Katie Johnson

Bessie Kate Johnson (18 November 1878 – 4 May 1957) was an English actress who appeared on stage from 1894 and on screen from the 1930s to the 1950s. In 1908 she married the actor Frank Goodenough Bayly (1873 – 28 November 1923, Newcastle upon Tyne). The couple had two children, William Frank Goodenough Bayly (1910-1973) and Johnson Goodenough Bayly (1915-1980).

She first appeared in a film at age 53, in 1932, but never received critical acclaim for her performances until 1955, when she starred, aged 76, in the Ealing Studios comedy The Ladykillers as Mrs Louisa Wilberforce. The role earned her a British Film Academy award for best British actress. She died less than two years afterwards having only appeared in a single further film.She also appeared in the BBC science fiction serial The Quatermass Experiment (1953) and played a spy in I See a Dark Stranger (1946).