Margaret Rutherford
Encyclopedia
Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford (known as Margaret Rutherford) DBE
(11 May 1892 – 22 May 1972) was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward
's Blithe Spirit
, and Oscar Wilde
's The Importance of Being Earnest
. In 1963 she won the best supporting actress Oscar as The Duchess of Brighton in The VIPs
.
She is probably best known for her 1960s performances as Miss Marple
in several films based loosely on Agatha Christie
's novels.
minister, by bludgeoning him to death with a chamberpot. Shortly afterwards, William tried to kill himself as well, by slashing his throat with a pocketknife. After the murder, William Benn was confined to the Broadmoor
Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Several years later he was released, reportedly cured of his mental affliction. He changed his surname to Rutherford, and returned to his wife, Ann (née Taylor).
Margaret Rutherford was born in 1893 in Balham, the only child of William Rutherford Benn and his second wife Florence, née Nicholson. Her father's brother Sir John Benn, 1st Baronet was a British politician, and her first cousin once removed is British politician Tony Benn
. As an infant, Margaret Rutherford and her parents moved to India. She was returned to Britain when she was three to live with an aunt, a professional governess Bessie Nicholson, in Wimbledon
, England, after her pregnant mother, Florence, committed suicide by hanging herself from a tree. Her father returned to England as well. His continued mental illness resulted in his being confined once more to Broadmoor in 1904.
Margaret Rutherford was educated at Wimbledon High School
, and, from the age of about 13, at Raven's Croft School, a boarding school at Sutton Avenue, Seaford, where she is listed, aged 18, on the 1911 census.
in 1925, aged 33. Her physical appearance was such that romantic heroines were out of the question, and she soon established her name in comedy, appearing in many of the most successful British plays and films. "I never intended to play for laughs. I am always surprised that the audience thinks me funny at all", Rutherford wrote in her autobiography. Rutherford made her first appearance in London's West End
in 1933 but her talent was not recognised by the critics until her performance as Miss Prism in the play The Importance of Being Earnest
at the Globe Theatre
in 1939. In 1941 Noel Coward
's Blithe Spirit
opened on the London stage at the Piccadilly Theatre
, with Coward himself directing. Rutherford played Madame Arcati, the bumbling medium, a role which Coward had earlier envisaged for her.
Rutherford had a distinguished theatrical career alongside her film successes. Totally against type, she played the sinister housekeeper Mrs Danvers in Daphne du Maurier
's Rebecca
at the Queen's Theatre
in 1940. Her post-war theatre credits included Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest
again at the Haymarket Theatre
in 1946 and Lady Bracknell when the same play transferred to New York in 1947. She played an officious headmistress in The Happiest Days of Your Life
at the Apollo Theatre
in 1948 and such classical roles as Madame Desmortes in Ring Round the Moon
(Globe Theatre, 1950), Lady Wishfort in The Way of the World
(Lyric Hammersmith
, 1953 and Saville Theatre
, 1956) and Mrs Candour in The School for Scandal
(Haymarket Theatre, 1962). Her final stage performance came in 1966 when she played Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals
at the Haymarket Theatre, alongside Sir Ralph Richardson. Unfortunately, her declining health meant she had reluctantly to give up the role after a few weeks.
's film of Blithe Spirit
(1945) that would actually establish her screen success. This would become one of her most memorable performances, with her bicycling about the Kent countryside, cape fluttering behind her. Interestingly, it would also establish the model for portraying that role forever thereafter. She was Nurse Carey in Miranda
(1948) and Professor Hatton Jones in Passport to Pimlico
(1949). She reprised her stage roles of the headmistress alongside Alastair Sim
in The Happiest Days of Your Life
(1950) and Miss Prism in Anthony Asquith
's The Importance of Being Earnest
(1952).
More comedies followed, including Trouble in Store
(1953) with Norman Wisdom
, The Runaway Bus
(1954) with Frankie Howerd
and An Alligator Named Daisy
(1955) with Donald Sinden
and Diana Dors
. Rutherford then rejoined Norman Wisdom in Just My Luck
and co-starred in The Smallest Show on Earth
with Virginia McKenna
, Peter Sellers
and Leslie Phillips
(both 1957). She also joined a host of distinguished comedy stars, including Ian Carmichael
and Peter Sellers, in the Boulting Brothers' satire I'm All Right Jack
(1959).
