British actress, who emerged as a star in the 1960s, representing the
liberated woman before women's liberation was formally recognised. In
Billy Liar (1963),
in her first major role, she is the free spirit in the grim northern
city who cuts through the male dreams of leaving, and actually escapes,
leaving Tom Courtenay's bags on the station platform
as monuments to lost desire.
In Darling
(1965), the iconic movie of the period, her character is both celebrated
for her freedom and punished for her independence, playing out the ambivalence
of the sexual revolution. Her performance won her an Oscar, and awards
from the New York Critics and the British Film Academy. Carrying her
independence into her personal life and career, Christie has been discriminating
and her filmography contains few of the clunkers that pepper the careers
of most British stars of her generation.
She has been as successful in Hollywood as in Britain in securing interesting
projects, including her role in Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
for which she received an Oscar nomination. Her recent work has included
a number of voice commentaries on television documentaries on political
issues, and her commitment to feminism led her to accept a lead role
in Sally Potter's The Gold Diggers (1983), a low-budget film with an
all-women crew on which all participants were paid the same wage.
