Dame Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft (22 December 1907 – 14 June 1991), known professionally as Peggy Ashcroft, was an English actress whose career spanned more than 60 years. Born to a comfortable middle-class family, Ashcroft was determined from an early age to become an actress, despite parental opposition. She was working in smaller theatres even before graduating from drama school, and within two years she was starring in the

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

. Ashcroft maintained her leading place in British theatre for the next 50 years. Always attracted by the ideals of permanent theatrical ensembles, she did much of her work for the Old Vic in the early 1930s, John Gielgud's companies in the 1930s and 1940s, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre and its successor the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

from the 1950s, and the National Theatre from the 1970s. While well regarded in Shakespeare, Ashcroft was also known for her commitment to modern drama, appearing in plays by

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

and

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...

. Her career was almost wholly spent in the live theatre until the 1980s. She then turned to television and cinema with considerable success, winning two BAFTAs and an Academy Award.

Life and career

Early years

Ashcroft was born in Croydon, Surrey, (now in Greater London) the younger child and only daughter of Violetta Maud, ''née'' Bernheim (1874–1926) and William Worsley Ashcroft (1878–1918), a land agent. According to Michael Billington, her biographer, Violetta Ashcroft was of Danish and German Jewish descent and a keen amateur actress. Ashcroft's father was killed on active service in the First World War. She attended Woodford School, East Croydon, where one of her teachers encouraged her love of Shakespeare, but neither her teachers nor her mother approved of her desire to become a professional actress. Ashcroft was determined, however, and at the age of 16, she enrolled at the Central School of Speech and Drama, run by Elsie Fogerty, from whom her mother had taken lessons some years before. The school's emphasis was on the voice and elegant diction, which did not appeal to Ashcroft or to her fellow pupil

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the U ...

. She learned more from reading ''My Life in Art'' by Constantin Stanislavski, the influential director of the

Moscow Art Theatre The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; russian: Московский Художественный академический театр (МХАТ), ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ)) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was f ...

."Obituary: Dame Peggy Ashcroft", ''The Times'', 15 June 1991, p. 14 Peggy-Ashcroft-1936-2

While still a student, Ashcroft made her professional stage debut at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in a revival of J. M. Barrie's ''

Dear Brutus ''Dear Brutus'' is a 1917 fantasy play by J. M. Barrie, depicting alternative realities for its characters and their eventual return to real life. The title is a reference to a line from Shakespeare's ''Julius Caesar'': "The fault, dear Brutus, is ...

'' opposite

Ralph Richardson Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He wo ...

, with whom she had been greatly impressed when she saw him in Charles Doran's touring company while she was still a schoolgirl. She graduated from the Central School in 1927 with London University's Diploma in Dramatic Art.Gaye, p. 314 Never much drawn to the

or stardom, she learned her craft with mostly small companies in fringe theatres. Her first notable West End role was Naemi in ''Jew Süss'' in 1929, an extravagantly theatrical production, in which she won praise for the naturalism and truth of her playing. In the same year she married Rupert Hart-Davis, then an aspiring actor and later a publisher. He later described the marriage as "a sad failure: we were much too young to know what we wanted ... after much agony we parted and were duly divorced. Nowadays Peggy and I lunch together perhaps once or twice a year in a Soho restaurant and have a lovely nostalgic-romantic talk of shared memories of long ago. She is a lovely person and the best actress living."

1930s

In 1930 Ashcroft was cast as Desdemona in a production of ''

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...

'' at the Savoy Theatre, starring Paul Robeson in the title role. The production was not well received, but Ashcroft's notices were excellent. The production prompted a political awakening in Ashcroft, who was astonished to receive hate mail for appearing onstage with a black actor; she was angry that Robeson was not welcome at the Savoy Hotel, despite being the star at the adjoining Savoy Theatre.Billington, Michael. "Near perfection in an imperfect world", ''The Guardian'', 15 June 1991, p. 21 During the run she had a brief affair with Robeson, which, followed by another with the writer J. B. Priestley, put an end to Robeson's marriage to

Essie Robeson Eslanda "Essie" Cardozo Goode Robeson (December 15, 1895 – December 13, 1965) was an American anthropologist, author, actress, and civil rights activist. She was the wife and business manager of performer Paul Robeson. Biography Early y ...

and her first marriage. Hart-Davis was granted a divorce in 1933, on the grounds of Ashcroft's adultery with the director Theodore Komisarjevsky. Among those impressed by Ashcroft's performance as Desdemona was John Gielgud, recently established as a West End star. He recalled, "When Peggy came on in the Senate scene it was as if all the lights in the theatre had suddenly gone up". In 1932 he was invited by the Oxford University Dramatic Society to try his hand at directing, in the society's production of ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