In the early 1960s she became synonymous with Miss Jane Marple in a series of four films loosely based on the novels of Agatha Christie
. Rutherford, then aged 70, insisted on wearing her own clothes for the part and having her husband appear alongside her. In 1963 Christie dedicated her novel The Mirror Crack'd
: "To Margaret Rutherford in admiration". Christie reportedly did not approve of the 1960s films as they portrayed Marple as a comedy character and were not faithful to the original plots.
In 1963 Rutherford was awarded an Academy Award and Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the absent-minded, impoverished, pill-popping Duchess of Brighton, the only light relief, in Terence Rattigan
's The V.I.P.s
, a film featuring a star-studded cast led by Elizabeth Taylor
and Richard Burton
. She appeared as Mistress Quickly in Orson Welles
' film Chimes at Midnight
(1965) and was directed by Charlie Chaplin
in A Countess from Hong Kong
(1967), starring Marlon Brando
and Sophia Loren
, which was one of her final films.
Rutherford was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire
(OBE) in 1961 and was raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1967.
in 1945 and the couple appeared in many productions together. They were happily together until Rutherford's death in 1972. Davis adored Rutherford, with one friend noting: "For him she was not only a great talent but, above all, a beauty." Davis rarely left her side. He was private secretary and general dogsbody – lugging bags, teapots, hot water bottles, teddy bears and nursing Rutherford through periods of depression. These illnesses, often involving stays in mental hospitals and electric shock treatment, were kept hidden from the press during Rutherford's life.
In the 1950s, Rutherford and Davis unofficially adopted the writer Gordon Langley Hall, then in his twenties. Hall later had gender reassignment surgery and became Dawn Langley Simmons
, under which name she wrote a biography of Rutherford in 1983.
at the end of her life and was unable to work. Davis cared for his wife devotedly at their Buckinghamshire home but she died on 22 May 1972, aged 80. Many of Britain's top actors, including Sir John Gielgud, Robert Morley
and Joyce Grenfell
, paid tribute at a memorial service, where 90-year-old Sybil Thorndike
praised her friend's enormous talent and recalled that Rutherford had "never said anything horrid about anyone".
Rutherford and Davis (who died in 1973) are interred alongside each other in the graveyard of St. James's Church, Gerrards Cross
, Buckinghamshire.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(11 May 1892 – 22 May 1972) was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's Blithe Spirit
Blithe Spirit (film)
Blithe Spirit is a British fantasy comedy film directed by David Lean. The screenplay by Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan, Ronald Neame, and Noël Coward is based on Coward's 1941 play of the same name...
, and Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
's The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
. In 1963 she won the best supporting actress Oscar as The Duchess of Brighton in The VIPs
The V.I.P.s
The V.I.P.s, also known as Hotel International, is a 1963 British drama film. It was directed by Anthony Asquith, produced by Anatole de Grunwald and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
.
She is probably best known for her 1960s performances as Miss Marple
Miss Marple
Jane Marple, usually referred to as Miss Marple, is a fictional character appearing in twelve of Agatha Christie's crime novels and in twenty short stories. Miss Marple is an elderly spinster who lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur detective. She is one of the most famous...
in several films based loosely on Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's novels.
Early life
Margaret Rutherford's father, William Rutherford Benn, suffered from mental illness. During his honeymoon he had a nervous breakdown and was confined to an asylum. He was eventually released on holiday and on 4 March 1883, he murdered his father, the Reverend Julius Benn, a Congregational churchCongregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
minister, by bludgeoning him to death with a chamberpot. Shortly afterwards, William tried to kill himself as well, by slashing his throat with a pocketknife. After the murder, William Benn was confined to the Broadmoor
Broadmoor Hospital
Broadmoor Hospital is a high-security psychiatric hospital at Crowthorne in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire, England. It is the best known of the three high-security psychiatric hospitals in England, the other two being Ashworth and Rampton...
Criminal Lunatic Asylum. Several years later he was released, reportedly cured of his mental affliction. He changed his surname to Rutherford, and returned to his wife, Ann (née Taylor).
