Lilian Braithwaite
Encyclopedia
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(9 March 1873 – 17 September 1948), born Florence Lilian Braithwaite, was an English actress.
She was the daughter of a clergyman, and born in Ramsgate
Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...
, Kent. She was educated at Croydon High School
Croydon High School
Croydon High School for Girls GDST is a leading non-denominational independent school for girls, located near Croydon, Greater London, England. It is one of the schools in the Girls' Day School Trust....
, and married actor-manager Gerald Lawrence, first acting with amateur companies. Her first professional London appearance was in As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
in 1900. She appeared in the 1927
1927 in film
-Events:*January 10 - Fritz Lang's science-fiction fantasy Metropolis premieres in Germany.*April 7 - Abel Gance's Napoleon often considered his best known and greatest masterpiece, premiers at the Paris Opéra and would demonstrate techniques and equipment that would not be used for years to...
Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
film Downhill
Downhill (film)
Downhill is a 1927 silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and based on the play Down Hill. It is Hitchcock's fifth film as director.-Plot:...
. Her greatest triumph was as the alcoholic mother in Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's groundbreaking drama The Vortex
The Vortex
The Vortex is a play by the English writer and actor Noël Coward. The story focuses on sexual vanity and drug abuse among the upper classes. The play was Coward's first great commercial success....
. She proved that comedy was her greatest asset in a long succession of drawing-room dramas and light comedies, culminating in the long running Arsenic and Old Lace
Arsenic and Old Lace (play)
Arsenic and Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. It has become best known through the film adaptation starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra. The play was directed by Bretaigne Windust, and opened on January 10, 1941. On September 25, 1943, the...
(1942-1946).
Braithwaite responded to the assertion of critic James Agate
James Agate
James Evershed Agate was a British diarist and critic. In the period between the wars, he was one of Britain's most influential theatre critics...
that she was "the second most beautiful woman in London", by replying, "I shall long cherish that, coming from our second-best theatre critic."
In the Second World War she served as chairman and chief organizer of the hospital division of ENSA
ENSA
ENSA may refer to:* ENSA, the Entertainments National Service Association* ENSA * École Nationale des Sciences Appliquées d'Oujda, an engineering school in Morocco* EC-Council Network Security Administrator...
. She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(DBE) in 1943.
Her daughter Joyce Carey
Joyce Carey
Joyce Carey, OBE was a British actress, best known for her long professional and personal relationship with Noël Coward. Her stage career lasted from 1916 until 1984, and she was performing on television in her nineties. Though never a star, she was a familiar face both on stage and screen...
became a film and television actress.
Selected filmography
- The Gay Lord QuexThe Gay Lord Quex (film)The Gay Lord Quex is a 1917 British silent comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Ben Webster, Irene Vanbrugh and Lilian Braithwaite...
(1917) - A Man of MayfairA Man of MayfairA Man of Mayfair is a 1931 British musical comedy film directed by Louis Mercanton and starring Jack Buchanan, Joan Barry and Warwick Ward.-Cast:* Jack Buchanan - Lord William* Joan Barry - Grace Irving* Warwick Ward - Ferdinand Barclay...
(1931) - The Chinese Puzzle (1932)
- Moscow NightsMoscow Nights (film)Moscow Nights is a 1935 British drama film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Laurence Olivier, Penelope Dudley-Ward and Harry Baur. During the First World War a wounded Russian officer Captain Ignatoff falls in love with his nurse...
(1935) - A Man About the HouseA Man About the House (1947 film)A Man About the House is a black-and-white British film directed by Leslie Arliss and released in 1947. The film is a melodrama, adapted for the screen by J.B. Williams from the 1942 novel of the same name by Francis Brett Young...
(1947)