DAME MARGARET RUTHERFORD
Name: Margaret Rutherford
Born: 11 May 1892 Balham, London, England
Died: 22 May 1972 Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire, England
Dame Margaret Rutherford DBE (May 11, 1892 – May 22, 1972) was an Academy Award-winning
English character actress who first came to prominence following World War II in
the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The
Importance of Being Earnest.
Born in the South London suburb of Balham she was the only child of Mr. and Mrs.
William Rutherford Benn (William Rutherford). Her father suffered from mental
illness for many years, and on 4 March 1883, he battered his father to death.
Rutherford made her stage debut at the Old Vic in 1925 at the age of thirty-three.
However, her physical appearance was such that romantic heroines were almost out
of the question, and she soon established her name in comedy, appearing in many
of the most successful British films of the mid-20th century. "I never intended
to play for laughs. I am always surprised that the audience thinks me funny at
all," Rutherford wrote in her autobiography. In most of these films, she had
originally played the role on stage. She married the actor Stringer Davis in
1945. They often appeared together in films.
In the 1950s, Rutherford and Davis adopted the writer Gordon Langley Hall, then
in his twenties. Hall later had gender reassignment surgery and became Dawn
Langley Simmons, under which name she wrote a biography of Rutherford in 1983.
In 1961, Rutherford first played the film role with which she was most often
associated in later life, that of Miss Marple in a series of films loosely-based
on the novels of Agatha Christie. Rutherford won an Academy Award for Best
Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe for The V.I.P.s (1963), as the absent-minded
Duchess of Brighton, opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
She was created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1961, and
raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1967. Rutherford was a cousin of the radical
left-wing Labour politician Tony Benn. She suffered from Alzheimer's disease at
the end of her life.
Margaret Rutherford is buried along with her husband, Stringer Davis, in the
graveyard of St. James Church, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England.
Name: Margaret Rutherford
Born: 11 May 1892 Balham, London, England
Died: 22 May 1972 Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire, England
Dame Margaret Rutherford DBE (May 11, 1892 – May 22, 1972) was an Academy Award-winning
English character actress who first came to prominence following World War II in
the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The
Importance of Being Earnest.
Born in the South London suburb of Balham she was the only child of Mr. and Mrs.
William Rutherford Benn (William Rutherford). Her father suffered from mental
illness for many years, and on 4 March 1883, he battered his father to death.
Rutherford made her stage debut at the Old Vic in 1925 at the age of thirty-three.
However, her physical appearance was such that romantic heroines were almost out
of the question, and she soon established her name in comedy, appearing in many
of the most successful British films of the mid-20th century. "I never intended
to play for laughs. I am always surprised that the audience thinks me funny at
all," Rutherford wrote in her autobiography. In most of these films, she had
originally played the role on stage. She married the actor Stringer Davis in
1945. They often appeared together in films.
In the 1950s, Rutherford and Davis adopted the writer Gordon Langley Hall, then
in his twenties. Hall later had gender reassignment surgery and became Dawn
Langley Simmons, under which name she wrote a biography of Rutherford in 1983.
In 1961, Rutherford first played the film role with which she was most often
associated in later life, that of Miss Marple in a series of films loosely-based
on the novels of Agatha Christie. Rutherford won an Academy Award for Best
Supporting Actress and a Golden Globe for The V.I.P.s (1963), as the absent-minded
Duchess of Brighton, opposite Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
She was created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1961, and
raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in 1967. Rutherford was a cousin of the radical
left-wing Labour politician Tony Benn. She suffered from Alzheimer's disease at
the end of her life.
Margaret Rutherford is buried along with her husband, Stringer Davis, in the
graveyard of St. James Church, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England.