Sybil Thorndike
Encyclopedia
Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike CH
DBE (24 October 18829 June 1976) was a British
actress.
to Arthur Thorndike and Agnes Macdonald. Her father was a Canon
of Rochester Cathedral
. She was educated at The Rochester Grammar School for Girls, and first trained as a classical pianist, making weekly visits to London
for music lessons at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
.
She gave her first public performance as a pianist at the age of 11, but in 1899 was forced to give up playing owing to piano cramp. At the instigation of her brother, the author Russell Thorndike
, she then trained as an actress.
with the actor-manager Ben Greet
's company. She made her first stage appearance in Greet's 1904 production of Shakespeare
's The Merry Wives of Windsor
. She went on to tour the U.S. in Shakespearean repertory for four years, playing some 112 roles.
In 1908 Sybil was spotted by the playwright
George Bernard Shaw
when she understudied the leading role of Candida
in a tour directed by Shaw himself. There she also met her future husband, Lewis Casson
. They were married in December 1908, and had four children - John (1909–1999), Christopher
(1912–1996), Mary (1914–2009) and Ann (1915–1990).
She joined Annie Horniman
's company in Manchester (1908–09 and 1911–13), went to Broadway
in 1910, and then joined the Old Vic
Company in London (1914–18), playing leading roles in Shakespeare and in other classic plays. After the war, she played Hecuba
in Euripides
The Trojan Women
(1919–20), then from 1920–22, Sybil and her husband starred in a British version of France
's Grand Guignol
directed by Jose Levy
.
She returned to the stage in the title role of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan
in 1924, which had been written with her specifically in mind. The production was a huge success, and was revived repeatedly until her final performance in the role in 1941. In 1927, Thorndike appeared in a short film of the cathedral scene from Saint Joan made in the DeForest Phonofilm
sound-on-film
process.
Both Sybil and Lewis were active members of the Labour Party
, and held strong left-wing views. Even when the 1926 General Strike
stopped the first run of Saint Joan, they both still supported the strikers.
Nonetheless, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
in 1931. As a pacifist, Sybil was a member of the Peace Pledge Union
and gave readings for its benefit.
During World War II
, Dame Sybil and her husband toured in Shakespearean productions on behalf of the Council For the Encouragement of the Arts, before joining Laurence Olivier
and Ralph Richardson
in the Old Vic
season at the New Theatre in 1944.
She continued to have success in such plays as Waters of the Moon. She also undertook tours of Australia
and South Africa
, before playing again with Olivier in Uncle Vanya
at Chichester
in 1962. She made her farewell appearance with her husband in London revival of Arsenic and Old Lace
at the Vaudeville Theatre
in 1966. Her last stage performance was at The Thorndike Theatre in Leatherhead
, Surrey
, in There Was an Old Woman in 1969, the year Sir Lewis Casson
died.
Her final appearance was in a TV drama The Great Inimitable Mr Dickens, with Anthony Hopkins
in 1970.
The same year she was made a Companion of Honour
. She and her husband were one of the few couples who both held titles in their own right. She had also been awarded an honorary degree from Manchester University in 1922, and an honorary D.Litt
from Oxford University in 1966.
Dame Sybil's ashes are buried in Westminster Abbey.
, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
, Macbeth
, The Merchant of Venice
and The Scarlet Letter
.
She also appeared in a 1927 short film, made in the DeForest Phonofilm
process, of her performing as Saint Joan in an excerpt of the play by George Bernard Shaw
. Among her notable film roles were as Nurse Edith Cavell
in Dawn (1928), General Baines in Major Barbara (1941), Mrs. Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby
(1948), Queen Victoria in Melba (1952) and The Queen Dowager in The Prince and the Showgirl
(1957), for which she was awarded the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress. She made her last film appearance - in a version of Uncle Vanya
- in 1963.
's play Fram
, played in the premiere by Sian Thomas
. Here she is resurrected from the dead to play herself in one of Gilbert Murray
's plays.
She appears in Nicholas de Jongh's play Plague Over England, played in the premiere by Nichola McAuliffe
.
Her name is also used in Muriel Spark
's novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, citing her as "a woman of noble men."
In the film My Week with Marilyn
, she is played by Judi Dench
and is portrayed as supporting the fragile American actress when Olivier loses patience with what he sees as her unprofessionalism. Her support for labor is also referenced in one scene.
