(1882 - 1976)
She was the daughter of a canon of Rochester Cathedral. Her early theatrical experience was varied; she toured England and the USA with one of Ben Greet's companies and spent two seasons (1908-9 and 1911-13) with Annie Horniman in Manchester. She married actor-director Lewis Casson in 1908; they had three children. In 1914 she joined the first Old Vic company and took leading roles in 12 of Shakespeare's plays, as well as male roles in others. Her most outstanding performance was as St Joan in Shaw's play in 1924, but over a long career she played a vast range of classical and modern parts, among the most notable being her Volumnia, Judith in Granite ( (1928)), and Miss Moffat in The Corn is Green ( (1938)). Sybil Thorndike has been called the Sarah Siddons of her generation: her acting style combined regality with simplicity, intense warmth and serenity. She was created DBE in 1931 and CH in 1970.
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