Margaret Rutherford

Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford (11 May 1892 – 22 May 1972) was an English actress who worked in theatre, film, and television. Her breakthrough came after World War II, with notable roles in the film versions of Noël Coward's *Blithe Spirit* and Oscar Wilde's *The Importance of Being Earnest*. For her performance as the Duchess of Brighton in *The V.I.P.s* (1963), she won both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. In the early 1960s, she portrayed Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in a series of four films directed by George Pollock. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1961 and elevated to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1967.

Rutherford's early life was marked by family tragedy. Her father, journalist and poet William Rutherford Benn, suffered a nervous breakdown a month after his marriage in 1882. Released from an asylum, he killed his own father with a chamber pot and then cut his own throat in 1883. He was declared insane and sent to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, then discharged in 1890. Margaret, their only child, was born in Balham, South London, in 1892. Her uncle was Sir John Benn, a politician, and her first cousin once removed was Labour politician Tony Benn. The family attempted a fresh start in India, but when Margaret was three, her pregnant mother hanged herself, and the girl was sent back to England to live with her aunt Bessie Nicholson in Wimbledon. She was told her father died of a broken heart, but at age twelve she discovered he had been readmitted to Broadmoor in 1903 and remained there until his death in 1921. This revelation, and her parents' mental illnesses, left her with a lifelong fear of similar afflictions, and she suffered from bouts of depression and anxiety.

Educated at Wimbledon High School and later at Raven's Croft School in Seaford, she developed an interest in theatre through amateur dramatics. Her aunt paid for private acting lessons, and after her aunt's death, a legacy funded her entry to the Old Vic School. Rutherford called her aunt her "adoptive mother and one of the saints of the world." She first worked as a piano and elocution teacher, and made her stage debut at age 33 in 1925 at the Old Vic. Her "spaniel jowls" and bulky frame prevented romantic leads, so she built a career in comedy. She wrote that she never intended to be funny and was always surprised when audiences laughed. Her first West End appearance was in 1933, but critical recognition came in 1939 for her Miss Prism in John Gielgud's production of *The Importance of Being Earnest*. In 1941, Noël Coward cast her as Madame Arcati in *Blithe Spirit*, a role she played with such lusty bumbling that it earned rave reviews. Critic Kenneth Tynan said she could "act with her chin alone." Other wartime stage successes included Mrs. Danvers in *Rebecca* (1940). Post-war, she reprised Miss Prism in 1946 and played Lady Bracknell in New York in 1947. She also appeared in *The Happiest Days of Your Life* (1948), *Ring Round the Moon* (1950), *The Way of the World* (1953 and 1956), and *The School for Scandal* (1962). Her final stage role was Mrs. Malaprop in *The Rivals* (1966), which she had to leave due to declining health.

Though her film debut was in 1936, her film career took off with David Lean's *Blithe Spirit* (1945), where her jaunty, cycling Madame Arcati set the standard for the role. She also played Nurse Carey in *Miranda* (1948).