Peggy Ashcroft

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Peggy Ashcroft

Promotional image of Peggy Ashcroft
Born Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft
22 December 1907(1907-12-22)
Croydon
Died 14 June 1991 (aged 83)
London, England
Spouse(s) Rupert Hart-Davis
(1929-1933)
Theodore Komisarjevsky (1934-?)
Jeremy Hutchinson
(1940-1965)

Dame Peggy Ashcroft DBE (December 22, 1907 - June 14, 1991) was an acclaimed Academy Award-winning English actress.

Contents

[edit] Career

Born Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft in Croydon, Peggy Ashcroft attended the Woodford School, Croydon and the Central School of Speech and Drama. A prolific stage actress from a young age, she first gained notoriety playing Naemi in Jew Suss in 1929, and Desdemona opposite Paul Robeson's Othello two years later. True stardom came in 1934 when she played Juliet in a legendary production of Romeo and Juliet, at the New Theatre, in which Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud alternated in the roles of Romeo and Mercutio. She stayed at the top of the British theatrical profession for the remainder of her career, with some of the highlights The Three Sisters (1937), The Heiress (1949), Antony and Cleopatra (1953), As You Like It and Cymbeline (as Imogen) (1957), The Taming of the Shrew (1960), and The War of the Roses, the Royal Shakespeare Company's massive landmark compendium of the three Henry VI plays and Richard III, directed by Peter Hall for the RSC in 1963.

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.

In 1937, she appeared in a 30 minute excerpt of Twelfth Night on the BBC Television Service, alongside Greer Garson, the first known instance of a Shakespeare play being performed on television.

Possibly her best known celluloid role was that of Mrs Moore in the 1984 film A Passage to India — a role for which she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. To this day, Ashcroft remains the oldest person ever to win this award; she was 77 at the time. Although Ashcroft did not appear in person at the telecast to accept the Oscar, Angela Lansbury accepted it on her behalf.

On television, Ashcroft appeared in the role of Barbie Batchelor on the internationally acclaimed British mini-series The Jewel in the Crown (1984), for which she won a BAFTA Best Television Actress award.

Her likeness was painted by Walter Sickert.

[edit] Personal life

Ashcroft was appointed Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1951, and raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1956.

She was married three times, first to Rupert Hart-Davis (from 1929-33), and then to Theodore Komisarjevsky (1934). She had two children with her last husband, Jeremy Hutchinson, whom she married in 1940 and divorced in 1965.

Ashcroft reportedly had an affair with American actor and activist, Paul Robeson, during a production of Othello[citation needed].

Ashcroft died in London of a stroke in June 1991, aged 83.

She was commemorated with memorial plaque in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey (just above the memorial plaque of fellow Central School of Speech and Drama pupil and friend Laurence Olivier and 18th Century actor David Garrick).

[edit] Selected Appearances

[edit] Film

[edit] Television

[edit] Stage

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
Linda Hunt
for The Year of Living Dangerously		 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1984
for A Passage to India		 Succeeded by
Anjelica Huston
for Prizzi's Honor
Preceded by
Shirley MacLaine
for Terms of Endearment		 NYFCC Award for Best Actress
1984
for A Passage to India		 Succeeded by
Norma Aleandro
for The Official Story
v • d • e
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Maureen Stapleton (1981) · Jessica Lange (1982) · Linda Hunt (1983) · Peggy Ashcroft (1984) · Anjelica Huston (1985) · Dianne Wiest (1986) · Olympia Dukakis (1987) · Geena Davis (1988) · Brenda Fricker (1989) · Whoopi Goldberg (1990) · Mercedes Ruehl (1991) · Marisa Tomei (1992) · Anna Paquin (1993) · Dianne Wiest (1994) · Mira Sorvino (1995) · Juliette Binoche (1996) · Kim Basinger (1997) · Judi Dench (1998) · Angelina Jolie (1999) · Marcia Gay Harden (2000)

Complete list · (1928–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001-present)
Persondata
NAME Ashcroft, Peggy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ashcroft, Edith Margaret Emily
SHORT DESCRIPTION Actress
DATE OF BIRTH December 22, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Croydon
DATE OF DEATH June 14, 1991
PLACE OF DEATH London, England