Margaret Rutherford was born in 1893 in Balham, the only child of William Rutherford Benn and his second wife Florence, née Nicholson. Her father's brother Sir John Benn, 1st Baronet was a British politician, and her first cousin once removed is British politician Tony Benn
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
. As an infant, Margaret Rutherford and her parents moved to India. She was returned to Britain when she was three to live with an aunt, a professional governess Bessie Nicholson, in Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
, England, after her pregnant mother, Florence, committed suicide by hanging herself from a tree. Her father returned to England as well. His continued mental illness resulted in his being confined once more to Broadmoor in 1904.
Margaret Rutherford was educated at Wimbledon High School
Wimbledon High School
.Wimbledon High School is an independent girls' school in Wimbledon, South West London. It is run by the Girls' Day School Trust and celebrated its 130th birthday on November 9 2010, having been founded by Edith Hastings in 1880. WHS educates girls between the ages of 4 and 18.The motto is "Ex...
, and, from the age of about 13, at Raven's Croft School, a boarding school at Sutton Avenue, Seaford, where she is listed, aged 18, on the 1911 census.
Stage career
Rutherford worked as a teacher of elocution and then went into acting later in life, making her stage debut at the Old VicOld Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
in 1925, aged 33. Her physical appearance was such that romantic heroines were out of the question, and she soon established her name in comedy, appearing in many of the most successful British plays and films. "I never intended to play for laughs. I am always surprised that the audience thinks me funny at all", Rutherford wrote in her autobiography. Rutherford made her first appearance in London's West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
in 1933 but her talent was not recognised by the critics until her performance as Miss Prism in the play The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
at the Globe Theatre
Gielgud Theatre
The Gielgud Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, London, at the corner of Rupert Street. The house currently has 889 seats on three levels.-History:...
in 1939. In 1941 Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's Blithe Spirit
Blithe Spirit (play)
Blithe Spirit is a comic play written by Noël Coward which takes its title from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To a Skylark" . The play concerns socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati, to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to...
opened on the London stage at the Piccadilly Theatre
Piccadilly Theatre
The Piccadilly Theatre is a West End theatre located at 16 Denman Street, behind Piccadilly Circus and adjacent to the Regent Palace Hotel, in the City of Westminster, England.-Early years:Built by Bertie Crewe and Edward A...
, with Coward himself directing. Rutherford played Madame Arcati, the bumbling medium, a role which Coward had earlier envisaged for her.
Rutherford had a distinguished theatrical career alongside her film successes. Totally against type, she played the sinister housekeeper Mrs Danvers in Daphne du Maurier
Daphne du Maurier
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
's Rebecca
Rebecca (novel)
Rebecca is a novel by Daphne du Maurier. When Rebecca was published in 1938, du Maurier became – to her great surprise – one of the most popular authors of the day. Rebecca is considered to be one of her best works...
at the Queen's Theatre
Queen's Theatre
The Queen's Theatre is a West End theatre located in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. It opened on 8 October 1907 as a twin to the neighbouring Gielgud Theatre which opened ten months earlier. Both theatres were designed by W.G.R...
in 1940. Her post-war theatre credits included Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
again at the Haymarket Theatre
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...
in 1946 and Lady Bracknell when the same play transferred to New York in 1947. She played an officious headmistress in The Happiest Days of Your Life
The Happiest Days of Your Life
The Happiest Days of Your Life is a 1950 British comedy film directed by Frank Launder, based on the play by John Dighton. The two men also wrote the screenplay. It's one of a stable of classic British film comedies produced by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat for British Lion Film Corporation. The...
at the Apollo Theatre
Apollo Theatre
The Apollo Theatre is a Grade II listed West End theatre, on Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. Designed by architect Lewin Sharp for owner Henry Lowenfield, and the fourth legitimate theatre to be constructed on the street, its doors opened on 21 February 1901 with the American...
in 1948 and such classical roles as Madame Desmortes in Ring Round the Moon
Ring Round the Moon
Ring Round the Moon is a 1950 adaptation by the English dramatist Christopher Fry of Jean Anouilh's Invitation to the Castle . Peter Brook commissioned Fry to adapt the play and the first production of Ring Round the Moon was given at the Globe Theatre...
(Globe Theatre, 1950), Lady Wishfort in The Way of the World
The Way of the World
The Way of the World is a play written by British playwright William Congreve. It premiered in 1700 in the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London...
(Lyric Hammersmith
Lyric Hammersmith
The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on King Street, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, which takes pride in its original, "groundbreaking" productions....
