Peggy Ashcroft

British actress (1907-1991)

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Peggy Ashcroft was a British actress who had a long career spanning most of the twentieth century, from 1907 until her death in 1991. She is remembered as an important figure in British theatre and film, known for her distinguished performances across both mediums during a pivotal era of entertainment history.

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Dame Edith Margaret Emily "Peggy" Ashcroft DBE (22 December 1907 – 14 June 1991) was an English actress whose career spanned more than six decades, both on screen and stage.

Born to a middle-class family in Croydon, Surrey, 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. 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 from the 1950s, and the National Theatre from the 1970s.