Jane Baxter
Encyclopedia
Jane Baxter was a British actress. Her stage career spanned half a century, and she appeared in a number of films and in television.
in Saxony-Anhalt
. Hedwig had been lady-in-waiting to Princess Charlotte
, sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Feodora was named after Charlotte's daughter, Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen
, who committed suicide in 1945.
. She made her debut on the London stage at the age of 15 at the Adelphi Theatre
in 1925 as an urchin in a short-lived musical, Love's Prisoner. Her breakthrough occurred in 1928 when she substituted as Peter Pan
for Jean Forbes-Robertson, whom she understudied. On the advice of the play's author, J. M. Barrie
, Feodora changed her name to Jane Baxter. She was spotted by the writer Ian Hay
, who suggested her for the lead in A Damsel in Distress, a play he had written with P.G. Wodehouse.
She made her screen debut in 1930 in a B-movie, Bed and Breakfast, and acted in a succession of films in the 1930s. She also performed in several West End shows and in 1935 she joined the repertory company at the Liverpool Playhouse
. Here the leading actor was Michael Redgrave
who found her "a delightful actress"; she would become his daughter Vanessa
's godmother. She had further success in London in 1937 with George and Margaret which ran for two years and in 1947 she co-starred on Broadway
with John Gielgud
and Margaret Rutherford
in The Importance of Being Earnest
, in which she played Cicely Cardew. Another classic role in 1948 was Viola in Twelfth Night at the Old Vic
, directed by Alec Guinness
.
After a year's run in Dial M for Murder
in 1952, she continued to work in the theatre for 20 years her last West End appearance being in A Voyage Round My Father
, which co-starred her old friend, Michael Redgrave. Baxter's television work included plays and series such as Upstairs, Downstairs
. Her last appearance was in the documentary Missing Believed Lost (1992), in which Sir John Mills
also appeared.
, the racing driver, in 1930, and witnessed his death in a race at Brooklands
two years later. In 1939 she married Arthur Montgomery, a businessman, with whom she had two daughters and one son. One daughter married James Dugdale, 2nd Baron Crathorne
the current Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire
.
Early life
Baxter was born as Feodora Kathleen Alice Forde in Bremen, Germany to an Anglo-Irish naval engineer father and a German mother of noble background, Hedwig von Dieskau. The family castle lies on the outskirts of HalleHalle, Saxony-Anhalt
Halle is the largest city in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is also called Halle an der Saale in order to distinguish it from the town of Halle in North Rhine-Westphalia...
in Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...
. Hedwig had been lady-in-waiting to Princess Charlotte
Princess Charlotte of Prussia
Princess Charlotte of Prussia , Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen was the second child born to Prince Friedrich of Prussia and Princess Victoria...
, sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Feodora was named after Charlotte's daughter, Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen
Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen
Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen was born at Potsdam, was the only child of Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and his wife Charlotte of Prussia...
, who committed suicide in 1945.
Career
Feodora Forde came to London at the age of six and studied acting at the Italia Conti AcademyItalia Conti Academy
The Italia Conti Academy is a theatre arts training school based in London. It was founded in 1911 by actress Italia Conti...
. She made her debut on the London stage at the age of 15 at the Adelphi Theatre
Adelphi Theatre
The Adelphi Theatre is a 1500-seat West End theatre, located on the Strand in the City of Westminster. The present building is the fourth on the site. The theatre has specialised in comedy and musical theatre, and today it is a receiving house for a variety of productions, including many musicals...
in 1925 as an urchin in a short-lived musical, Love's Prisoner. Her breakthrough occurred in 1928 when she substituted as Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
for Jean Forbes-Robertson, whom she understudied. On the advice of the play's author, J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
, Feodora changed her name to Jane Baxter. She was spotted by the writer Ian Hay
John Hay Beith
Major General John Hay Beith, CBE , from Edinburgh, Scotland, was a schoolmaster and soldier, and, under the pen name Ian Hay, a novelist and playwright.-Background:...
, who suggested her for the lead in A Damsel in Distress, a play he had written with P.G. Wodehouse.
She made her screen debut in 1930 in a B-movie, Bed and Breakfast, and acted in a succession of films in the 1930s. She also performed in several West End shows and in 1935 she joined the repertory company at the Liverpool Playhouse
Liverpool Playhouse
The Liverpool Playhouse is a theatre in Williamson Square in the city of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It originated in 1866 as a music hall, and in 1911 developed into a repertory theatre. As such it nurtured the early careers of many actors and actresses, some of which went on to achieve...
. Here the leading actor was Michael Redgrave
Michael Redgrave
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author.-Youth and education:...
who found her "a delightful actress"; she would become his daughter Vanessa
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
's godmother. She had further success in London in 1937 with George and Margaret which ran for two years and in 1947 she co-starred on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
with John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
and Margaret Rutherford
Margaret Rutherford
Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford DBE was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest...
in The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
, in which she played Cicely Cardew. Another classic role in 1948 was Viola in Twelfth Night at the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
, directed by Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
.
