Aahana Swrup
The Guy Ritchie film, ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,’ presents an action-adventure story about a unique covert operation being carried out during World War II under Winston Churchill’s orders. The film’s narrative focuses on Gus March-Phillips and his ragtag team of soldiers who are volatile and unpredictable enough to sail behind enemy lines and sink their prized vessel, Duchessa d’Aosta. Marjorie Stewart is one of the most instrumental players in this secretive mission as she travels to Santa Isabel Harbor with Heron to create a distraction to buy time for Gus and his men.
Considering the film has a loose basis in the real-life Operation Postmaster from the 1940s, Marjorie Stewart’s character and her relation to reality naturally come under questioning. Therefore, viewers must be curious to know whether or not the character possesses a real-life counterpart.
Marjorie Stewart: A Dramatized Version of the Real-Life SOE Operative
Much like several other central characters in ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,’ Eiza González’s Marjorie Stewart also finds her origins in an eponymous British operative from the Special Operations Executive, an espionage division. However, despite her basis in reality, the on-screen Marjorie Stewart sports significant differences from her off-screen counterpart. For the same reason, the film’s rendition of the woman is mostly rendered a fictionalized and highly dramaticized interpretation of reality.
According to Damien Lewis, the author and war reporter whose work inspired Guy Ritchie’s film, a female agent was an active on-ground part of the real-life Operation Postmaster. Nevertheless, within his book, Lewis describes a much different path for the female agent than Marjorie’s seduction plot on-screen. Furthermore, the character’s misadventures— however thrilling— cannot be traced back to the real-life Marjorie Stewart through historical records.
In real life, Stewart is recognized as a member of the SOE during World War II— but never saw on-ground participation in Operation Postmaster. Some historical accounts report the woman’s employment as a lift operator in Baker Street before seeing a promotion to SOE Controller, Patrick Howarth’s secretary. However, according to USA Today, Arash Amel, one of the screenwriters behind the film, shared that Stewart was also involved with Operation Postmaster from behind the scenes.
“Marjorie didn’t go out on a mission in Operation Postmaster, but she [had] a key role in planning and putting it all together,” said Amel. “Given that she was actually training a lot of the female spies going behind enemy lines, it would’ve been criminal to not send her [character] out on a mission in the movie to respect and honor her.”
Additionally, in a conversation with the Los Angeles Times, Amel expanded upon the writing team’s interpretation of Stewart. Therein, he reinforced the idea that Marjorie’s character remains a reminder of all the women whose contributions often go unnoticed within such stories. “That’s where it’s acceptable, for me, to stray from the bounds of an absolute commitment to history because contributions get forgotten,” said the screenwriter.
Consequently, alongside brushing up on historical reports of Marjorie Stewart, Actress González, who embodies the role, also did her research about other female SOE operatives, such as Virginia Hall, Nancy Wake, and Mata Hari. As a result, while Marjorie Stewart’s character certainly stems from a real-life counterpart, most of her on-screen adventures are fictionalized to depict the space historically occupied by female spies in such missions. Nevertheless, the same ensures the on-screen character retains little historical authenticity as an individual herself.
Marjorie Stewart Had an Acting Career and Married Gus March-Phillips
Daughter of Sir Frances Stewart and likely hailing from Sussex, Marjorie Frances Esclairmonde Stewart was born in Kensington, London, on May 18, 1912. She entertained an acting career from a young age even though she didn’t come from a traditional “stage family.” As a result, by the age of five, she had already made her theatrical debut and went on to star in several West End plays. Nevertheless, instead of pursuing an extended future in the theater, Stewart’s life shifted gears as she went to work with the SOE in 1939. The woman saw multiple titles during her career, such as lift operator, secretary, and alleged trainer.
In 1942— the same year that Gus March-Phillips partook in Churchill’s Operation Postmaster, Stewart crossed paths with the man, sparking a romance between the two. Consequently, after their initial meeting in January, the couple got married a few months later. Nevertheless, Stewart was widowed early on in her marriage as March-Phillips died on September 12, 1942. Due to his tragic, untimely death, March-Phillips never saw the birth of his daughter.
Thus, Stewart gave birth to their daughter, Henrietta Sophia March- Phillipps, without her husband on June 15, 1943. Reports don’t suggest the woman ever went on to get remarried. Instead, after leaving the SOE in 1946, she rekindled her passion for the stage and ended up returning to professional acting. In her career, Stewart helmed several small, mostly unnamed roles in numerous movies in the 50s, including ‘Little Big Shot’ and ‘The Lost King.’ Eventually, at the age of 76, the woman passed away on November 9, 1988.
Read More: Movies Like The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
