Peggy Ashcroft Movies
Educated at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, British actress Peggy Ashcroft made her West End theatrical debut in 1927. Within three years, she achieved fame with her performance of Desdemona opposite African American actor Paul Robeson's Othello. Thereafter, she appeared in the company of London's theatrical elite, most often costarring with Sir John Gielgud. Ashcroft... (read more) made her film bow in 1933's The Wandering Jew, four years before her first Broadway appearance. In honor of her innumerable Shakespearean performances, Ashcroft was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1956. Appearing very infrequently in films throughout most of her career, Ashcroft is best remembered for her movie roles in Hitchcock's The Thirty Nine Steps (1935) and the Audrey Hepburn vehicle The Nun's Story (1959). In 1984, the 77-year-old actress received the Academy Award for her portrayal of Mrs. Moore in David Lean's A Passage to India. When she did not appear at the Oscar ceremony, rumors began circulating that Ashcroft was terminally ill. In fact, Dame Peggy Ashcroft had six more years' worth of performances in her, culminating with her magnificent portrayal of a lifelong mental institution resident in the made-for-TV She's Been Away (1990). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The Heat of the Day
1991
In this WW II espionage drama, a British officer stands wrongfully accused of treason and must find those who framed him. Much to his surprise, a beautiful young woman suddenly...
She's Been Away
1989
In her final film, celebrated British actress Peggy Ashcroft portrays one Lillian Huckle. Released from a mental institution after 60 years, Lillian is taken in her nephew...
Madame Sousatzka
PG13 1988
Shirley MacLaine is Madame Sousatzka, an aging piano instructor of Russian extraction. Entrenched in a dilapidated London rooming house, the Madame gives lessons only to the...
A Perfect Spy
1988
This spy outing hones in on secret agent Magnus Pym (Peter Egan). Having impersonated so many different people during his career as a British spy, Pym eventually lost...
When the Wind Blows
1986
In this animated film, based on the novel by Raymond Briggs, an older English couple must struggle to deal with their altered reality when a nuclear war strikes, destroying...
Murder by the Book
1986
In this interesting mystery, famed novelist Agatha Christie has just decided to kill off her popular character, the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in her latest novel...
A Passage to India
PG 1984
A Passage to India, director David Lean's final film (for which he also received editing credit), breaks no new ground cinematically, but remains an exquisitely assembled...
Little Eyolf
1982
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Cream in My Coffee
1980
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Caught on a Train
R 1980
Over the course of one night and many miles, the lives of three passengers aboard a trans-European train are changed forever. English businessman Peter (Michael Kitchen)...
Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures
1978
Produced for British TV by the Merchant-Ivory-Jhabvala triumvirate, this India-based comedy was released theatrically in the US. Victor Banerjee, best known to...
Joseph Andrews
R 1977
Tony Richardson attempts to re-create the glory days of Tom Jones in this adaptation of the 1742 Henry Fielding novel. Peter Firth stars in this picaresque tale as...
Der Fussgänger
1974
The Pedestrian (Der Fussganger) was the second filmed directorial effort of German actor Maximillian Schell. Billed third under Gustav Rudolf Sellner and Ruth...
Sunday Bloody Sunday
R 1971
This British film examines the choices individuals must make when confronted with a romantic relationship which is rewarding but does not offer them everything they want. In this...
Three Into Two Won't Go
R 1969
American actor Rod Steiger adopts a British accent to keep apace with his co-stars in Three into Two Won't Go. Steiger plays a prosperous salesman, married to Claire...
Secret Ceremony
1968
This psychologically twisted tragedy begins when the boozy prostitute Leonora (Elizabeth Taylor) encounters a young woman on a London bus. Cenci (Mia Farrow) looks very much like...
Tell Me Lies
1968
Subtitled A Film About London, this drama is a quintessential experimental counter-culture film of the late 1960s that centers on the questions raised by the Vietnam war....
The Nun's Story
1959
Audrey Hepburn stars in The Nun's Story as Sister Luke, postulant of a Belgian order of nuns. Though frequently disillusioned in her efforts to spread good will -- at one...
Quiet Wedding
1941
The old reliable plot device known as premarital hanky-panky was the basis of the Esther McCracken stage play Quiet Wedding. The film version, scripted by Terence...
Rhodes
1936
African-American students who have accepted Rhodes scholarships may feel like wincing at Rhodes of Africa, an unabashed celebration of British imperialism. Walter Huston...