Order of the Companions of Honour
The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V in June 1917, as a reward for outstanding achievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry or religion....
DBE (24 October 18829 June 1976) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
actress.
Early life
She was born in Gainsborough, LincolnshireGainsborough, Lincolnshire
Gainsborough is a town 15 miles north-west of Lincoln on the River Trent within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. At one time it served as an important port with trade downstream to Hull, and was the most inland in England, being more than 55 miles from the North...
to Arthur Thorndike and Agnes Macdonald. Her father was a Canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
of Rochester Cathedral
Rochester Cathedral
Rochester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Norman church in Rochester, Kent. The bishopric is second oldest in England after Canterbury...
. She was educated at The Rochester Grammar School for Girls, and first trained as a classical pianist, making weekly visits to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
for music lessons at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...
.
She gave her first public performance as a pianist at the age of 11, but in 1899 was forced to give up playing owing to piano cramp. At the instigation of her brother, the author Russell Thorndike
Russell Thorndike
Arthur Russell Thorndike was a British actor and novelist, best known for the Doctor Syn of Romney Marsh novels...
, she then trained as an actress.
Career
At the age of 21 she was offered her first professional contract: a tour of the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with the actor-manager Ben Greet
Ben Greet
Sir Philip Barling "Ben" Greet was a Shakespearean actor, director, and impresario.-Early life:The younger son of Captain William Greet RN and his wife, Sarah Barling, Greet was born on board HMS Crocodile, a Royal Navy recruiting ship tied up at the Tower of London. He was educated at the Royal...
's company. She made her first stage appearance in Greet's 1904 production of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life...
. She went on to tour the U.S. in Shakespearean repertory for four years, playing some 112 roles.
In 1908 Sybil was spotted by the playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
when she understudied the leading role of Candida
Candida (play)
Candida, a comedy by playwright George Bernard Shaw, was first published in 1898, as part of his Plays Pleasant. The central characters are clergyman James Morell, his wife Candida and a youthful poet, Eugene Marchbanks, who tries to win Candida's affections. The play questions Victorian notions...
in a tour directed by Shaw himself. There she also met her future husband, Lewis Casson
Lewis Casson
Sir Lewis Thomas Casson MC was a British actor and theatre director and the husband of Dame Sybil Thorndike.-Early life:...
. They were married in December 1908, and had four children - John (1909–1999), Christopher
Christopher Casson
Christopher Casson was an English-born actor who became a citizen of Ireland in 1946. His work included stage, screen, radio and television roles...
(1912–1996), Mary (1914–2009) and Ann (1915–1990).
She joined Annie Horniman
Annie Horniman
Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman CH was an English theatre patron and manager. She established the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and founded the first regional repertory theatre company in Britain at the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester. She encouraged the work of new writers and playwrights, including...
's company in Manchester (1908–09 and 1911–13), went to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in 1910, and then joined the Old Vic
Old 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...
Company in London (1914–18), playing leading roles in Shakespeare and in other classic plays. After the war, she played Hecuba
Hecuba
Hecuba was a queen in Greek mythology, the wife of King Priam of Troy during the Trojan War, with whom she had 19 children. These children included several major characters of Homer's Iliad such as the warriors Hector and Paris, and the prophetess Cassandra...
in Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
The Trojan Women
The Trojan Women
The Trojan Women is a tragedy by the Greek playwright Euripides. Produced during the Peloponnesian War, it is often considered a commentary on the capture of the Aegean island of Melos and the subsequent slaughter and subjugation of its populace by the Athenians earlier in 415 BC , the same year...
(1919–20), then from 1920–22, Sybil and her husband starred in a British version of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
's Grand Guignol
Grand Guignol
Le Théâtre du Grand-Guignol — known as the Grand Guignol — was a theatre in the Pigalle area of Paris . From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962 it specialized in naturalistic horror shows...
directed by Jose Levy
Jose Levy
Jose Levy was the theatre practitioner who attempted to import the ghoulish and grisly Grand Guignol aesthetic for London audiences.Levy was born in Portsmouth, England and educated at the Ecole de Commerce, Lausanne....
.