''. Ashcroft as Juliet and

Edith Evans Dame Edith Mary Evans, (8 February 1888 – 14 October 1976) was an English actress. She was best known for her work on the stage, but also appeared in films at the beginning and towards the end of her career. Between 1964 and 1968, she was no ...

as the nurse won golden notices, although their director, already notorious for his innocent slips of the tongue, referred to them as "Two leading ladies, the like of whom I hope I shall never meet again." Old Vic0185

Ashcroft joined the Old Vic company for the 1932–33 season. The theatre, in an unfashionable area of London south of the Thames, was run by Lilian Baylis to offer plays and operas to a mostly working-class audience at low ticket prices. She paid her performers modest wages, but the theatre was known for its unrivaled repertory of classics, mostly Shakespeare, and many West End stars took a large pay cut to work there. It was, in Sheridan Morley's words, the place to learn Shakespearean technique and try new ideas.Morley, Sheridan and Robert Sharp
"Gielgud, Sir (Arthur) John (1904–2000)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, January 2011, retrieved 2 February 2014 During the season Ashcroft played five Shakespeare heroines, as well as Kate in '' She Stoops to Conquer'', Mary Stuart in a new play by John Drinkwater, and Lady Teazle in '' The School for Scandal''. In 1933 she made her first film, '' The Wandering Jew''.Ashcroft, Dame Edith Margaret Emily, (Dame Peggy Ashcroft)"
''Who Was Who'', online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014, retrieved 15 January 2015 She was not attracted to the medium of cinema and made only four more films over the next quarter-century. During her professional and personal relationship with Komisarjevsky, whom she married in 1934 and left in 1936, Ashcroft learned from him what Billington calls "the vital importance of discipline, perfectionism, and the idea that the actor, even during passages of emotional stress, must remain a thinking human being".Billington, Michael
"Ashcroft, Dame Edith Margaret Emily (Peggy) (1907–1991)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2010, retrieved 15 January 2015 After appearing in the Hitchcock film '' The 39 Steps'' (1935), and a succession of stage failures, Ashcroft was once again cast as Juliet by Gielgud, this time in a West End production that attracted enormous attention. It ran from October 1935 to March 1936, and Ashcroft's Romeos were played in alternation by Olivier and Gielgud. Critical opinions differed as to the relative merits of her leading men, but Ashcroft won glowing reviews. In May 1936 Komisarjevsky directed a production of '' The Seagull'', with Evans as Arkadina, Gielgud as Trigorin and Ashcroft as Nina. The recent collapse of her marriage to the director made rehearsals difficult, but the critical reception was ecstatic. After playing briefly and without much pleasure in New York, Ashcroft returned to London in 1937 for a season of four plays presented by Gielgud at the Queen's Theatre. She played the Queen in ''

Richard II Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father died ...

'', Lady Teazle in ''The School for Scandal'', Irina in '' Three Sisters'' and Portia in ''The Merchant of Venice''. The company included Harry Andrews, Glen Byam Shaw, George Devine, Michael Redgrave and Harcourt Williams, with Angela Baddeley and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as guests. The directors were Gielgud himself, Tyrone Guthrie and Michel Saint-Denis. Billington considers that this company laid the foundations of post-war ensembles such as the

and the National Theatre. The Munich crisis and the approach of the Second World War delayed for a decade the further development of such a company.

1940s and 1950s

In 1940. Ashcroft met and married the rising lawyer Jeremy Hutchinson. They had a daughter, Eliza, the following year, and Ashcroft did little stage work while the child was young. Her main appearances during the war years were in Gielgud's company at the

Haymarket Theatre The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre on Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use. Samuel Foote ...

in 1944, playing Ophelia in ''Hamlet'', Titania in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' and the title role in '' The Duchess of Malfi''. She won excellent notices, but the productions were thought to lack flair and were unfavourably compared with the exciting work of the rival Old Vic company under Richardson and Olivier's leadership. After the Haymarket season Ashcroft resumed her break from the theatre, first campaigning for her husband, who stood as a Labour candidate in the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgaria ...

, and then having a second child, Nicholas, in 1946. Returning to the stage in 1947, Ashcroft had two long-running successes in a row as the alcoholic Evelyn Holt in ''

Edward, My Son ''Edward, My Son'' is a 1949 British drama film directed by George Cukor for MGM-British Studios that stars Spencer Tracy and Deborah Kerr. The screenplay by Donald Ogden Stewart is based on the 1947 play of the same title by Noel Langley a ...

