
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 2, 1993                   TAG: 9305020099
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LONDON                                LENGTH: Short

PLAYWRIGHT RONALD GOW IS DEAD AT 95

Ronald Gow, whose first hit play launched the theatrical career of his future wife Dame Wendy Hiller, has died, his family said. He was 95.

Gow died Tuesday, but his family did not disclose the cause of death.

His play "Love on the Dole," an adaptation of a novel about a woman's struggles in the Depression, was playing in London starring Hiller in 1934 when she caught the eye of George Bernard Shaw.

Gow and Hiller were married two years later.

Hiller, meanwhile, began a long association with Shaw by appearing as the lead in "Saint Joan" and as Eliza Doolittle in "Pygmalion."

Gow adapted Thomas Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" in 1946 as another successful role for his wife. They teamed again in 1949 with his adaptation of H.G. Wells' "Ann Veronica," and she starred in his last play, "The Old Jest," in 1980.

Besides his wife, Gow is also survived by their son and daughter.

A funeral service will be held Tuesday in Amersham.

by CNB