, 1953 and Saville Theatre
Saville Theatre
The Saville Theatre is a former West End theatre at 135 Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster. The theatre opened in 1931, and became a music venue during the 1960s, finally being converted to a cinema in 1970.-Theatre years:...
, 1956) and Mrs Candour in The School for Scandal
The School for Scandal
The School for Scandal is a play written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on May 8, 1777.The prologue, written by David Garrick, commends the play, its subject, and its author to the audience...
(Haymarket Theatre, 1962). Her final stage performance came in 1966 when she played Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals
The Rivals
The Rivals, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is a comedy of manners in five acts. It was first performed on 17 January 1775.- Production :...
at the Haymarket Theatre, alongside Sir Ralph Richardson. Unfortunately, her declining health meant she had reluctantly to give up the role after a few weeks.
Film career
Although she made her film debut in 1936, it would be Rutherford's turn as Madame Arcati in David LeanDavid Lean
Sir David Lean CBE was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor best remembered for big-screen epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai , Lawrence of Arabia ,...
's film of Blithe Spirit
Blithe Spirit (film)
Blithe Spirit is a British fantasy comedy film directed by David Lean. The screenplay by Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan, Ronald Neame, and Noël Coward is based on Coward's 1941 play of the same name...
(1945) that would actually establish her screen success. This would become one of her most memorable performances, with her bicycling about the Kent countryside, cape fluttering behind her. Interestingly, it would also establish the model for portraying that role forever thereafter. She was Nurse Carey in Miranda
Miranda (1948 film)
Miranda is a 1948 British comedy film, directed by Ken Annakin and written by Peter Blackmore, who also wrote the play of the same name from which the film was adapted. Denis Waldock provided additional dialogue. A light comedy, the film is about a beautiful and playful mermaid played by Glynis...
(1948) and Professor Hatton Jones in Passport to Pimlico
Passport to Pimlico
Passport to Pimlico is a 1949 British comedy film made by Ealing Studios and starred Stanley Holloway, Margaret Rutherford, and Hermione Baddeley. It was directed by Henry Cornelius....
(1949). She reprised her stage roles of the headmistress alongside Alastair Sim
Alastair Sim
Alastair George Bell Sim, CBE was a Scottish character actor who appeared in a string of classic British films. He is best remembered in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 film Scrooge, and for his portrayal of Miss Fritton, the headmistress in two St. Trinian's films...
in The Happiest Days of Your Life
The Happiest Days of Your Life
The Happiest Days of Your Life is a 1950 British comedy film directed by Frank Launder, based on the play by John Dighton. The two men also wrote the screenplay. It's one of a stable of classic British film comedies produced by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat for British Lion Film Corporation. The...
(1950) and Miss Prism in Anthony Asquith
Anthony Asquith
Anthony Asquith was a leading English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on The Winslow Boy and The Browning Version , among other adaptations...
's The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest (1952 film)
The Importance of Being Earnest is a British film adaptation of the play by Oscar Wilde. It was directed by Anthony Asquith, who also adapted the screenplay, and was produced by Teddy Baird.-Adaptation:...
(1952).
More comedies followed, including Trouble in Store
Trouble in Store
Trouble in Store is a 1953 British comedy film starring Norman Wisdom as a department store clerk in his screen debut. For his performance, Wisdom won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer. The film broke box office records at 51 out of the 67 London cinemas in which it played...
(1953) with Norman Wisdom
Norman Wisdom
Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, OBE was an English actor, comedian and singer-songwriter best known for a series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966 featuring his hapless onscreen character Norman Pitkin...
, The Runaway Bus
The Runaway Bus
The Runaway Bus is a 1954 British comedy film produced, written, and directed by Val Guest. It stars Frankie Howerd and Petula Clark.-Plot summary:...
(1954) with Frankie Howerd
Frankie Howerd
Francis Alick "Frankie" Howerd OBE was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as "a series of comebacks", spanned six decades.-Early career:...
and An Alligator Named Daisy
An Alligator Named Daisy
An Alligator Named Daisy is a 1955 British comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Donald Sinden, Jeannie Carson, James Robertson Justice, Diana Dors, Roland Culver and Stanley Holloway.-Plot:...
