When Edna O'Brien Ruled the Putney Party Scene
A look back at her time on Deodar Road following her death
Edna O'Brien picture around the time she lived in Putney. Picture: BBC
August 2, 2024
The death of the Irish writer Edna O’Brien aged 93 was announced on Saturday (27 July).
Although more recently a resident of Chelsea, one of the most remarkable and memorable periods of her life was when she lived in Deodar Road in Putney.
Following divorce from her husband Ernest Gébler in 1964, she moved out of the family home in Morden to take up residence in SW15.
This initiated a golden era in which the normally quiet riverside street hosted some of London’s most glittering literary parties which are detailed in her autobiography ‘Country Girl’.
Author and friend Nell Dunn described her as a “generous and brave party giver” and every Saturday night she invited a wide range of people from different areas of public life to her home. Those who came included Princess Margaret, Marianne Faithfull, Sean Connery, Terrence Stamp, Harold Pinter, Philip Roth, Samuel Becket and Shirley MacLaine.
When Judy Garland appeared on one occasion, Edna O’Brien recalled, “She looked around and then left. She was a very frightened creature. Like an antelope, she was gone.”
Other guests included former IRA member turned Nobel Peace Prize winner Seán MacBride and some reports have Jane Fonda making an appearance.
One night Richard Burton turned up, tried and failed to seduce her and recited Shakespeare. On another, Paul McCartney took her home from a party elsewhere and sang “Those Were The Days” to her sleeping children.
Some reports suggest that a brief affair with "handsome hoodlum" Robert Mitchum took place in Putney. She says he wooed her with the line. “I bet you wish I was Robert Taylor, and I bet you never tasted white peaches." However, she said many years later that their liaison took place in California. She did meet Marlon Brando around this time and spent the night together, although they were never lovers, she said of him, “He was amazing, let me assure you, and vastly intelligent. He had a lethal quality. He was alert the way an animal is alert – both waiting for danger and waiting to wield danger.” Whether or not this encounter took place on Deodar Road has not been recorded.
The house on Deodar Road which was once the centre of London's literary universe. Picture: Google Streetview
Although the events seemed the height of glamour with American magazine Vanity Fair dubbing her "the playgirl of the western world", Ms O’Brien said that most of the time she was doing the cooking while her guests partied.
She had various mood swings after her divorce and at one time stood on Putney Bridge contemplating suicide. One of Putney’s other heroines is the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft who famously threw herself off the old wooden Putney Bridge after her lover and father of her child had ditched her. She lived and was resuscitated in the Dukes Head. When O’Brien, having just walked out on her husband crossed the modern Putney Bridge, she contemplated Wollstonecraft’s grand gesture but then reconsidered thinking “how absurd” the notion had been.
She moved from Putney to Chelsea in the mid-seventies where she remained until her death after a long illness. The parties continued, with figures such as Harold Wilson and Ingrid Bergman adding to the roster of the Putney guests.
Irish president Michael D. Higgins, also a writer and poet, said following the announcement of her death, "Through that deeply insightful work, rich in humanity, Edna O’Brien was one of the first writers to provide a true voice to the experiences of women in Ireland in their different generations and played an important role in transforming the status of women across Irish society".
To honour her life and legacy the Irish Cultural Centre on Black’s Road in Hammersmith, of which she was a patron, will be holding a special screening of an interview its 2021 literature festival between Edna O’Brien and Dr Maureen O’Connor. This free event takes place from 8pm to 9.30pm on Friday 2 August. You are invited to bring your favourite excerpts from Edna O'Brien's novels, short stories, or essays to read aloud.
Written with contributions from Hugh Thompson
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