'', in the West End and then on Broadway, and the downtrodden Catherine Sloper in '' The Heiress'' in 1949. JG-Benedick-1959

Ashcroft began the 1950s with a return to Shakespeare, at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre,

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

, playing Beatrice to Gielgud's Benedick in '' Much Ado About Nothing'' and Cordelia to his King Lear. In 1951 she returned to the Old Vic, playing Viola in '' Twelfth Night'', the title role in ''

Electra Electra (; grc, Ήλέκτρα) is one of the most popular mythological characters in tragedies.Evans (1970), p. 79 She is the main character in two Greek tragedies, '' Electra'' by Sophocles and '' Electra'' by Euripides. She is also the centra ...

'' and Mistress Page in ''

The Merry Wives of Windsor ''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' or ''Sir John Falstaff and the Merry Wives of Windsor'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare first published in 1602, though believed to have been written in or before 1597. The Windsor of the play's title is a ref ...

''. In the second of these, according to Billington, "she scaled the austere peaks of Greek tragedy". Through the rest of the decade, Ashcroft's career switched between commercial productions in the West End and appearances in the nascent subsidised theatres in Shakespeare and experimental works. In the former she made a deep impression as the adulterous, suicidal Hester Collyer in Terence Rattigan's '' The Deep Blue Sea'' (1952) and was well reviewed as the governess Miss Madrigal in Enid Bagnold's ''The Chalk Garden'' (1956). Her roles for non-commercial managements were in Shakespeare at Stratford and on tour, Hedda Gabler (1954) and the double role of Shen Te and Shui Ta in '' The Good Woman of Setzuan'' (1956). The last of these was not a success, but Ashcroft was credited with courage for taking the role on. In 1958, Peter Hall, who had been appointed to run the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, approached Ashcroft with his plans for a permanent company, with bases in Stratford and London, and a regular, salaried company, presenting a mixture of classical and new plays. Ashcroft immediately agreed to join him, and her lead was, in Hall's view, key to the success of the new Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

1960s

In the RSC's first seasons Ashcroft played Katharina in '' The Taming of the Shrew'', Paulina in '' The Winter's Tale'' (1960), The Duchess of Malfi (1961), Emilia in ''Othello'' (1961) and Ranevskaya in '' The Cherry Orchard'', opposite Gielgud as Gaev. These were generally well reviewed, but her performance in '' The Wars of the Roses'' in 1963 and 1964 had the critics searching for superlatives. The production was a reshaping of Shakespeare's three '' Henry VI'' plays and ''

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

''. Ashcroft, then aged fifty-six, played

Margaret of Anjou Margaret of Anjou (french: link=no, Marguerite; 23 March 1430 – 25 August 1482) was Queen of England and nominally Queen of France by marriage to King Henry VI from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471. Born in the Duchy of Lorrain ...

, ageing from blithe youth to ferocious old age as the plays progressed. The critic

Philip Hope-Wallace Philip Adrian Hope-Wallace CBE (6 November 1911 – 3 September 1979) was an English music and theatre critic, whose career was mostly with ''The Manchester Guardian'' (later known as ''The Guardian''). From university he went into journalism afte ...

wrote of: At about this time Ashcroft's third and last marriage was beginning to fall apart. According to Billington she found solace in her work, and threw herself into classical and ''avant garde'' works "with ever greater fervour". Her roles in the 1960s were Arkadina in ''The Seagull'' (1964), Mother in Marguerite Duras's ''Days in the Trees'' (1966), Mrs Alving in

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

's ''

Ghosts A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

'' (1967), Agnes in

Edward Albee Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (1966) ...

's '' A Delicate Balance'' (1969), Beth in Pinter's ''Landscape'' (1969) and Katharine of Aragon in ''

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

'' (1969).

