servant who wrote letters to the editor published in The Gleaner, dubbed Hammond “one of the most eager, hard-working and talented” individuals in the field in a 1968 edition.

The Guardian newspaper reported that Hammond first turned the heads of London theatre critics as lead in the dramatised version of Bernard Shaw’s A Black Girl in Search of Her God at the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1968.

That wasn’t her first lead performance, however, as she helmed the production Rashomon in 1960, one of the first plays to be produced in the Vale Royal open-air theatre.

A SUCCESSFUL LIFE

Mock-Yen told The Gleaner that she always knew that Hammond would be successful, adding that “at 91, she has had a full life [and] was very faithful to her theatre and she did some outstanding performances”.

Hammond starred in the Jamaican movie Smile Orange, written by Trevor Rhone, which was showcased at the Acton Concert Hall in London on September 12, 1972.

She made her debut TV appearance in 1989 as ‘Aunty Susu’ in the series Desmond’s, a comedy that resonated across the Atlantic with Jamaicans back home.

By 1994, she was widely known as UK’s best for playing the role of ‘Blossom Jackson’ in the BBC soap EastEnders, which premiered nine years earlier.

In her homage to Hammond on Tuesday, former EastEnders actress Cheryl Fergison described Hammond as a “pioneering woman” who served as an inspiration.

In 2005, Hammond was inducted as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in recognition of her service to theatre in the UK.

She was also presented with The Edric Connor Inspiration Award, the highest honour bestowed by the UK’s Screen Nation Film and Television Awards the following year.

In 2018, Hammond received the Women of the World lifetime achievement award in recognition of her work in theatre and support of black British actors.

Hammond is survived by her 51-year-old son, Matthew Paul Saunders.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com