Wendy Hiller

Lore & Background

Born in Bramhall, Cheshire, the daughter of Frank Watkin Hiller, a Manchester cotton manufacturer, and Marie Stone. She was educated at Winceby House School for Girls, Bexhill and Oriel Bank High School. At age 18 she joined the Manchester Repertory Company, for which she acted and stage-managed for several years. She first found success as slum dweller Sally Hardcastle in the stage version of Love on the Dole in 1934. In 1937, she married the play's author Ronald Gow. That same year, she made her film debut in Lancashire Luck, scripted by Gow. She earned Academy Award nominations for Pygmalion (1938), Separate Tables (1958), and A Man for All Seasons (1966), winning Best Supporting Actress for Separate Tables. She also was nominated for two BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Tony Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award.

Reader's Guide

Dame Wendy Hiller was a stage actress who also appeared in films, known for a no-nonsense presence that commanded the screen. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for *Separate Tables* (1958) and earned two other Oscar nominations for *Pygmalion* (1938) and *A Man for All Seasons* (1966). She was reputed to be George Bernard Shaw’s favourite actress of the time; Shaw cast her in several of his plays, including *Saint Joan*, *Pygmalion*, and *Major Barbara*, after seeing her stage work. Hiller preferred modern dramatists like Henrik Ibsen and adaptations of Henry James and Thomas Hardy over Shakespeare. She originated the role of Catherine Sloper in *The Heiress* on Broadway, a triumph that ran for a year. Her stage career included a Tony-nominated performance as Josie Hogan in *A Moon for the Misbegotten* and later successes such as *Crown Matrimonial*. She excelled at portraying plain but strong-willed characters, often emotionally deprived women, though she also played queens and other commanding figures. Hiller made her final West End appearance in the title role of *Driving Miss Daisy* in 1988. Despite notable film work, she chose to remain primarily a stage actress throughout her nearly sixty-year career.

Did You Know?

• She was the first actress to utter the word 'bloody' in a British film, in Pygmalion (1938).
• She was scheduled to return to the American stage in a 1982 revival of Anastasia with Natalie Wood, but Wood died just weeks before rehearsals.
• She won the Evening Standard British Film Award as Best Actress for Murder on the Orient Express (1974).

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller (15 August 1912 – 14 May 2003) was an English film and stage actress whose performing career spanned nearly 60 years." — Wendy Hiller "I was afraid that if I went to Hollywood, I might be faced with the danger of being built up into a player who always features in the same kind of roles." — Wendy Hiller "[1] Wendy share her feelings about role in 1938." — Wendy Hiller "I sometimes think to myself, in the middle of doing G.B.S., What on Earth am I doing? It's not like acting another writer's words." — Wendy Hiller