Peggy Ashcroft.

Peggy Ashcroft was born Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft on December 22, 1907 in Croydon, Surrey, England. Her mother, Violetta Maud Bernheim, was an amateur actress of German and Danish Jewish ancestry; her father, William Worsley Ashcroft, was a land agent who was killed in World War I. She attended Woodford School, where she often played male roles in Shakespeare productions. She later trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, preparing for her stage career.

Ashcroft made her professional acting debut in Dear Brutus in 1926, performing alongside Ralph Richardson. She quickly became a leading figure in British theatre, performing many Shakespearean roles. Her first film was The Wandering Jew 1933, and she played the crofter’s wife in Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps 1935. She rarely appeared on screen, preferring the stage. But her performance as Mrs. Moore in David Lean’s A Passage to India 1984 earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 76. On television, she starred in The Jewel in the Crown 1984 and won two British Academy Television Awards for Best Actress.

Ashcroft married three times: first to publisher Sir Rupert Hart Davis from 1929 to 1933, then to theatre director Theodor Komisarjevsky from 1934 to 1937, and finally to barrister Jeremy Hutchinson from 1940 until their divorce in 1965. She had two children with Hutchinson: daughter Eliza born 1941 and son Nicholas born 1946. Her granddaughter is singer Emily Loizeau. Ashcroft was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1956, and she is buried in Westminster Abbey.

Peggy Ashcroft ranks among the finest English actresses of the 20th century. In 1956, she became the youngest actress to be made a Dame, alongside Sybil Thorndike, at age 48. She won the Laurence Olivier Award for Actress of the Year in a New Play and received an honorary doctorate. Her performance in A Passage to India earned her the Academy Award, Golden Globe, and New York Film Critics Circle award. A memorial service was held at Westminster Abbey in 1991. She is most remembered for her commanding stage presence and her Oscar-winning role as Mrs. Moore.