--- name: "Celia Johnson" canonical: "https://film.one/person/celia-johnson" fi1m_id: "celia-johnson" imdb_id: "nm0424743" tmdb_id: 12725 wikidata_id: "Q272075" roles: ["Actor"] born: "18 December 1908" died: "26 April 1982" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 82 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-10-07T10:35:55.313086+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Celia Johnson ## Identity Celia Johnson - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/celia-johnson - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** celia-johnson - **IMDb ID:** nm0424743 - **TMDB ID:** 12725 - **Wikidata ID:** Q272075 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celia_Johnson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272075, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0424743/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/12725 Actor. Born 18 December 1908 in Richmond, Surrey, England, UK. Died 26 April 1982. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 18 December 1908, Richmond, Surrey, England, UK - **Died:** 26 April 1982 - **Active:** 1942–1981 - **Also known as:** Celia Elizabeth Johnson, Elizabeth Johnson, Селия Джонсон - **Frequently works with:** [David Lean](https://film.one/person/david-lean.md), [Noël Coward](https://film.one/person/noel-coward.md), [Trevor Howard](https://film.one/person/trevor-howard.md) - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination - **Average Fi1m score:** 82, as actor, over 2 titles - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celia_Johnson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q272075, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0424743/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/12725 ## Streaming the US now - **HBO Max:** [*Brief Encounter*](https://film.one/film/brief-encounter.md) (90), [*In Which We Serve*](https://film.one/film/in-which-we-serve.md) (74) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Celia Johnson > Celia Johnson makes a woman’s efforts to behave properly as absorbing as anything she might be tempted to do. We rate her most highly when small signs of unease let us understand how much that effort costs. In *Brief Encounter* (1945), Celia Johnson lets Laura Jesson enjoy being with Alec, then shows her questioning whether she has any right to that happiness. The pleasure barely has time to settle before she begins to worry about it. We found Laura’s anxiety almost unbearable because Johnson makes that questioning feel so immediate, even when we wish she would allow herself a little peace. Nothing about her concern for what is proper disappears simply because she has fallen in love. The early screen partnership with director David Lean and writer Noël Coward runs through *In Which We Serve* (1942), *This Happy Breed* (1944) and *Brief Encounter*. Laura was not her only sort of ordinary woman: Ethel Gibbons in *This Happy Breed* is a lower-middle-class housewife. Johnson could move between social classes, though the accent in that performance occasionally wobbles. Lean gets the fullest account of that struggle from her in *Brief Encounter*, though the film’s balance is imperfect. Coward gives Laura a more complicated inner life than Alec, leaving Trevor Howard to supply decency where Johnson can show conflicting impulses. We understand her so thoroughly that he can seem insufficiently known, and a little more uncertainty in him would make their meetings richer. Laura’s guilt has weight because Lean allows ordinary obligations to matter. Her later career included selective theatre and television work. In *The Holly and the Ivy* (1952), the interest lies again in her ability to make goodness touching without making it dull. As Miss Mackay, the headmistress in *The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie* (1969), she offers a reason to look beyond the anxious housewife, though Laura remains the performance we would send someone to first. Watch *Brief Encounter* for how quickly Johnson makes a moment of happiness uncomfortable. ## Biography Celia Johnson was an English actress whose career spanned stage, film and television from 1928 until her death. She trained at RADA and began working in repertory theatre before achieving success in West End and Broadway productions. She appeared in several films directed by David Lean and written by Noël Coward, including *In Which We Serve* (1942), *This Happy Breed* (1944) and *Brief Encounter* (1945), the last of which brought her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Later screen roles included *The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie* (1969), for which she won a BAFTA Award. Much of her later work was in television, and she received a further BAFTA for the 1973 BBC production *Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont*. She was appointed CBE in 1958 and DBE in 1981. