Biography
Fay Compton (born Virginia Lilian Emmeline Compton-Mackenzie) was an English actress. She was born on 18 September 1894 in Fulham, London, and died on 12 December 1978 in Hove, East Sussex. She came from a theatrical family; her father was actor and manager Edward Compton, her brother was author Compton Mackenzie, and her sister was actress Viola Compton.
Compton was best known for her stage work, appearing in Shakespeare, drawing-room comedy and other genres from 1911 onwards. She made her film debut in 1914 and appeared in more than forty films up to 1970. Among her screen roles were Emilia in Orson Welles’s Othello (1951), Rosie in Odd Man Out (1947), Mrs Sanderson in The Haunting (1963), and Aunt Ann Forsyte in the BBC television series The Forsyte Saga (1967). She was appointed CBE in 1975.
