Ladylike British actress, Edna Best, was a renowned theatrical star in the 1920s and 1930s, both in the United Kingdom and the United States. Born in March 1900 in Hove, Sussex, she began her stage career at the age of seventeen as Ela Delahay in the play "Charley's Aunt". Three years later, she played the role of Peter Pan, and in 1923, she married her first actor husband, Seymour Beard.
By the mid-1920s, Edna had become a toast of London for her performances in "Fallen Angel" alongside Tallulah Bankhead, and in "The Constant Nymph" opposite Noël Coward and John Gielgud. Her portrayal of Tessa Sanger in "The Constant Nymph" also earned her a successful run on Broadway in 1926, followed by another Margaret Kennedy play, "Come With Me".
Edna started her film career as early as 1921 but did not make a significant impact until 1931 with the film "Michael and Mary", in which she recreated her role from the London stage. She then co-starred with her husband Herbert Marshall in "Faithful Hearts" (1932) and "The Key" (1934),but neither of these films received much international exposure.
Edna had small parts in other British films, including "South Riding" (1938) and the original version of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1934),in which she played the mother of kidnap victim Nova Pilbeam. It was not until 1939 that she received a worthy motion picture role in the film "Intermezzo", in which she played the forlorn wife of Leslie Howard, who deserts her for Ingrid Bergman.
Other notable screen roles included her performances as Catherine Apley in "The Late George Apley" (1947) and Martha, the housekeeper, in "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (1947),which the New York Times review of June 27 considered "by far the best performance" in the picture. Despite her limited film appearances, Edna's talents as an actress were abundantly evident from her extensive work in the theatre.
From 1939, Edna became a U.S. resident and later a nationalized citizen by the early 1950s. She continued to make frequent triumphant returns to the stage, with her most celebrated performances on Broadway including "The Browning Version" (1948),"Harlequinade" (1949),and "Jane" (1952). In her final significant role on stage, she co-starred with Brian Aherne and Lynn Fontanne in the romantic comedy "Quadrille" (1954-55),directed by Alfred Lunt and outfitted by Cecil Beaton.
Edna retired from acting in the early 1960s and passed away in a clinic in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1974.
