Flora Robson

Dame Flora McKenzie Robson DBE (28 March 1902  7 July 1984) was a British actress and star of the theatrical stage and cinema, particularly renowned for her performances in plays demanding dramatic and emotional intensity.[1] Her range extended from queens to murderesses.[2][3]


Flora Robson

Robson in a 1940s studio publicity shot
Born
Flora McKenzie Robson

(1902-03-28)28 March 1902
Died7 July 1984(1984-07-07) (aged 82)
Alma materRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art
OccupationActress
Years active1921–1984

Early life

Flora McKenzie Robson was born on 28 March 1902 in South Shields, County Durham,[4] of Scottish descent to a family of six siblings.[5] Many of her forebears were engineers, mostly in shipping.[6] Her father was a ship's engineer who moved from Wallsend near Newcastle to Palmers Green in 1907 and Southgate in 1910, both in north London, and later to Welwyn Garden City.[7]

She was educated at the Palmers Green High School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art,[5] where she won a bronze medal in 1921.[8]

Career

Her father discovered that Flora had a talent for recitation and, from the age of 5, she was taken around by horse and carriage to recite, and to compete in recitations. This established a pattern that remained with her.[6]

Robson made her stage debut in 1921.[9] By the 1930s she was appearing in several prominent films both in the UK and in Hollywood, alongside such stars as Laurence Olivier, Paul Muni and George Raft. Her most notable role was that of Queen Elizabeth I in both Fire Over England (1937) and The Sea Hawk (1940).[10] In 1934, Robson played the Empress Elizabeth in Alexander Korda's The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934).[11] She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Angelique Buiton, a servant, in Saratoga Trunk (1945).[12] The same year, audiences in the U.K. and the U.S. watched her hypnotic performance as Ftatateeta, the nursemaid and royal confidante and murderess-upon-command to Vivien Leigh's Queen Cleopatra in the screen adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (1945).[13]

After the Second World War, demonstrating her range, she appeared in Holiday Camp (1947), the first of a series of films which featured the very ordinary Huggett family; as Sister Philippa in Black Narcissus (1947); as a magistrate in Good-Time Girl (1948); as a prospective Labour MP in Frieda (1947); and in the costume melodrama Saraband for Dead Lovers (1948).[14] Her other film roles included the Empress Dowager Cixi in 55 Days at Peking (1963), Miss Milchrest in Murder at the Gallop (1963), the Queen of Hearts in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972), and Livia in the aborted I, Claudius in 1937.[15]

She struggled to find a footing in the theatre after she graduated from RADA with a bronze medal since she lacked the conventional good looks which were then an absolute requisite for actresses in dramatic roles. After touring in minor parts with Ben Greet's Shakespeare company she may have played small parts for two seasons in the new repertory company at Oxford, but her contract was not renewed.[9] She was told that they required a prettier actress.[16] Unable to secure any acting engagements, she gave up the stage at the age of 23, and she took up work as a welfare officer in the Shredded Wheat factory in Welwyn Garden City.[9] Tyrone Guthrie, due to direct a season at the new Festival Theatre, Cambridge, asked her to join his company.[7] Her performance as the stepdaughter in Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author made her the theatrical talk of Cambridge.[17] She followed with Isabella in Measure for Measure with Robert Donat, Pirandello's Naked, the title role in Iphigenia in Tauris, Varya in The Cherry Orchard, and Rebecca West in Henrik Ibsen's Rosmersholm.[18][19]

In 1931, she was cast as the adulterous Abbie in Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms.[20] Her brief, shocking appearance as the doomed prostitute in James Bridie's play The Anatomist put her firmly on the road to success.[21] "If you are not moved by this girl's performance, then you are immovable" the Observer critic wrote. This success would lead to her famous 1933 season as leading lady at the Old Vic.[22]

She continued her acting career late into life, though not on the West End stage, from which she retired at the age of 67, often for American television films, including a lavish production of A Tale of Two Cities (in which she played Miss Pross).[23] She also performed for British television, including The Shrimp and the Anemone.[24] In the 1960s, she continued to act in the West End, in Ring Round the Moon, The Importance of Being Earnest and Three Sisters, among others.

She continued to act on film and television. She was last briefly seen as a Stygian Witch in the fantasy adventure Clash of the Titans in 1981.[2] Both the BBC and ITV made special programmes to celebrate her 80th birthday in 1982, and the BBC ran a short season of her best films.