She returned to the stage in the title role of George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan
Saint Joan (play)
Saint Joan is a play by George Bernard Shaw, based on the life and trial of Joan of Arc. Published not long after the canonization of Joan of Arc by the Roman Catholic Church, the play dramatises what is known of her life based on the substantial records of her trial. Shaw studied the transcripts...
in 1924, which had been written with her specifically in mind. The production was a huge success, and was revived repeatedly until her final performance in the role in 1941. In 1927, Thorndike appeared in a short film of the cathedral scene from Saint Joan made in the DeForest Phonofilm
Phonofilm
In 1919, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patent on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofilm, which recorded sound directly onto film as parallel lines. These parallel lines photographically recorded electrical waveforms from a microphone, which were translated back...
sound-on-film
Sound-on-film
Sound-on-film refers to a class of sound film processes where the sound accompanying picture is physically recorded onto photographic film, usually, but not always, the same strip of film carrying the picture. Sound-on-film processes can either record an analog sound track or digital sound track,...
process.
Both Sybil and Lewis were active members of the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
, and held strong left-wing views. Even when the 1926 General Strike
UK General Strike of 1926
The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 May 1926 to 13 May 1926. It was called by the general council of the Trades Union Congress in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening...
stopped the first run of Saint Joan, they both still supported the strikers.
Nonetheless, she was made a Dame Commander 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...
in 1931. As a pacifist, Sybil was a member of the Peace Pledge Union
Peace Pledge Union
The Peace Pledge Union is a British pacifist non-governmental organization. It is open to everyone who can sign the PPU pledge: "I renounce war, and am therefore determined not to support any kind of war...
and gave readings for its benefit.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Dame Sybil and her husband toured in Shakespearean productions on behalf of the Council For the Encouragement of the Arts, before joining Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
and Ralph Richardson
Ralph Richardson
Sir Ralph David Richardson was an English actor, one of a group of theatrical knights of the mid-20th century who, though more closely associated with the stage, also appeared in several classic films....
in the Old Vic
Old 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...
season at the New Theatre in 1944.
She continued to have success in such plays as Waters of the Moon. She also undertook tours of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, before playing again with Olivier in Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....
at Chichester
Chichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
in 1962. She made her farewell appearance with her husband in London revival of Arsenic and Old Lace
Arsenic and Old Lace (play)
Arsenic and Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. It has become best known through the film adaptation starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra. The play was directed by Bretaigne Windust, and opened on January 10, 1941. On September 25, 1943, the...
at the Vaudeville Theatre
Vaudeville Theatre
The Vaudeville Theatre is a West End theatre on The Strand in the City of Westminster. As the name suggests, the theatre held mostly vaudeville shows and musical revues in its early days. It opened in 1870 and was rebuilt twice, although each new building retained elements of the previous...
in 1966. Her last stage performance was at The Thorndike Theatre in Leatherhead
Leatherhead
Leatherhead is a town in the County of Surrey, England, on the River Mole, part of Mole Valley district. It is thought to be of Saxon origin...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, in There Was an Old Woman in 1969, the year Sir Lewis Casson
Lewis Casson
Sir Lewis Thomas Casson MC was a British actor and theatre director and the husband of Dame Sybil Thorndike.-Early life:...
died.
Her final appearance was in a TV drama The Great Inimitable Mr Dickens, with Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
in 1970.
The same year she was made a Companion of Honour
Order of the Companions of Honour
The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V in June 1917, as a reward for outstanding achievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry or religion....
. She and her husband were one of the few couples who both held titles in their own right. She had also been awarded an honorary degree from Manchester University in 1922, and an honorary D.Litt
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
from Oxford University in 1966.
Dame Sybil's ashes are buried in Westminster Abbey.
Films
She made her film debut in Moth and Rust (1921), and appeared in a large number of silent films the next year, including versions of Bleak HouseBleak House
Bleak House is the ninth novel by Charles Dickens, published in twenty monthly installments between March 1852 and September 1853. It is held to be one of Dickens's finest novels, containing one of the most vast, complex and engaging arrays of minor characters and sub-plots in his entire canon...
, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is a novel by Victor Hugo published in 1831. The French title refers to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, on which the story is centered.-Background:...
, Macbeth
Macbeth
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...
, The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
and The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is considered to be his magnum opus. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an...
.
She also appeared in a 1927 short film, made in the DeForest Phonofilm
Phonofilm
In 1919, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patent on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofilm, which recorded sound directly onto film as parallel lines. These parallel lines photographically recorded electrical waveforms from a microphone, which were translated back...
process, of her performing as Saint Joan in an excerpt of the play by George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
. Among her notable film roles were as Nurse Edith Cavell
Edith Cavell
Edith Louisa Cavell was a British nurse and spy. She is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers from all sides without distinction and in helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during World War I, for which she was arrested...
in Dawn (1928), General Baines in Major Barbara (1941), Mrs. Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby
Nicholas Nickleby (1947 film)
Nicholas Nickleby is a 1947 British drama film directed by Cavalcanti. The screenplay by John Dighton is based on the 1839 novel The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens...
