Kay Walsh occupied that difficult ground between being a star and being a character player. For over forty years she worked steadily, building up a portfolio of memorable roles in some of the best films of the period (and one or two of the worst too).
She was born in London and started in show business as a dancer. Like so many pretty young things at the time, she got bit parts in quota films. In 1936 she met David Lean, then the hottest film editor of the day, and fell in love. Their careers blossomed and she spent the rest of the thirties as the sparky ingénue in a dozen or so films, including a couple of Formby comedies.
By the time war broke out she was ready to retire to be a full-time wife, but her husband persuaded her to take a role in his co-directing debut In Which We Serve and later in his This Happy Breed. Her best role for him was as Nancy in Oliver Twist, and for which she wrote the opening sequence. The marriage ended in 1949 because he had fallen for Ann Todd.
The fifties and sixties were a busy period for her. Despite the dearth of decent roles for women, she managed to get the best of what was on offer and made the most of them. She continued to act until quite late in life.
| 1934 | How's Chances |
| 1934 | Get Your Man |
| 1935 | Smith's Wives |
| 1936 | Secret of Stamboul |
| 1936 | If I Were Rich |
| 1936 | The Luck of the Irish |
| 1937 | The Last Adventurers |
| 1937 | Keep Fit |
| 1937 | All That Glitters |
| 1938 | Meet Mr Penny |
| 1938 | I See Ice |
| 1939 | The Mind of Mr Reeder |
| 1939 | Sons of the Sea |
| 1940 | The Missing People |
| 1940 | All at Sea |
| 1940 | The Chinese Bungalow |
| 1940 | The Second Mr Bush |
| 1940 | The Middle Watch |
| 1942 | In Which We Serve |
| 1944 | This Happy Breed |
| 1947 | The October Man |
| 1948 | Vice Versa |
| 1948 | Oliver Twist |
| 1950 | Stage Fright |
| 1950 | The Magnet |
| 1950 | Last Holiday |
| 1951 | The Magic Box |
| 1952 | Hunted |
| 1952 | Encore |
| 1952 | Meet Me Tonight |
| 1953 | Young Bess (US) |
| 1954 | Gilbert Harding Speaking of Murder |
| 1954 | The Rainbow Jacket |
| 1954 | Lease of Life |
| 1955 | Now and Forever |
| 1957 | Cast a Dark Shadow |
| 1958 | The Horse's Mouth |
| 1960 | Tunes of Glory |
| 1961 | Lunch Hour |
| 1961 | Greyfriars Bobby |
| 1962 | Reach for Glory |
| 1962 | The L-Shaped Room |
| 1963 | 80,000 Suspects |
| 1964 | The Beauty Jungle |
| 1964 | Circus World |
| 1965 | A Study in Terror |
| 1965 | He Who Rides a Tiger |
| 1966 | The Witches |
| 1967 | Bikini Paradise |
| 1969 | Taste of Excitement |
| 1970 | Connecting Rooms |
| 1970 | The Virgin and the Gypsy |
| 1970 | Scrooge |
| 1972 | The Ruling Class |
| 1981 | Night Crossing |
