My mother, Susan Olden, who has died of lung cancer aged 71, was a promising actress who gave up a burgeoning stage and screen career (under her maiden name, Susan Burnet) to raise her family.Four weeks after graduating from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (Lamda) in 1957, she won a leading role alongside Sir Ralph Richardson and Celia Johnson in a West End play, Flowering Cherry. "In physical allure," noted one reviewer, "Miss Burnet reminds one of Brigitte Bardot and from a thankless role she draws more than it intrinsically contains."The play, which ran for over 400 performances at the Haymarket theatre, and later transferred to Broadway, also starred my father Andrew Ray (whose family name was Olden). Romance between the pair flourished, and a marriage proposal followed.