Awards and honours

She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Angelique Buiton, a Haitian maid, in Saratoga Trunk (1945).[25]

She was created a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1952 New Year Honours, and raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in the 1960 Birthday Honours.[26] She was also the first famous name to become president of the Brighton Little Theatre.

On 4 July 1958, she received an honorary DLitt from Durham University at a congregation in Durham Castle.[27]

Personal life and death

Memorial tablet to Flora Robson in the porch of her final parish church, St Nicholas, Brighton

Her private life was largely focused on her large family of sisters, nephews and nieces, who used the home in Wykeham Terrace, Brighton, which she shared with sisters, Margaret and Shela.

She died in Brighton, aged 82, in her sleep, of cancer.[9][28] She was never married and had no children.[9] The two sisters, with whom she shared her life and home, died around the same time: Shela shortly before Flora, in 1984, and Margaret on 1 February 1985.

Legacies

Dame Flora Robson Avenue, built in 1962, in Simonside, South Shields, is named after her.[29] There is a plaque on the house in Wykeham Terrace, Dyke Road, Brighton, and also one in the doorway of St Nicholas's Church, of which Flora Robson was a great supporter.[30][31]

There is also a plaque to commemorate the opening of the Prince Charles Cinema (Leicester Square, London) by Flora Robson.[32]

In 1996, the British Film Institute erected a plaque at number 14 Marine Gardens, location of Flora Robson's other home in Brighton, where she lived from 1961 to 1976.[33]

A plaque at 40 Handside Lane in Welwyn Garden City records Flora Robson living there from 1923 to 1925.[34]

A blue plaque sponsored by Southgate District Civic Trust and Robson's former school Palmers Green High School was unveiled at her family home from 1910 to 1921, The Lawe, 65, The Mall, Southgate, on 25 April 2010.[5]

Robson attended the opening of the Flora Robson Playhouse in Jesmond, Newcastle upon Tyne, in 1962, which was named in her honour.[35] The building was demolished in 1971 and the theatre company it housed relocated to the new University Theatre.

Filmography

Year Title Role Note
1931A Gentleman of ParisUncredited
1932Dance Pretty LadyMrs. Raeburn
1933One Precious YearJulia Skene
1934The Rise of Catherine the GreatEmpress Elisabeth
The Private Life of Don JuanUndetermined Role(scenes deleted)
1937Fire Over EnglandQueen Elizabeth I of England
Farewell AgainLucy Blair
I, ClaudiusLiviaAlso in The Epic that Never Was
1939Wuthering HeightsEllen Dean
SmithMary SmithShort
Poison PenMary Rider
We Are Not AloneJessica Newcome
Invisible StripesMrs. Taylor
1940The Sea HawkQueen Elizabeth I
1941Bahama PassageMrs. Ainsworth
1944Two Thousand WomenMiss Manningford
1945Great DayMrs. Liz Ellis
Saratoga TrunkAngelique Buiton (in blackface)Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Caesar and CleopatraFtatateeta
Dumb Dora Discovers TobaccoShort
1946The Years BetweenNanny
1947Black NarcissusSister Philippa
FriedaNell
Holiday CampEsther Harman
1948Good-Time GirlMiss Thorpe
Saraband for Dead LoversCountess Platen
1952The Tall HeadlinesMary Rackham
1953Malta StoryMelita Gonzar
1954Romeo and JulietNurse
1957High Tide at NoonDonna MacKenzie
No Time for TearsSister Birch
1958The Gypsy and the GentlemanMrs. Haggard
Innocent SinnersOlivia Chesney
1959This Is the BBC
196355 Days at PekingDowager Empress Tzu-Hsi
Murder at the GallopMiss Milchrest
1964Guns at BatasiMiss Barker-Wise
1965Young CassidyMrs. Cassidy
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying MachinesMother Superior
19667 WomenMiss Binns
Eye of the DevilCountess Estell
1967The Shuttered RoomAunt Agatha
Cry in the WindAnasthasia
1970Fragment of FearLucy Dawson
1971La grande scrofa neraLa Nonna
The Beast in the CellarJoyce Ballantyne
The BelovedAntigone
1972Alice's Adventures in WonderlandQueen of Hearts
1975The Canterville GhostMrs. UmneyTV movie
1978Les MisérablesThe PrioressTV movie
1980DominiqueMrs. Davis
Gauguin the SavageSister AllandreTV movie
A Tale of Two CitiesMiss ProssTV movie
1981Clash of the TitansA Stygian Witchfinal film role

