Ryan established herself as a theatre actor and member of the Independent Co. in Sydney, Australia, playing the role of Birdie Hubbard in The Little Foxes at the Independent and the Princess Theatres in 1948, while living in Epping, then a rural setting on Sydney’s outer fringe.
Ryan emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1957 and starred in many British stage shows.[1] She made over sixty appearances in films and on television.[5]
In 1958, Ryan appeared in a Broadway-theatre production of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll.[6] In 1964, she played Kath in the original London production of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr Sloane. The Independent wrote, "as the dreadful Kath, ageing seductress and murderous landlady...Madge Ryan's cruel, cool but undeniably comic acting provoked one critic to describe her work...as 'something very close to perfection'."[1]
Death
Ryan died in London in 1994, the day after her 75th birthday.[1] In their obituary, The Independent wrote, "what set her apart from the others was a certain, often powerful, independence of spirit and humour...It was a fulfilled career."[1]