(1955) with Donald Sinden
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
and Diana Dors
Diana Dors
Diana Dors was an English actress, born Diana Mary Fluck in Swindon, Wiltshire. Considered the English equivalent of the blonde bombshells of Hollywood, Dors described herself as: "The only sex symbol Britain has produced since Lady Godiva."-Early life:Diana Mary Fluck was born in Swindon,...
. Rutherford then rejoined Norman Wisdom in Just My Luck
Just My Luck (1957 film)
Just My Luck is a 1957 British sports comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Norman Wisdom as a worker in a jewellery shop.- Plot :...
and co-starred in The Smallest Show on Earth
The Smallest Show on Earth
The Smallest Show on Earth is a 1957 British comedy film, directed by Basil Dearden, and starring Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Peter Sellers and Margaret Rutherford. The supporting cast included Bernard Miles, Leslie Phillips, Francis de Wolff, George Cross, June Cunningham and Sid James...
with Virginia McKenna
Virginia McKenna
Virginia A. McKenna OBE is a British stage and screen actress, author and wildlife campaigner.-Early career:McKenna trained as an actress at the Central School of Speech and Drama then worked on stage in London's West End theatres before making her motion picture debut in 1952...
, Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
and Leslie Phillips
Leslie Phillips
Leslie Samuel Phillips, CBE is an English actor with a highly recognisable upper class accent. Originally known for his work as a comedy actor, Phillips subsequently made the transition to character roles.-Early life:...
(both 1957). She also joined a host of distinguished comedy stars, including Ian Carmichael
Ian Carmichael
Ian Gillett Carmichael, OBE was an English film, stage, television and radio actor.-Early life:Carmichael was born in Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The son of an optician, he was educated at Scarborough College and Bromsgrove School, before training as an actor at RADA...
and Peter Sellers, in the Boulting Brothers' satire I'm All Right Jack
I'm All Right Jack
I'm All Right Jack is a 1959 British comedy film directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting from a script by Frank Harvey, John Boulting and Alan Hackney, based on the novel Private Life by Hackney...
(1959).
In the early 1960s she became synonymous with Miss Jane Marple in a series of four films loosely based on the novels of Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
. Rutherford, then aged 70, insisted on wearing her own clothes for the part and having her husband appear alongside her. In 1963 Christie dedicated her novel The Mirror Crack'd
The Mirror Crack'd
The Mirror Crack'd is a 1980 film British mystery film based on Agatha Christie's Miss Marple novel The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side...
: "To Margaret Rutherford in admiration". Christie reportedly did not approve of the 1960s films as they portrayed Marple as a comedy character and were not faithful to the original plots.
In 1963 Rutherford was awarded an Academy Award and Golden Globe as Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the absent-minded, impoverished, pill-popping Duchess of Brighton, the only light relief, in Terence Rattigan
Terence Rattigan
Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan CBE was one of England's most popular 20th-century dramatists. His plays are generally set in an upper-middle-class background...
's The V.I.P.s
The V.I.P.s
The V.I.P.s, also known as Hotel International, is a 1963 British drama film. It was directed by Anthony Asquith, produced by Anatole de Grunwald and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...
, a film featuring a star-studded cast led by Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
and Richard Burton
Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
. She appeared as Mistress Quickly in Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
' film Chimes at Midnight
Chimes at Midnight
Chimes at Midnight, also known as Falstaff and Campanadas a medianoche , is a 1965 film directed by and starring Orson Welles. Focused on William Shakespeare's recurring character Sir John Falstaff, the film stars Welles himself as Falstaff, Keith Baxter plays Prince Hal , and John Gielgud plays...
(1965) and was directed by Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
in A Countess from Hong Kong
A Countess from Hong Kong
A Countess from Hong Kong is a 1967 British comedy film and the last film directed by Charlie Chaplin. It was one of two films Chaplin directed in which he did not play a major role , and his only color film. Chaplin's cameo marked his final screen appearance...
(1967), starring Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
and Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren
Sophia Loren, OMRI is an Italian actress.In 1962, Loren won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Two Women, along with 21 awards, becoming the first actress to win an Academy Award for a non-English-speaking performance...
, which was one of her final films.
Rutherford was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(OBE) in 1961 and was raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1967.
