Edna Clara Best (3 March 1900 – 18 September 1974) was a British actress.

Early life

Born in

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...

, Sussex, England, she was educated in Brighton and later studied dramatic acting under Miss Kate Rorke who was the first professor of Drama at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz ...

, London.

Career

Edna Best was known on the London stage before she entered films in 1921, having made her debut at the Grand Theatre, Southampton, in ''

Charley's Aunt ''Charley's Aunt'' is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. The story centres on Lord Fancourt Babberley, an undergraduate whose friends Jack and Charley persuade him to impersonate the latter's aunt. The complications of the plot in ...

'' in 1917. She also won a silver swimming cup as the lady swimming champion of Sussex. She appeared with husband Herbert Marshall in

John Van Druten John William Van Druten (1 June 190119 December 1957) was an English playwright and theatre director. He began his career in London, and later moved to America, becoming a U.S. citizen. He was known for his plays of witty and urbane observation ...

's 1931 play '' There's Always Juliet'' on both Broadway and London. For

Gainsborough Pictures Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, north London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The com ...

, she starred in the melodramas '' Michael and Mary'' and '' The Faithful Heart'' alongside her husband. She is best remembered for her role as the mother in the original 1934 film version of Alfred Hitchcock's '' The Man Who Knew Too Much''. Her subsequent roles were a mixture of British and Hollywood productions. Her other film credits include '' Intermezzo: A Love Story'' (1939), '' Swiss Family Robinson'' (1940), ''

The Late George Apley ''The Late George Apley'' is a 1937 novel by John Phillips Marquand. It is a satire of Boston's upper class in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The title character is a Harvard-educated WASP living on Beacon Hill in downtown Boston. T ...

'' and ''

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir ''The Ghost and Mrs. Muir'' is a 1947 American romantic fantasy film starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison. It was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and is based on a 1945 novel written by Josephine Leslie under the pseudonym of R.A. Dick. I ...

'' (both 1947), and '' The Iron Curtain'' (1948). Best received a nomination for an Emmy Award in 1957 for her role in ''

This Happy Breed ''This Happy Breed'' is a play by Noël Coward. It was written in 1939 but, because of the outbreak of World War II, it was not staged until 1942, when it was performed on alternating nights with another Coward play, '' Present Laughter''. The ...

''. She had appeared on television as early as 1938 in a live production of '' Love from a Stranger'', adapted from the Agatha Christie short story "Philomel Cottage" by Frank Vosper.

Personal life

Best was married three times and divorced twice. Her first marriage to William Seymour Beard ended in divorce in 1928. The London Divorce Court gave Beard custody of the couple's twins (James and John Beard) in granting the divorce "owing to the misconduct of his wife, Miss Best, with Mr. Marshall." The Mr. Marshall was actor

Herbert Marshall Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall (23 May 1890 – 22 January 1966) was an English stage, screen and radio actor who starred in many popular and well-regarded Hollywood films in the 1930s and 1940s. After a successful theatrical career in the Uni ...

, whose divorce from Hilda Lloyd Marshall ("owing to the misconduct of her husband ... with ... Miss Edna Best") was granted in the same court session. Best later was married to Marshall from 28 November 1928 until 1940, and they had a daughter, actress Sarah Marshall. She married talent agent Nat Wolff on 7 February 1940 in Las Vegas. The judge "who granted the divorce rom Marshallafter a five-minute closed hearing, performed the marriage a few minutes later." Best suffered a stroke in 1959.

Recognition

In 1960, Best was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star located at 6124 Hollywood Boulevard.

Death

She died in Geneva, Switzerland in 1974 at age 74.

Filmography

* '' Tilly of Bloomsbury'' (1921) - Tilly Welwyn * '' A Couple of Down and Outs'' (1923) - Molly Roarke * ''

Sleeping Partners ''Sleeping Partners'' is a 1930 British comedy film directed by Seymour Hicks and starring Hicks, Edna Best and Lyn Harding. It is based on the 1916 play ''Let's Make a Dream (play), Let's Make a Dream'' by Sacha Guitry. It was shot at Islington ...

'' (1930) - She * '' Loose Ends'' (1930) - Nina Grant * '' Escape'' (1930) - Shingled Lady * '' Beyond the Cities'' (1930) - Mary Hayes * '' The Calendar'' (1931) - Jill Panniford * '' Michael and Mary'' (1931) - Mary Rowe * '' The Faithful Heart'' (1932) - Blackie Anderway / Blackie's Daughter * '' The Key'' (1934) - Norah Kerr * '' The Man Who Knew Too Much'' (1934) - Jill Lawrence * '' South Riding'' (1938) - Sarah Burton * '' Prison Without Bars'' (1938) - Yvonne Chanel * ''

Intermezzo In music, an intermezzo (, , plural form: intermezzi), in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work. In music history, the term ha ...

'' (1939) - Margit Brandt * '' Swiss Family Robinson'' (1940) - Elizabeth Robinson * '' This Man Reuter'' (1940) - Ida Magnus * ''

'' (1947) - Catherine Apley * ''

'' (1947) - Martha Huggin * '' The Iron Curtain'' (1948) - Mrs. Albert Foster

Radio appearances

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Best, Edna 1900 births 1974 deaths English film actresses English stage actresses English radio actresses English expatriates in Switzerland People from Hove 20th-century English actresses English emigrants to the United States