Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies

Dame Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies DBE
Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, on 27 June 1928
Born	Gwen Lucy Ffrangcon-Davies (1891-01-25)25 January 1891 London, England, UK
Died	27 January 1992(1992-01-27) (aged 101) Halstead, Essex, England, UK
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1911–91
Known for	centenarian

Dame Gwen Lucy Ffrangcon-Davies, DBE (25 January 1891 – 27 January 1992) was a British actress and centenarian. She was born in London of a Welsh family; the name "Ffrangcon" originates from a valley in Snowdonia. Her parents were opera baritone David Ffrangcon-Davies (né David Thomas Davies) and Annie Francis Rayner.

Career

She made her stage debut in 1911, as a singer as well as an actress, and received encouragement in her career from Ellen Terry. In 1924, she played Juliet opposite John Gielgud as Romeo, and Gielgud was grateful to her for the rest of his life for the kindness she showed him, casting her as Queen Anne in Richard of Bordeaux in 1934.

In 1938, she appeared with Ivor Novello in a production of Henry V at Drury Lane. Later the same year she appeared as Mrs Manningham in the first production of Gas Light by Patrick Hamilton. She played Lady Macbeth for almost an entire year in 1942 opposite John Gielgud's Macbeth. She won the Evening Standard Award in 1958 for her performance as Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night.

She retired from the stage in 1970, but continued to appear on radio and television. In the 1980s, well into her 90s, she appeared on the Wogan chat show, in which she recited, word for word, the famous death scene of Juliet. She made her final acting appearance in a teleplay of the Sherlock Holmes mystery The Master Blackmailer at the age of 100. Her films included The Witches (1966) and The Devil Rides Out (1968), both for Hammer Films.

She lived for many years in the village of Stambourne, Essex.

Other

She was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1991, aged 100, and remains the oldest ever appointee to that Order. She died the following year, two days after her 101st birthday. Ffrangcon-Davies was a lesbian. For many years, her partner was the South African actress Marda Vanne.

Sources

• Martial Rose, Forever Juliet: The Life and Letters of Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies 1891–1992 (2003)
• Dr Helen Grime, Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, Twentieth-Century Actress (2015)

External links

• Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies profile at IMDB