Personal life
Rutherford married character actor Stringer DavisStringer Davis
James Buckley Stringer Davis, generally known as Stringer Davis , was an English character actor. He was married to actress Dame Margaret Rutherford.-Background and marriage:Davis was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England....
in 1945 and the couple appeared in many productions together. They were happily together until Rutherford's death in 1972. Davis adored Rutherford, with one friend noting: "For him she was not only a great talent but, above all, a beauty." Davis rarely left her side. He was private secretary and general dogsbody – lugging bags, teapots, hot water bottles, teddy bears and nursing Rutherford through periods of depression. These illnesses, often involving stays in mental hospitals and electric shock treatment, were kept hidden from the press during Rutherford's life.
In the 1950s, Rutherford and Davis unofficially adopted the writer Gordon Langley Hall, then in his twenties. Hall later had gender reassignment surgery and became Dawn Langley Simmons
Dawn Langley Simmons
Dawn Langley Pepita Simmons was a prolific English author and biographer. Born "Gordon Langley Hall", Simmons lived her first decades as a male. As a young adult, she became close to British actress Margaret Rutherford, whom she considered an adoptive mother and who was the subject of a biography...
, under which name she wrote a biography of Rutherford in 1983.
Death
Rutherford suffered from Alzheimer's diseaseAlzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
at the end of her life and was unable to work. Davis cared for his wife devotedly at their Buckinghamshire home but she died on 22 May 1972, aged 80. Many of Britain's top actors, including Sir John Gielgud, Robert Morley
Robert Morley
Robert Adolph Wilton Morley, CBE was an English actor who, often in supporting roles, was usually cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment...
and Joyce Grenfell
Joyce Grenfell
Joyce Irene Grenfell, OBE was an English actress, comedienne, diseuse and singer-songwriter.-Early life:...
, paid tribute at a memorial service, where 90-year-old Sybil Thorndike
Sybil Thorndike
Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike CH DBE was a British actress.-Early life:She was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire to Arthur Thorndike and Agnes Macdonald. Her father was a Canon of Rochester Cathedral...
praised her friend's enormous talent and recalled that Rutherford had "never said anything horrid about anyone".
Rutherford and Davis (who died in 1973) are interred alongside each other in the graveyard of St. James's Church, Gerrards Cross
Gerrards Cross
Gerrards Cross is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the south of the county, near the border with Greater London, south of Chalfont St Peter. Gerrards Cross is also a civil parish within South Bucks district, which was known as the Beaconsfield district from 1974 to 1980...
, Buckinghamshire.
Selected stage performances
- Blithe SpiritBlithe Spirit (play)Blithe Spirit is a comic play written by Noël Coward which takes its title from Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem "To a Skylark" . The play concerns socialite and novelist Charles Condomine, who invites the eccentric medium and clairvoyant, Madame Arcati, to his house to conduct a séance, hoping to...
- The Way of the WorldThe Way of the WorldThe Way of the World is a play written by British playwright William Congreve. It premiered in 1700 in the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London...
- The Importance of Being EarnestThe Importance of Being EarnestThe Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
, as Miss Prism and in New York (1947) as Lady Bracknell, directed by John GielgudJohn GielgudSir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937... - The School for ScandalThe School for ScandalThe School for Scandal is a play written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on May 8, 1777.The prologue, written by David Garrick, commends the play, its subject, and its author to the audience...
- The Solid Gold CadillacThe Solid Gold CadillacThe Solid Gold Cadillac is a 1956 film directed by Richard Quine and written by Abe Burrows, Howard Teichmann and George S. Kaufman. It was adapted from the hit Broadway play of the same name by Teichmann and Kaufman, in which they pillory big business and corrupt businessmen...
- The RivalsThe RivalsThe Rivals, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is a comedy of manners in five acts. It was first performed on 17 January 1775.- Production :...