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, english-heritage.org.uk.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *Brief Encounter* (1945), Fi1m 90, as Laura Jesson — [page](https://film.one/film/brief-encounter.md) - *In Which We Serve* (1942), Fi1m 74, as Mrs. Kinross / Alix — [page](https://film.one/film/in-which-we-serve.md) ## Complete filmography (36) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Number 10* (1983), series, as Mrs Gladstone (Anne MacKenzie Robertson) - *Celebrity Playhouse* (1981), series, as Mrs. Callifer - *The Potting Shed* (1981), as Mrs Califer - *All's Well That Ends Well* (1981), as Countess of Rousillon - *Staying On* (1980), as Lucy Smalley - *The Hostage Tower* (1980), as Mrs. Wheeler - *Les Misérables* (1978), as Sister Simplice - *Romeo and Juliet* (1978), as Nurse - *The BBC Television Shakespeare* (1978), series, as Nurse - *The Emperor's New Hat* (1977), as La Comtesse de Chemaille - *The Dame of Sark* (1976), as Sybil Hathaway - *Lloyd George Knew My Father* (1975), as Lady Sheila Boothroyd - *Love Affair* (1974), as Mrs Hobbish - *Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont* (1973), as Mrs. Palfrey - *Centre Play* (1973), series, as La Comtesse de Chemaille - *The Cherry Orchard* (1971), as Madame Ranevskaya - *Play for Today* (1970), series, as Mrs. Palfrey - *The Cellar and the Almond Tree* (1970), Actor - *The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie* (1969), as Miss Mackay - *Omnibus* (1967), series, as Ellen Edgeworth - *ITV Playhouse* (1967), series, as Miss Hobish - *BBC Play of the Month* (1965), series, as Mrs. Alving, Judith Bliss, Sheila, Eloise, Madame Ranyevskaya - *The Wednesday Play* (1964), series, as Countess Isabel von Reger - *The Good Companions* (1957), as Miss Trant - *A Kid for Two Farthings* (1955), as Joanna - *The Captain's Paradise* (1953), as Maud St. James - *The Holly and the Ivy* (1952), as Jenny Gregory - *I Believe in You* (1952), as Matty Matheson - *A Bolt of Lightning* (1951), as Mary Otis - *The Astonished Heart* (1950), as Barbara Faber - *Brief Encounter* (1945), as Laura Jesson — Fi1m 90, [page](https://film.one/film/brief-encounter.md) - *This Happy Breed* (1944), as Ethel Gibbons - *Dear Octopus* (1943), as Cynthia - *In Which We Serve* (1942), as Mrs. Kinross / Alix — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/in-which-we-serve.md) - *We Serve* (1942), Actor - *Letter from Home* (1941), as Mrs Taylor ## Gallery - ![Sujet : Brief encounter (film) Contient : coupures de presse Langue : français (1946)](https://film.one/media/person/48/gallery-836f619a90b8.jpg) Sujet : Brief encounter (film) Contient : coupures de presse Langue : français (1946) — Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/08/Recueil._%22Br%C3%A8ve_rencontre%22%2C_film_de_David_Lean_-_btv1b105226620_%2832_of_92%29.jpg/1280px-Recueil._%22Br%C3%A8ve_rencontre%22%2C_film_de_David_Lean_-_btv1b105226620_%2832_of_92%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Sujet : Brief encounter (film) Contient : coupures de presse Langue : français (1946)](https://film.one/media/person/48/gallery-23420367fd37.jpg) Sujet : Brief encounter (film) Contient : coupures de presse Langue : français (1946) — Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/Recueil._%22Br%C3%A8ve_rencontre%22%2C_film_de_David_Lean_-_btv1b105226620_%2838_of_92%29.jpg/1280px-Recueil._%22Br%C3%A8ve_rencontre%22%2C_film_de_David_Lean_-_btv1b105226620_%2838_of_92%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Sujet : Brief encounter (film) Contient : coupures de presse Langue : français (1946)](https://film.one/media/person/48/gallery-a6078224669f.jpg) Sujet : Brief encounter (film) Contient : coupures de presse Langue : français (1946) — Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/Recueil._%22Br%C3%A8ve_rencontre%22%2C_film_de_David_Lean_-_btv1b105226620_%2842_of_92%29.jpg/1280px-Recueil._%22Br%C3%A8ve_rencontre%22%2C_film_de_David_Lean_-_btv1b105226620_%2842_of_92%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Celia Johnson](https://film.one/media/person/48/gallery-4565375257c8.jpg) Celia Johnson — Image via TMDB - ![Celia Johnson](https://film.one/media/person/48/gallery-d7b04ff60db0.jpg) Celia Johnson — Image via TMDB - ![Celia Johnson](https://film.one/media/person/48/gallery-a59bf2e99065.jpg) Celia Johnson — Image via TMDB - ![Celia Johnson](https://film.one/media/person/48/gallery-48e6bb02c39b.jpg) Celia Johnson — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated - 1947: Best Actress (nominated), for *Brief Encounter* *From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.* --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/celia-johnson