Mary Selway, 68, casting director

April 29, 2004|Associated Press

LONDON -- Mary Selway, a casting director who matched actors with roles in films from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" to "Gosford Park," died of cancer April 21 in London. She was 68.

Born in Norwich, eastern England, in 1936, Ms. Selway attended the Italia Conti theater school in London but quickly decided acting was not for her. She began to work in television casting, moving to the Royal Court Theater and eventually to the movies. She went on to cast almost 100 films, working with top British, American, and European directors, including Robert Altman, Roman Polanski, Steven Spielberg, Sydney Pollack, Ridley Scott, and Bertrand Tavernier.

She cast the residents of a funky west London neighborhood for "Notting Hill," the crew of a Napoleonic-era warship for "Master and Commander," and the occupants of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," which is targeted for release in late 2005.

Ms. Selway once said the chief emotion felt by casting directors was guilt that they could not know all the actors in the world.

"There is this thing where you read a part for `fat ugly bloke' and you think `Oh, there's that bloke that I saw do fat ugly bloke' and you can repeat easily, but what you should do is find that guy, but find other ones as well," she told a film website.

Ms. Selway's husband, Norman Rodway, died in 2001. She leaves two daughters and her partner, Aileen Maizel. Funeral details were not immediately available.