Editor’s Note: The very idea of someone being married to a partner who has had several relationships at the same time, unbeknownst … in this case … to the wives … each thinking they were the only wife is not unknown. Some of you may have seen a 1953 Alec Guinness movie, The Captain’s Paradise that depicts a similar, if not as complicated, situation:
Captain Henry St. James (Alec Guinness) heads a ferryboat that regularly moves between Gibraltar and North Africa, and he has a different life in each location. In Gibraltar, he is married to Maud (Celia Johnson), a subdued and dedicated housewife. In Morocco, he has another wife, the tempestuous Nita (Yvonne De Carlo), who enjoys the fast-paced nightlife. Henry enjoys this arrangement, with neither woman knowing of the other until both women become dissatisfied with their one-sided lives.
But Mrs. Wilson, as presented by PBS in three one-hour episodes over two weekends, is not, by any stretch as light-hearted as The Captain’s Paradise.
Here’s what PBS outlines but keep in mind that the actress who plays Mrs. Wilson is the actual granddaughter of the woman she portrays:
Who Was Mrs. Wilson?
“It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done — I think it’s the hardest role I’ve ever played,” says Ruth Wilson of casting herself in the role of Alison Wilson. The actress’ grandmother, Alison, fell in love with intelligence agent Alexander Wilson (Ruth Wilson’s grandfather) during the war. Thirty years her senior, he died suddenly, leaving her with two teenage sons and the shocking revelation of another Mrs. Wilson. Alison wrote a memoir describing her marriage and shared it with her granddaughter when Ruth was 15 years old. Wilson describes her grandmother as “… deeply complex and intelligent. I didn’t realize that she’d kept these secrets with her for so many years. I discovered this woman full of passion, full of love; looking for someone to believe in and wanting to dedicate herself entirely to an individual.”
Who Was Alexander Wilson?
That, dear reader, is the operative question! Wilson was brilliant and charismatic; an MI6 agent; the author of 27 popular spy thrillers; a devout Catholic; and an enigma. The rest is for Alison Wilson to discover on her journey towards the truth.
Go to PBS for the 3 episodes that will be streaming through April 14th:
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