Later years

In the 1970s, Ashcroft remained a pillar of the RSC but when Peter Hall succeeded Olivier as director of the National Theatre in 1973 he persuaded her to appear there from time to time. She also appeared at the Royal Court in Duras's ''The Lovers of Viorne'' (1971) in the role of a schizophrenic killer, a performance that the young

Helen Mirren Dame Helen Mirren (born Helen Lydia Mironoff; born 26 July 1945) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, she is the only performer to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting in both the United States and the United Kingdom. ...

found so accomplished that "I just wanted to rush out and start all over again". Many were surprised when Ashcroft appeared with Richardson at the Savoy in 1972 in what was by all appearances a conventional West End drawing room comedy, '' Lloyd George Knew My Father'', by William Douglas-Home, but the two stars revealed unexpected depths in their characters. For the National, Ashcroft appeared in Ibsen's '' John Gabriel Borkman'',

Beckett Beckett is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Adam Beckett (born 1950), American animator, special effects artist and teacher, worked on ''Star Wars'' * Alex Beckett (born 1954), Scottish footballer * Allan Beckett (19 ...

's '' Happy Days'', Lillian Hellman's '' Watch on the Rhine'' and Pinter's '' Family Voices''. Her RSC roles were Lidya in Aleksei Arbuzov's ''Old World'' (1976), and her last stage part was the Countess in ''

All's Well That Ends Well ''All's Well That Ends Well'' is a play by William Shakespeare, published in the ''First Folio'' in 1623, where it is listed among the comedies. There is a debate regarding the dating of the composition of the play, with possible dates rangin ...

'', which she played at Stratford in 1981 and in London in 1982. Ashcroft later made occasional, but highly successful, television and film appearances. For '' The Jewel in the Crown'' she won a BAFTA award for best actress in 1984, and for her portrayal of Mrs. Moore in

David Lean Sir David Lean (25 March 190816 April 1991) was an English film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Widely considered one of the most important figures in British cinema, Lean directed the large-scale epics ''The Bridge on the River ...

's 1984 film '' A Passage to India'' she won another BAFTA best actress award and the 1985 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress; this made her the oldest person to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, at 77 years 93 days old. Her final performance was also in a work about India, the radio play ''

In the Native State ''In the Native State'' is a radio play by Tom Stoppard. First broadcast by the BBC in 1991 it was later adapted by Stoppard into the stage play '' Indian Ink''. The production was first broadcast on BBC Radio Three on 20 April 1991. It was dire ...

'' by Tom Stoppard. She was the grandmother of the French singer Emily Loizeau. Ashcroft died of a stroke in London at the age of 83. Her ashes were scattered around a mulberry tree in the Great Garden at New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, which she had planted in 1969. A memorial service was held in Westminster Abbey on 30 November 1991.

Honours, awards and memorials

Ashcroft's British state honours were Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1951 and

Dame Commander Commander ( it, Commendatore; french: Commandeur; german: Komtur; es, Comendador; pt, Comendador), or Knight Commander, is a title of honor prevalent in chivalric orders and fraternal orders. The title of Commander occurred in the medieval mi ...

of the Order (DBE) in 1956. Her foreign state honours were the King's Gold Medal, Norway (1955), and the Order of St Olav, Norway (Commander, 1976). She was awarded honorary degrees by eight universities and was an honorary fellow of

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a women's college, and accepte ...

. She was awarded a British Film Institute Fellowship in 1989. In addition to the Oscar and BAFTA awards, she received a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a New Play for Old World in 1976, a Venice Film Festival Award for ''She's Been Away'' (1989), a BAFTA Award for the television play ''Caught on a Train'' (1980), a special award from the British Theatre Association for the television play ''Cream in My Coffee'' (1982), a special award from BAFTA (1990) and a special

Laurence Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known as ...

(1991). Ashcroft is commemorated with a memorial plaque in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. The Ashcroft Theatre in Croydon was named in her honour in 1962. The

has an Ashcroft Room directly above the

Swan Theatre The Swan was a theatre in Southwark, London, England, built in 1595 on top of a previously standing structure, during the first half of William Shakespeare's career. It was the fifth in the series of large public playhouses of London, aft ...

in Stratford-upon-Avon named after her, used for play rehearsals.

Filmography

Film

Television

Radio

*'' The Duchess of Malfi'' BBC Third Programme (1954) *''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'' BBC Third Programme (1966) *'' Family Voices'' BBC Radio 3 (1981) *''Chances'' BBC Radio 3 (1981) *''

'' BBC Radio 3 (1991)

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ashcroft, Peggy 1907 births 1991 deaths 20th-century English actresses Actresses awarded British damehoods Actresses from Surrey Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Best Actress BAFTA Award winners Best Actress BAFTA Award (television) winners Best Supporting Actress Academy Award winners Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire English film actresses English Shakespearean actresses English stage actresses Laurence Olivier Award winners People from Croydon Recipients of the King's Medal of Merit in gold Royal Shakespeare Company members Spouses of life peers Volpi Cup for Best Actress winners