Partial television credits

Year Series or miniseries Role Note
1956BBC Sunday-Night TheatreLilly Mofat/Sister Agatha2 episodes
1959World TheatreAnna Fierling1 episode
1964The Human JungleHeadmistress1 episode
1966David CopperfieldBetsey Trotwood8 episodes
1968BBC Play of the MonthMay Beringer1 episode
1974HeidiGrandmotherMiniseries, 4 episodes
1975A LegacyNarrator5 episodes
1979A Man Called IntrepidSister Luke3 episodes

Theatre performances

References

  1. League, The Broadway. "Flora Robson – Broadway Cast & Staff - IBDB". www.ibdb.com.
  2. "BFI Screenonline: Robson, Flora (1902-1984) Biography". www.screenonline.org.uk.
  3. Richards, Sandra (18 June 1993). Rise of the English Actress. Springer. ISBN 9781349099306 via Google Books.
  4. GRO Register of Births: JUN 1902 10a 829 S. SHIELDS – Flora McKenzie Robson
  5. "Blue plaque unveiled at former home of Hollywood star". Enfield Independent. 27 April 2010.
  6. Chronicle, Evening (2 August 2012). "Chronicle's 100 Greatest Geordies: No's 95 to 91".
  7. "Google Groups". groups.google.com.
  8. Hartley, Cathy (2013). A Historical Dictionary of British Women. Routledge. pp. 374–375. ISBN 9781135355333. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  9. Howe, Marvine (8 July 1984). "Dame Flora Robson is Dead; A Leading Actress in Britain". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  10. "Flora Robson - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  11. "Catherine the Great (1934)". Archived from the original on 15 August 2016.
  12. "Saratoga Trunk (1945) - Sam Wood - Awards - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  13. "THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; Shaw's 'Caesar and Cleopatra' as Film Opens at the Astor-- Rains and Leigh Co-Stars --New Bill at Loew's State At Loew's State - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. 28 July 2022.
  14. "Flora Robson". Archived from the original on 25 July 2017.
  15. "Filmography for Flora Robson". Turner Classic Movies.
  16. "Dame Flora Robson Dies At 82". 8 July 1984 via www.washingtonpost.com.
  17. Groves, Brian (6 June 2014). Training through drama for work. EDUCatt - Ente per il diritto allo studio universitario dell'Università Cattolica. ISBN 9788867803781 via Google Books.
  18. "Flora Robson - Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  19. Brill's Companion to the Reception of Euripides. BRILL. 17 September 2015. ISBN 9789004299818 via Google Books.
  20. Law, Jonathan (28 October 2013). The Methuen Drama Dictionary of the Theatre. A&C Black. ISBN 9781408145913 via Google Books.
  21. "The Theatre » 17 Oct 1931 » The Spectator Archive".
  22. Chambers, Colin (14 May 2006). The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre. A&C Black. ISBN 9781847146120 via Google Books.
  23. "A Tale of Two Cities (1980) - Jim Goddard - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  24. "Eustace and Hilda: The Shrimp and the Anemone". 24 November 1977. p. 51 via BBC Genome.
  25. "1946 Academy Awards® Winners and History". www.filmsite.org.
  26. "Flora Robson". Turner Classic Movies.
  27. "The Durham Record". 2 October 2014 via dre.durham.gov.uk. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  28. "Legend in Her Lifetime". The Shields Gazette. South Shields. 28 March 2002. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  29. StreetCheck. "Interesting Information for Dame Flora Robson Avenue, South Shields, NE34 9RB Postcode". StreetCheck.
  30. "Flora Robson grey plaque". openplaques.org.
  31. "Flora Robson white plaque". openplaques.org.
  32. "Dame Flora Robson". London Remembers.
  33. Stuff, Good. "Flora Robson film cell plaque in Brighton". www.blueplaqueplaces.co.uk.
  34. "History - Web Designer in Welwyn Garden City - 01727 825934 - Value for Money". www.lemsfordonline.co.uk.
  35. "Dame Flora will Open Theatre Mamed After Her". The Stage. 2 August 1962.
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