Peggy Ashcroft

Dame Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft, DBE (December 22, 1907–June 14, 1991) was an acclaimed British actress.

Related Topics:
December 22 - 1907 - June 14 - 1991

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Born in Croydon, Ashcroft attended the Central School of Speech and Drama. A prolific stage actress from a young age, Peggy Ashcroft's film and television appearances were rare but memorable. One of her earliest film roles was the minor part of the crofter's wife in the Robert Donat version of The Thirty-Nine Steps.

Related Topics:
Croydon - Central School of Speech and Drama - Robert Donat - The Thirty-Nine Steps

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In 1937 she appeared in a thirty-minute excerpt of Twelfth Night on the BBC Television Service, alongside Greer Garson, the first known instance of a Shakespeare play to be performed on television.

Related Topics:
1937 - Twelfth Night - BBC Television Service - Greer Garson

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Possibly her best known celluloid role was that of "Mrs. Moore" in A Passage to India - a role which won her an Academy Award in 1984 for Best Actress In A Supporting Role, although she did not appear in person at the telecast to accept the award, which Angela Lansbury accepted on her behalf. On television, 1984 saw Peggy Ashcroft appear in the role of "Barbie Batchelor" in the internationally acclaimed British mini-series The Jewel in the Crown, for which she won a BAFTA Best Television Actress award.

Related Topics:
A Passage to India - Academy Award - Angela Lansbury - The Jewel in the Crown - BAFTA

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Peggy Ashcroft was appointed OBE in 1951, and DBE in 1956. She died in London on June 14, 1991, of a stroke at the age of 83.

Related Topics:
OBE - DBE - June 14 - 1991 - Stroke

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She was thrice-married and divorced, with 2 children by her last husband, Lord Jeremy Hutchinson, whom she married in 1940 and divorced in 1965. Her first husband was Rupert Hart-Davis, and her second husband was Theodor Komisarjevsky. She was rumoured to have had an affair with the late African-American actor and activist Paul Robeson.

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