Nova Pilbeam
Nova Pilbeam is a British actress with notable performances in both theatre and film. She was born in 1919 and was last known to be living in the London village of Highgate.
Born Nova Margery Pilbeam in Wimbledon on November 15, 1919. She reached great fame early in her life with high-profile roles as a child stage actress. This early success led to a great deal of work in her teen years, most memorably in the 1930s films of Alfred Hitchcock "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1934) and "Young and Innocent" (1937). She also gained acclaim with her lead performance as Lady Jane Grey in "Tudor Rose" (1935).
Unfortunately, she was not able to maintain the success of her early years and did not continue to work in the cinema past the late 1940s. Her career might have taken a completely different direction had she been cast (as David O. Selznick had originally wanted) in the lead role of Hitchcock's 1940 film "Rebecca", which was nominated for best picture in the 1941 Academy Awards and launched the career of Joan Fontaine.
References
- More detailed biography @ wickedlady.com
- Bonus materials included in The Criterion Collection's DVD edition of "Rebecca"
- Nova Pilbeam at IMDb