(1948), Queen Victoria in Melba (1952) and The Queen Dowager in The Prince and the Showgirl
The Prince and the Showgirl
The Prince and the Showgirl is a 1957 American film produced at Pinewood Studios starring Marilyn Monroe and co-starring Laurence Olivier who also served as director and producer.The film was released on 13 June 1957...
(1957), for which she was awarded the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress. She made her last film appearance - in a version of Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya
Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....
- in 1963.
Selected filmography
- Dawn (1928)
- Hindle WakesHindle Wakes (1931 film)Hindle Wakes is a 1931 British film drama, directed by Victor Saville for Gainsborough Pictures and starring Belle Chrystall and John Stuart. The film is adapted from Stanley Houghton's controversial 1912 stage play of the same name, which had previously been filmed twice as a silent in 1918 and...
(1931) - Alive and KickingAlive and Kicking (film)Alive and Kicking is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Cyril Frankel and starring Sybil Thorndike, Kathleen Harrison, Estelle Winwood and Stanley Holloway. Three woman grow dissatisfied with their lives in a retirement home and decide to search for fresh enjoyment and adventure...
(1959)
Television
Appearances included:- 1960 - Sybil Thorndike appeared as the guest in This is Your LifeThis Is Your LifeThis Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
- 1965 - A Passage To IndiaA Passage to IndiaA Passage to India is a novel by E. M. Forster set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s. It was selected as one of the 100 great works of English literature by the Modern Library and won the 1924 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Time...
appearance as Mrs Moore.
In fiction
She appears in Tony HarrisonTony Harrison
Tony Harrison is an English poet and playwright. He is noted for controversial works such as the poem V and Fram, as well as his versions of ancient Greek tragedies, including the Oresteia and Hecuba...
's play Fram
Fram (play)
Fram is a 2008 play by Tony Harrison. It uses the story of the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen's attempt to reach the North Pole, and his subsequent campaign to relieve famine in the Soviet Union to explore the role of art in a world beset by seemingly greater issues...
, played in the premiere by Sian Thomas
Sian Thomas
Siân Thomas is an award-winning Welsh actress who trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.She has appeared on stage, on TV and in films such as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in which she played Amelia Bones. She also appeared in the classic 1992 Spanish television series...
. Here she is resurrected from the dead to play herself in one of Gilbert Murray
Gilbert Murray
George Gilbert Aimé Murray, OM was an Australian born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece, perhaps the leading authority in the first half of the twentieth century...
's plays.
She appears in Nicholas de Jongh's play Plague Over England, played in the premiere by Nichola McAuliffe
Nichola McAuliffe
Nichola McAuliffe is an English television and stage actress and writer, best known for her role as Sheila Sabatini in the sitcom Surgical Spirit.-Background:McAuliffe was born in 1955 in Surrey, England...
.
Her name is also used in Muriel Spark
Muriel Spark
Dame Muriel Spark, DBE was an award-winning Scottish novelist. In 2008 The Times newspaper named Spark in its list of "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945".-Early life:...
's novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, citing her as "a woman of noble men."
In the film My Week with Marilyn
My Week with Marilyn
My Week with Marilyn is a British drama film directed by Simon Curtis and written by Adrian Hodges. It stars Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Redmayne, Dougray Scott, Judi Dench and Emma Watson. Based on two books by Colin Clark, it depicts the making of the 1957 film The Prince and the...
, she is played by Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
and is portrayed as supporting the fragile American actress when Olivier loses patience with what he sees as her unprofessionalism. Her support for labor is also referenced in one scene.
Famous quotes
When asked if she ever considered leaving her husband, she answered: Divorce, never! Murder, often!External links
- The Sybil Thorndike Scrapbook
- Performances listed at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection archive
- The life's work of Sybil Thorndike @ Ward's Book of Days
- Sybil Thorndike: A Star of Life, by Jonathan Croall, pub. 1st October 2008
- A report of biographer Jonathan Croall's lecture to the Society for Theatre Research (Oct 2008)