Sybil Thorndike

by Croall, Jonathan

• ISBN13: 9781905791927
• ISBN10: 1905791925
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-02-01
• Publisher: Haus Pub

Summary

"Sybil Thorndike was one of the most remarkable women of the twentieth century. Loved and admired as a leading actress, she was also an ardent feminist, socialist and pacifist, who fought throughout her life for a better and more peaceful world." "In her youth she toured America and Canada, playing over a hundred Shakespearean parts. Throughout the first world war she led the pioneering Old Vic company while bringing up four children. In the second world war she and her actor/director husband Lewis Casson took productions of Shakespeare and Euripides to the mining areas of Wales. Afterwards she witnessed the devastation of post-war Europe while touring with a company headed by Laurence Olivier, for whom she was a surrogate mother, and Ralph Richardson. Later she and Lewis Casson toured the world with their celebrated poetry recitals, visiting Australia five times." "With unique access to hundreds of unpublished letters, Jonathan Croall has produced a sympathetic but critical authorised biography of the vicar's daughter who became a theatrical legend. Through interviews with nearly two hundred actors, directors and playwrights, and extended conversations with members of her family, he captures in absorbing detail her larger-than-life personality. He also reveals the intense, often violent nature of her relationship with Lewis Casson, and her struggles to combine motherhood with a glittering stage career and an active political life."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

When Arthur Met Agnes	p. 7
A Kentish Lass 1882-1895	p. 11
The Young Musician 1895-1902	p. 22
Drama School and Ben Greet 1903-1904	p. 35
An Innocent Abroad 1904-1907	p. 41
Fallen Among Highbrows 1907-1908	p. 56
Annie Horniman and the Gaiety 1908-1909	p. 68
Granville Barker and America 1909-1911	p. 78
The Gaiety Revisited 1912-1914	p. 87
The Old Vic and Lilian Baylis 1914-1916	p. 97
The Pity of War 1916-1918	p. 111
The New Tragedienne 1919-1921	p. 122
Grand Guignol 1920-1922	p. 138
The Albery Partnership 1922-1923	p. 153
Saint Joan 1923-1925	p. 165
Top of the Tree 1924-1926	p. 181
Lady Macbeth and Edith Cavell 1926-1928	p. 200
Into Africa 1928-1929	p. 215
Shaw to Ibsen 1929-1930	p. 223
Robeson, Guinness and a Dame 1930-1931	p. 236
Australia and Beyond 1932-1933	p. 249
Back in the USA 1933-1935	p. 260
O n the Road 1936-1937	p. 275
J. B. Priestley to Emlyn Williams 1938-1939	p. 287
A Pacifist at War 1939-1940	p. 300
Shakespeare for the Miners 1940-1942	p. 308
Red Army to White Queen 1943-1944	p. 324
Triumph at the New 1944-1945	p. 335
The Aftermath of War 1945	p. 343
A New Age 1945-1946	p. 354
Cavalcanti, Hitchcock and Powell 1946-1950	p. 360
Sybil and Edith at the Haymarket 1950-1952	p. 380
Gielgud and a Jubilee 1952-1954	p. 391
Far Horizons 1954-1956	p. 399
Waiting for Marilyn 1956	p. 410
Fifty in the Sun 1957-1959	p. 421
Noel Coward and Saint Teresa 1959-1961	p. 436
Olivier and Chekhov at Chichester 1962-1963	p. 453
Vanity Fair to TW[subscript 3] 1962-1963	p. 461
Later Stages 1964-1966	p. 472
E. M. Forster and Adam Faith 1966-1968	p. 481
Losing Lewis 1967-1969	p. 492
A Bag Lady at the Thorndike 1969-1971	p. 501
The Oldest Working Girl Around 1971-1976	p. 510
Epilogue	p. 520
Chronology	p. 524
Bibliography	p. 540
Sources and Notes	p. 545
Acknowledgements	p. 551
Index	p. 554
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.