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 | Talk of the Devil | Housekeeper | |
| 1936 | Dusty Ermine | Evelyn Summers aka Miss Butterby, old gang moll | |
| 1936 | Troubled Waters | Bit role | uncredited |
| 1937 | Missing, Believed Married | Lady Parke | |
| 1937 | Catch as Catch Can Catch as Catch Can (1937 film) Catch as Catch Can is a 1937 film starring James Mason, Viki Dobson, Eddie Pola and Margaret Rutherford.-External links:* at Internet Movie Database... |
Maggie Carberry | |
| 1937 | Big Fella Big Fella Big Fella is a 1937 film directed by J. Elder Wills, loosely based on the novel Banjo by Harlem Renaissance writer Claude McKay.-Plot:... |
Nanny | uncredited |
| 1937 | Beauty and the Barge | Mrs. Baldwin | |
| 1941 | Spring Meeting Spring Meeting Spring Meeting is a 1941 British comedy film directed by Walter C. Mycroft and starring Enid Stamp-Taylor, Michael Wilding, Basil Sydney and Sarah Churchill. Instead of marrying the woman his parents have chosen for him, a man falls in love with her sister. It was based on the play by M. J... |
Aunt Bijou | |
| 1941 | Quiet Wedding Quiet Wedding Quiet Wedding is a 1941 British comedy film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Margaret Lockwood, Derek Farr and Marjorie Fielding. The screenplay was written by Terence Rattigan and Anatole de Grunwald based on the play Quiet Wedding by Esther McCracken which was later remade as Happy is the... |
Magistrate | |
| 1943 | Yellow Canary Yellow Canary (film) Yellow Canary is a 1943 British drama film starring Anna Neagle, Richard Greene and Albert Lieven. Neagle plays a British Nazi sympathiser who travels to Halifax, Canada trailed by spies from both sides during the Second World War.-Plot:... |
Mrs. Towcester | |
| 1943 | Rowena Ventnor | ||
| 1944 | English Without Tears English Without Tears English Without Tears is a 1944 British Comedy film directed by Harold French and starring Michael Wilding, Penelope Dudley-Ward and Lilli Palmer. The niece of a British aristocrat falls in love with the butler.-Cast:* Michael Wilding ... Tom Gilbey... |
Lady Christabel Beauclerk | |
| 1945 | Blithe Spirit Blithe Spirit (film) Blithe Spirit is a British fantasy comedy film directed by David Lean. The screenplay by Lean, Anthony Havelock-Allan, Ronald Neame, and Noël Coward is based on Coward's 1941 play of the same name... |
Madame Arcati | |
| 1947 | While the Sun Shines While the Sun Shines While the Sun Shines is a 1947 British comedy film directed by Anthony Asquith. It was based on Terrence Rattigan's 1943 play of the same name. -Plot:... |
Dr. Winifred Frye | |
| 1947 | Meet Me at Dawn Meet Me at Dawn Meet Me at Dawn is a 1947 British comedy film directed by Peter Creswell and Thornton Freeland and starring William Eythe, Stanley Holloway and Hazel Court. A very skilled pistol shot hires himself out to fight duels in early twentieth century Paris.-Cast:... |
Madame Vernore | |
| 1948 | Miranda Miranda (1948 film) Miranda is a 1948 British comedy film, directed by Ken Annakin and written by Peter Blackmore, who also wrote the play of the same name from which the film was adapted. Denis Waldock provided additional dialogue. A light comedy, the film is about a beautiful and playful mermaid played by Glynis... |
Nurse Carey | |
| 1949 | Passport to Pimlico Passport to Pimlico Passport to Pimlico is a 1949 British comedy film made by Ealing Studios and starred Stanley Holloway, Margaret Rutherford, and Hermione Baddeley. It was directed by Henry Cornelius.... |
Professor Hatton-Jones | |
| 1950 | Muriel Whitchurch | ||
| 1950 | Quel bandito sono io | Mrs. Dotherington | Also released as Her Favorite Husband |
| 1951 | Lady Pond | ||
| 1952 | Curtain Up Curtain Up Curtain Up is a 1952 British film directed by Ralph Smart, written by Jack Davies and Philip King. It is based on the play Sunday for Seven Days by Philip King.-Plot:... |
Catherine Beckwith/Jeremy St. Claire | |
| 1952 | Miss Robin Hood Miss Robin Hood Miss Robin Hood is a 1952 British film directed by John Guillermin. It falls neatly within the genre of post-war British fantasy, and there are strong correlations with a number of films within this genre such as e.g... |
Miss Honey | |
| 1952 | Miss Letitia Prism | ||
| 1952 | Castle in the Air Castle in the Air (film) Castle in the Air is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Henry Cass and starring David Tomlinson, Helen Cherry, Margaret Rutherford and Gordon Jackson.-Plot:... |
