Peggy Ashcroft

Peggy Ashcroft (1907–1991) was an English stage and screen actress whose career spanned much of the twentieth century. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for A Passage to India (1984).

A Passage to India: David Lean’s 1984 film adaptation of E. M. Forster’s novel, set in British India. Ashcroft won the supporting-actress Oscar for playing Mrs. Moore.
John Gielgud: An English actor and director celebrated for Shakespearean stage performances and a long screen career. Gielgud and Ashcroft were leading figures in the same generation of British classical theatre.
Central School of Speech and Drama: A London performing-arts institution founded in 1906 to train actors and theatre practitioners. Ashcroft studied there before beginning her professional stage career.
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress: An annual Academy Award honoring an outstanding performance in a supporting role in a film. Ashcroft received the award in 1985 for A Passage to India.
Mrs. Moore: A visiting Englishwoman whose encounter with India unsettles the colonial assumptions of A Passage to India. Ashcroft’s performance made the character the center of her late-career screen recognition.
Laurence Olivier: An English actor and director renowned for Shakespearean performances on stage and screen. Olivier and Ashcroft worked in the British theatre world that shaped her career.
Birmingham Repertory Theatre: A repertory theatre company founded in Birmingham by Barry Jackson in 1913. Ashcroft’s early professional work included the company’s productions.
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role: A British Academy Film Award recognizing an actress’s supporting performance in film or television. Ashcroft received the television award for The Jewel in the Crown.
The Jewel in the Crown: A 1984 British television serial adapted from Paul Scott’s Raj Quartet novels. Ashcroft won a BAFTA for her portrayal of Barbie Batchelor in the series.
Ralph Richardson: An English actor whose stage and film career made him one of Britain’s leading performers. Richardson was among Ashcroft’s celebrated contemporaries in British theatre.

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Edith EvansCompared with: Ashcroft offers a useful comparison with Evans’s parallel prominence in British classical acting.