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In memory of
Ruby Renaut Birman
September 28, 1927 - October 17, 2020
Sep 28, 1927 - Oct 17, 2020
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Ruby's obituary
Ruby was an English actress, model, TV commercials producer, script supervisor and garden designer.
Early Life
Rube was born in London England, as Ruby Marie Bradbury, the third daughter of William and Edith(Lowe) Bradbury.
Just before the outbreak of World War II, the family moved to Letchworth Garden City (1939) as Ruby was entering her teen years. She attended Norton Road School where she made friends quickly and formed some lifelong friendships. Others teased her for her big city accent, which gave her the sensitivity and receptiveness she has to this day, for the people of foreign origin and their accents.
Proof of this came soon afterward with the arrival of members of the United States Air Force to a base nearby.
In 1946, as a young newlywed, she and her husband Marcel Renaut, immigrated to Montreal Canada where her sister
and brother-in-law had already settled. Here she gave birth to a son, Paul. Ruby became involved in local community theatre when a friend asked if she would “hold the book”, that is, serve as prompter for the actors on stage. It was not long after this that her natural talent was discovered and she was soon cast in famous plays of the British theatre, written by Oliver Goldsmith, Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw among others. From a cockney maid to an upper class grand dame and everything in between, she played them all with equal deftness.
MONTREAL Theatre and Television 1951-1957
Ruby, like so many actors before her who began their careers in a "church basement", first appeared on stage with St. John the Divine Players of Verdun in Quiet Wedding.
There followed roles with Trinity Players, Lachine Little Theatre, Mountain Playhouse, Grosvenor Productions, North Hatley Playhouse and Montreal Repertory Theatre where she was established as a leading actress for her outstanding performance as Lady Windermere in Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan.
Other plays in which Rube took part were:
.The Dover Road
.The Middle Watch
.Before the Party
.The Admirable Crichton
.Call It A Day
.A Murder Has Been Arranged
.She Stoops To Conquer
.Bonaventure
.The Devil's Disciple
.Harvey
.While The Sun Shines
.Blithe Spirit
.Dial M For Murder
Her first television experience was in 1954, as the girlfriend ----in the English language pilot production of The Plouffe Family, the popular series seen on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's French language channel.
She was next seen on CBC's Dateline/Je Me Souviens in two episodes, playing opposite William Shatner in one and Lloyd Bochner in another, both well known in Canada as popular leading men.
In pursuit of further television experience, in the spring of 1957 Ruby made the move to Toronto which at that time was the English language production center in Canada. Practically on arrival, she went to work, not on TV however, but on radio, CBC's Kraft Radio Theatre.
There followed more jobs in radio and television, as well as commercials and print ads, one of which for Heinz Baby Food won the Ad Award for 1958. In 1959, Ruby was awarded the title Miss TV Commercial by the advertising community.
She appeared in dozens of TV spots, among them the Labatts beer campaign, which also included their Toronto Transit ads on buses and subways, Chateaugai Wines, Sweet Caporal cigarettes, Camay soap, Penman Foods, Bell Telephone, etc.
In 1958, she was cast in "The Great Catherine", one of the year's major live presentations in CBC TV's Folio Series. In this she played Lorne Green's niece and was co-directed by Barry Morse and Eric Till.
It was at this time that Ruby's interest in film took her on assignments for Fletcher Film Productions and Bonded TV, where the introduction to film editing served to encourage her toward more work behind the camera.
Still her acting career continued with leading roles in the National Film Board's docudramas "One Day's Poison" and "One On Every Street" (1959). Among her other credits which showed her versatility, she was also given the opportunity to stand in as substitute for interviewer Joyce Davidson on CBC's Tabloid.
In 1962, after much coaxing by Robert Lawrence Productions, Ruby joined the staff of that company, in a job that would demand all the knowledge of film making she had acquired.
Then, choosing to go freelance, she went to work for the next twelve years as Script Supervisor/Continuity,
beginning with the two new TV series "Forest Rangers" and "Seaway" and except for a stint as commercials producer for Lesser Studios, she continued to serve in that capacity for every major feature film made in Canada at that time, as well as episodic television and TV commercials.
Filmography As Continuity
1967 The Fox, Sandy Dennis Keir Dullea Mark Rydell Director
1969 Change of Mind, Leslie Neilsen Robert Stevens
1970 Homer, Don Scardino John Trent
1970 King of the Grizzlies, Ron Kelly
1970 Heart Farm (The Man Who Wanted To Live Forever)
Burl Ives Sandy Dennis Stuart Whitman John Trent director
1972 Follow The North Star, Eric Till
1972 When Michael Calls, Elizabeth Ashley Michael Douglas
Personal Life
Ruby and her husband, actor Len Birman, met for the first time on the set of "Forest Rangers" in December 1963, when he guested in an episode. Their first date was on New Years Eve and their marriage in February 1977 coincided with a planned move to Los Angeles. They have made the Hollywood Hills their home since then.
After her retirement from the industry, Rube's natural ability to grow plants in her own garden as well as for friends, led her to design original landscapes that were uncommon in Los Angeles, through her company aptly named English Country Gardens. Her green thumb, she believed, was a gift from her maternal grandfather George Lowe who was the owner of a nursery opposite the cemetary in Garret Lane in England when she was a child.
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Created with love by
Matt Birman.
