Mary Selway

Mary Selway, the grand dame of British casting agents, who selected bouquets of cinematic talent for directors like Steven Spielberg, Roman Polanski and Sydney Pollack, died April 21 in London, where she lived. She was 68.

The cause was cancer, said Nina Baron, a spokeswoman for New Line Features, for which she worked on several films.

She worked on more than 100 in all, including " Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, " which has not yet been released, and became in effect a collaborator of directors by her recruitment of the actors to embody their visions.

Many considered her triumph to be Robert Altman ' s 2001 film " Gosford Park. " She filled 54 speaking parts with stars like Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon, creating what many critics regarded as a seamless ensemble.

Her task was made more difficult by Altman ' s requirement that actors be present as background, visually and audibly, even when not scheduled to speak, a most unusual demand. Much of the time the movie ' s leading actors were, in effect, extras.

" It wasn ' t difficult to cast, " Ms. Selway said at the first screening of the movie. " It was a joy. "

On that occasion Altman said of Ms. Selway, " She ' s the person who is most responsible, other than me, for making this film happen. "

Other directors with whom Ms. Selway worked included Ridley Scott, John Boorman, Nicolas Roeg, James Cameron, John Madden, Michael Apted, Blake Edwards and Sydney Pollack.

Besides casting movies including " Tess " (1979), " Raiders of the Lost Ark " (1981), " Out of Africa " (1985), " Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey " (1988), " Emma " (1996) and " Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World " (2003), she was associate producer of " A Dry White Season " (1989) and producer of " Wuthering Heights " (1992).

Mary Selway was born in Norwich, England, March 14, 1936. Her father was a real estate manager and at one time managed a movie theater. At 13 she enrolled in the Italia Conti stage school in London and soon discovered she was too shy to be an actress, according to obituaries in The Guardian and Daily Variety. She tried modeling, but that also threatened her self-confidence.

She became a production assistant on television variety shows. Variety reported that she was so inexperienced that when she was asked to take a memo, she asked, " What ' s a memo and where do I take it? "

In her 20s she worked for the casting director Miriam Brickman and was greatly influenced by her work with the director Lindsay Anderson, who she said in a letter to The Guardian in 1994 " took me on an unremitting journey of truth. "

In 1999 she received the Michael Balcon Award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for outstanding contribution to British film over her 36-year career.

In an interview in 2000 with Netribution, a British film industry Web site, Ms. Selway discussed some of the difficulties of casting, including the " inverted snobbery " of directors who do not want to use the best actor for a part because another director has used him. She suggested that women are better in casting because they can better articulate emotion with actors and are less confrontational with directors.

In an interview with The Observer Ms. Selway mentioned how difficult it is to break casting stereotypes. " Hugh Grant might hit it off with Edna Cabbagehead, " she said, making up a name. Even so she ended up casting Julia Roberts for a leading role opposite Grant in " Notting Hill " in 1999.

Ms. Selway was married to the actor Norman Rodway, who died in 2001. She is survived by her partner, Aileen Maizel, and her two daughters with Keith Buckley, Emma and Kate Buckley, both of London.