Jane Baxter

Born: 1909-09-09

A distinguished stage and film actress Jane Baxter was one of the most glamorous performers on the London stage. Winston Churchill, an ardent fan, once described her as, "that charming lady who grace personifies all that is best in British womanhood". Her stage career spanned half a century and she is best remembered for her role in "Dial M For Murder", in which she co-starred with Michael Redgrave. Redgrave said that she was "every undergraduate's ideal of an English rose". Born Fedora Kathleen Alice Forde in Germany, she came to London as a child and studied acting at the Italia Conti Stage School. She made her West End debut at the age of 13 in the musical comedy "Love's Prisoner". On the advice of the playwright J.M. Barrie, she changed her name to Jane Baxter and, in 1938, played the lead in the hit comedy "A Damsel in Distress". Several other West End shows followed as well as films such as We Live Again (1934), with Fredric March and The Clairvoyant (1935), with Claude Rains and, in 1935, she joined the repertory company at the Liverpool Playhouse where the leading actor was Michael Redgrave. He viewed her arrival "with some alarm", expecting "a spoilt and temperamental film star". Instead, he found "a delightful actress". Baxter eventually became godmother to Redgrave's daughter, the future actress Vanessa Redgrave. She had success again in London in 1937 with "George and Margaret", which ran for two years and, on Broadway, she co-starred with John Gielgud and Margaret Rutherford in "The Importance of Being Earnest", in which she played "Cicely Cardew". She continued to make films and appear on stage throughout the 1960s and her final London stage role was in John Mortimer's "A Voyage Round My Father", in which she starred opposite Michael Redgrave. Her last stage role was at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley in 1978 in the thriller "Assault", in which she appeared with Richard Todd. In 1992, she made a guest appearance - to a standing ovation - at the London Palladium in "A Tribute to Evelyn Laye". In her will, she requested that there be no memorial service for her but just a gathering of friends at her local church in Wimbledon, South London. Film director Bryan Forbes gave the address


Placeholder

The Little Minister

as Maid Helping with Wedding Dress
Released: 1934-12-28

The stoic, proper Rev. Gavin Dishart, newly assigned to a church in the small Scottish village...

Movie page

Death of an Angel

as Mary Welling
Released: 1952-01-01

The angel of the title is Jane Baxter, the wife of country physician Patrick Barr. Everybody in...

Movie page

The Night of the Party

as Peggy Studholme Kennion
Released: 1934-07-16

A major newspaper publisher dies in suspicious circumstances during a parlour game at a dinner...

Movie page

The Clairvoyant

as Christine
Released: 1935-06-07

A fake psychic suddenly turns into the real thing when he meets a young beauty. (TCM)

Movie page

The Man Behind the Mask

as Lady June Slade
Released: 1936-08-23

A young couple attend a masked ball before their planned (but secret) elopement. Suddenly...

Movie page

We Live Again

as Missy Kortchagin
Released: 1934-11-01

Nekhludoff, a Russian nobleman serving on a jury, discovers that the young girl on trial,...

Movie page

Ships with Wings

as Celia Wetherby
Released: 1941-11-10

Before the war, a Fleet Air Arm pilot is dismissed for causing the death of a colleague. Working...

Movie page

Drake of England

as Elizabeth Sydenham
Released: 1935-05-16

Imposing Canadian-born stage actor and playwright Matherson Lang was one of the twentieth...

Movie page

The Chinese Bungalow

as Charlotte Merivale
Released: 1940-04-06

All but a prisoner in the exotic Malayan retreat she shares with her Chinese financier husband,...

Movie page

Down River

as Hilary Gordon
Released: 1931-05-08

A murderous skipper involved in dope trafficking.

Movie page

The Ware Case

as Lady Margaret 'Meg' Ware
Released: 1938-12-02

An aristocrat won't economize, then his rich brother in law is found murdered in the grounds of...

Movie page

Blossom Time

as Vicki Wimpassinger
Released: 1934-01-01

World-renowned tenor Richard Tauber features in a dramatisation of the life of Schubert,...

Movie page

The Flemish Farm

as Tresha
Released: 1943-09-06

Wartime commando story based on fact. Allied airman risks return (on the ground) to occupied...

Movie page

Dusty Ermine

as Linda Kent
Released: 1936-12-01

A forger returns to his family when he leaves jail vowing to go straight. Although approached by...

Movie page

Two White Arms

as Alison Drury
Released: 1932-03-01

A man becomes bored with married life and pretends to have lost his memory so he can pursue...

Movie page

The Briggs Family

as Sylvia Briggs
Released: 1940-09-07

During the Second World War, a special constable and former solicitor is called upon to defend...

Movie page

Enchanted April

as Lady Caroline Dester
Released: 1935-02-01

Mrs. Lotty Wilkins is an unhappily wife whom's life husband and romance have departed. In order...

Movie page

Bed and Breakfast

as Audrey Corteline
Released: 1930-12-22

A newlywed couple have a fight, and in order to get even with one another, each decides to take...

Movie page

Bed Rock

as Rosie
Released: 1930-06-01

A Canadian returns to find his fiancée is married and schemes revenge.

Movie page

Upstairs, Downstairs

as Dowager Lady Newbury
First aired: 1971-10-10

Upstairs: the wealthy, aristocratic Bellamys. Downstairs: their loyal and lively servants. For...

TV Show page