Miss Nicholson | |
| 1953 | Innocents in Paris Innocents in Paris Innocents in Paris is a 1953 British French international co-production comedy film produced by Romulus Films, directed by Gordon Parry and starring Alastair Sim, Jimmy Edwards, Claire Bloom, Margaret Rutherford, James Copeland and Ronald Shiner as Dicky Bird... |
Gwladys Inglott | |
| 1953 | Trouble in Store Trouble in Store Trouble in Store is a 1953 British comedy film starring Norman Wisdom as a department store clerk in his screen debut. For his performance, Wisdom won a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer. The film broke box office records at 51 out of the 67 London cinemas in which it played... |
Miss Bacon | |
| 1954 | Miss Cynthia Beeston | ||
| 1954 | Mad About Men Mad About Men Mad About Men is a British comedy film, made in 1954. It was directed by Ralph Thomas and written by Peter Blackmore, who also wrote the 1948 film Miranda which preceded Mad About Men... |
Nurse Carey | |
| 1954 | Aunt Clara Aunt Clara (1954 film) Aunt Clara is a 1954 British comedy film starring Margaret Rutherford as a woman who inherits a number of shady businesses from a relative. Ronald Shiner, A. E. Matthews, and Fay Compton are also featured... |
Clara Hilton | |
| 1955 | Prudence Croquet | ||
| 1957 | Mrs. Fazackalee | ||
| 1957 | Just My Luck Just My Luck (1957 film) Just My Luck is a 1957 British sports comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Norman Wisdom as a worker in a jewellery shop.- Plot :... |
Mrs. Dooley | |
| 1959 | I'm All Right Jack I'm All Right Jack I'm All Right Jack is a 1959 British comedy film directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting from a script by Frank Harvey, John Boulting and Alan Hackney, based on the novel Private Life by Hackney... |
Aunt Dolly | |
| 1961 | On the Double | Lady Vivian | |
| 1961 | Murder, She Said Murder, She Said Murder, She Said is a murder mystery film directed by George Pollock, loosely based on the novel 4.50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie... |
Miss Jane Marple | |
| 1963 | Murder at the Gallop Murder at the Gallop Murder at the Gallop is the second of four films made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, based on the novel After the Funeral by Agatha Christie, and starring Margaret Rutherford as Miss Jane Marple, Charles "Bud" Tingwell as Inspector Craddock and Stringer Davis as Mr. Stringer. The film changes the action... |
Miss Jane Marple | |
| 1963 | Grand Duchess Gloriana XIII | ||
| 1963 | |||
| 1964 | Murder Most Foul Murder Most Foul Murder Most Foul is the third of four films made by MGM loosely based on novels by Agatha Christie and starring Margaret Rutherford as Miss Jane Marple, Bud Tingwell as Inspector Craddock, and Stringer Davis as Mr Stringer. The story is ostensibly based on the novel Mrs McGinty's Dead, but notably... |
Miss Jane Marple | |
| 1964 | Murder Ahoy! Murder Ahoy! Murder Ahoy! is the last of four Miss Marple films, made by MGM and starring Margaret Rutherford. As in the three previous films, Margaret Rutherford plays Miss Jane Marple, Bud Tingwell is Inspector Craddock and Stringer Davis plays Mr Stringer.The film was made in 1964 and directed by George... |
Miss Jane Marple | |
| 1965 | Chimes at Midnight Chimes at Midnight Chimes at Midnight, also known as Falstaff and Campanadas a medianoche , is a 1965 film directed by and starring Orson Welles. Focused on William Shakespeare's recurring character Sir John Falstaff, the film stars Welles himself as Falstaff, Keith Baxter plays Prince Hal , and John Gielgud plays... |
Mistress Quickly | |
| 1965 | Miss Jane Marple | uncredited cameo | |
| 1967 | Miss Gaulswallow | ||
| 1967 | Arabella Arabella (1967 film) Arabella is an Italian film comedy in the English language, starring Virna Lisi, Terry-Thomas and James Fox. It was directed by Mauro Bolognini.... |
Princess Ilaria | |
| 1967 | Mother Goose | voice |
Further reading
- Rutherford, Margaret, as told to Gwen Robyns. Margaret Rutherford: An Autobiography. W. H. Allen, London. 1972.
- Simmons, Dawn Langley. Margaret Rutherford. A Blithe Spirit. London, 1983.
- Merriman, Andy, Margaret Rutherford: Dreadnought with Good Manners. London, Aurum Press. 2009. ISBN 9781845134457