Katie Johnson (18 November 1878 – 4 May 1957) played Mrs. Wilberforce in Alexander Mackendrick's 1955 film "The Ladykillers", alongside Alec Guinness, Herbert Lom, and Peter Sellers as members of the criminal gang that rented herrooms in order to rob a security van at the adjacent railway station. The first words of Professor Marcus (Guinness) are spoken through the door after he rings the bell: "Mrs. Wilberforce?" As that echoes Guinness's famous line from George Lucas's "Star Wars" (1977), I created a meme years ago for "Star Wars" Day: a picture of Johnson captioned, "May the Wilberforce be with you". Only recently did I learn that Johnson died on 4 May. (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 4 May2025)