After a year's run in Dial M for Murder
Dial M for Murder
Dial M for Murder is a 1954 American thriller film adapted from a successful stage play by Frederick Knott, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, and Robert Cummings. The movie was released by the Warner Bros...
in 1952, she continued to work in the theatre for 20 years her last West End appearance being in A Voyage Round My Father
A Voyage Round My Father
A Voyage Round My Father is an autobiographical play by John Mortimer, later adapted for television.The first version of the play appeared as a series of three half-hour sketches for BBC radio in 1963. It then became a television play with Ian Richardson playing Mortimer, Tim Good as the young...
, which co-starred her old friend, Michael Redgrave. Baxter's television work included plays and series such as Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs
Upstairs, Downstairs is a British drama television series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975, and a sixth series shown on the BBC on three consecutive nights, 26–28 December 2010.Set in a...
. Her last appearance was in the documentary Missing Believed Lost (1992), in which Sir John Mills
John Mills
Sir John Mills CBE , born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills, was an English actor who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades.-Life and career:...
also appeared.
Personal life
Baxter married Clive DunfeeClive Dunfee
Beresford Clive Dunfee was a British racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1930s, who was killed in a dramatic accident at Brooklands...
, the racing driver, in 1930, and witnessed his death in a race at Brooklands
Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. It opened in 1907, and was the world's first purpose-built motorsport venue, as well as one of Britain's first airfields...
two years later. In 1939 she married Arthur Montgomery, a businessman, with whom she had two daughters and one son. One daughter married James Dugdale, 2nd Baron Crathorne
James Dugdale, 2nd Baron Crathorne
Charles James Dugdale, 2nd Baron Crathorne, KStJ, FSA, FRSA is Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire. He is also one of the ninety hereditary peers elected to remain in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act 1999...
the current Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire
Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire
The position of Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire was created on 1 April 1974.Since 1996 the position has included the areas south of the River Tees in the former county of Cleveland...
.
Miscellaneous
Jane Baxter was described by newspaper journalist Tom Vallance as "the epitome of middle-class breeding – sensible and practical, pretty rather than glamorous, with a delicate complexion. Perfect elocution, a beaming smile and just a hint of the coquette behind the cool exterior."Filmography
- Bed and BreakfastBed and Breakfast (1930 film)Bed and Breakfast is a 1930 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Jane Baxter, Richard Cooper and Sari Maritza. It was based on a play by Frederick Whitney.-Cast:* Jane Baxter - Audrey Corteline* Richard Cooper - Toby Entwhistle...
(1930) - Down River (1931)
- The Constant Nymph (1933)
- Wives Beware (1933)
- The Night of the PartyThe Night of the PartyThe Night of the Party is a British mystery thriller film directed by Michael Powell and starring Leslie Banks, Ian Hunter, Jane Baxter, Ernest Thesiger and Malcolm Keen. In the United States it was released as The Murder Party.-Synopsis:...
(1934) - The ClairvoyantThe ClairvoyantThe Clairvoyant is a 1934 drama film made in the UK, starring Claude Rains, Fay Wray, and Jane Baxter, directed by Maurice Elvey, and based on the novel of the same name by Ernst Lothar.-Plot:...
(1934) - We Live AgainWe Live AgainWe Live Again is a 1934 film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's 1899 novel Resurrection , starring Anna Sten and Frederic March...
(1934) - Blossom TimeBlossom Time (film)Blossom Time is a 1934 British musical drama film directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Richard Tauber, Jane Baxter and Carl Esmond. It was based on the opera Blossom Time by Heinrich Berte. In nineteenth century Vienna, a composer assists a girl who he is secretly in love with.-Cast:* Richard...
(1934) - Girls, Please!Girls, Please!Girls, Please! is a 1934 British comedy film directed by Jack Raymond and starring Sydney Howard, Jane Baxter, Meriel Forbes and Peter Gawthorne...
(1934) - Enchanted April (1935)
- Line Engaged (1935)
- Drake of EnglandDrake of EnglandDrake of England is a 1935 British drama film directed by Arthur B. Woods and starring Matheson Lang, Athene Seyler and Jane Baxter. It depicts the life of Francis Drake and the events leading up to the defeat of the Armada in 1588.-Cast:...
(1935) - Dusty Ermine (1936)
- The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936)
- April Blossoms (1937)
- The Ware Case (1938)
- Confidential LadyConfidential LadyConfidential Lady is a 1939 British comedy drama film, directed by Arthur B. Woods and starring Ben Lyon and Jane Baxter. It is now classed as a lost film.-Plot:...
(1939) - Chinese BungalowThe Chinese Bungalow (1940 film)The Chinese Bungalow, also known as Chinese Den, is a 1940 British drama film directed by George King and starring Kay Walsh, Jane Baxter and Paul Lukas. It was adapted from the play The Chinese Bungalow by Marion Osmond and James Corbett....
(1940) - Ships with WingsShips with WingsShips with Wings is a 1941 British war film directed by Sergei Nolbandov and starring John Clements, Leslie Banks and Jane Baxter. During the Second World War the British fleet air arm fight the Germans in Greece.-Release:...
(1941) - The Flemish Farm (1943)
- Upstairs Downstairs (episode 'A Change of Scene') (1973) as The Dowager Lady Newbury