---
name: "Flora Robson"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/flora-robson"
fi1m_id: "flora-robson"
imdb_id: "nm0733460"
tmdb_id: 30126
wikidata_id: "Q264004"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "28 March 1902"
died: "7 July 1984"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 82
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-10-04T17:25:05.636600+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."
---

# Flora Robson

## Identity

Flora Robson

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/flora-robson
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** flora-robson
- **IMDb ID:** nm0733460
- **TMDB ID:** 30126
- **Wikidata ID:** Q264004
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora_Robson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q264004, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0733460/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/30126

Actor. Born 28 March 1902 in South Shields, (which was then in County Durham), England. Died 7 July 1984.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 28 March 1902, South Shields, (which was then in County Durham), England
- **Died:** 7 July 1984
- **Active:** 1939–1981
- **Also known as:** Dame Flora Robson, Flora McKenzie Robson, Флора Робсон
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Average Fi1m score:** 82, as actor, over 2 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 76 (1), 1940s 88 (1)
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flora_Robson, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q264004, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0733460/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/30126

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*Black Narcissus*](https://film.one/film/black-narcissus.md) (88)
- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Wuthering Heights*](https://film.one/film/wuthering-heights.md) (76)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Flora Robson

> Flora Robson makes supporting parts matter through plain delivery and feelings held in check. We admire her quiet authority, though films did not always give her enough to do with it.

In *Wuthering Heights* (1939), Flora Robson’s Ellen Dean sits a stranded visitor by the fire and begins to explain the unhappy household. Her delivery is patient, without the fuss that can make a narrator seem more important than the people being described. We felt grateful for her calm: she lets the story’s distress register without instructing us to grieve. William Wyler gives her the telling of it, and she makes that responsibility look unshowy.

Her breakthrough as Queen Elizabeth in *Fire Over England* (1937) made regal authority a dependable line of work; *The Sea Hawk* (1940) cast her as the queen again. The housekeepers and women of moral authority became another familiar line of employment. Such casting suited her force and clarity. It also narrowed her opportunities, particularly for romantic leads, leaving supporting parts to accommodate much of what she could do.

The advantage of her restraint is clear beside Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon in *Wuthering Heights*. Olivier’s Heathcliff has heat, while Oberon’s Cathy is too composed for the part. Wyler and Gregg Toland give the story handsome, shadowed images, but Robson provides the steadiness that keeps it involving. Her narration remains dependable even when the romance becomes less convincing.

In *Black Narcissus* (1947), as Sister Philippa, that restraint has a different use. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger use colour and music to make religious repression feel painfully immediate. Robson does not need to match that intensity with a more demonstrative performance; Sister Philippa’s feelings come through the restraint. The film sometimes simplifies its Himalayan setting, but it takes the women’s distress seriously.

The later screen roles could be less substantial, as with the Stygian Witch in *Clash of the Titans* (1981). Her distinctive voice remained useful, but cameos leave little room for the patient emotional work that makes Ellen Dean matter. For a proper introduction to her acting, accept the reservations about *Wuthering Heights* and watch it for the woman telling the story.

## Biography

Dame Flora McKenzie Robson DBE (28 March 1902 – 7 July 1984) was an English actress. Born in South Shields, County Durham, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, winning a bronze medal, and made her professional stage debut in London in 1921. She appeared in repertory and classical roles, including Shakespeare at the Old Vic.

Robson worked extensively in theatre and film. Her screen credits include Ellen Dean in *Wuthering Heights* (1939), Sister Philippa in *Black Narcissus* (1947), Queen Elizabeth in *The Sea Hawk* (1940), and roles in *Caesar and Cleopatra* (1945), *55 Days at Peking* (1963) and *Clash of the Titans* (1981). She received an Academy Award nomination for *Saratoga Trunk* (1945).

She was appointed CBE in 1952 and DBE in 1960.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, screenonline.org.uk, britannica.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *Black Narcissus* (1947), Fi1m 88, as Sister Philippa — [page](https://film.one/film/black-narcissus.md)
- *Wuthering Heights* (1939), Fi1m 76, as Ellen Dean — [page](https://film.one/film/wuthering-heights.md)

## Complete filmography (58)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Clash of the Titans* (1981), as A Stygian Witch
- *A Tale of Two Cities* (1980), as Miss Pross
- *Gauguin the Savage* (1980), as Sister Allandre
- *Dominique* (1980), as Mrs. Davis
- *A Man Called Intrepid* (1979), series, as Sister Luke
- *Les Misérables* (1978), as the Prioress
- *The Canterville Ghost* (1974), as Mrs. Umney
- *Heidi* (1974), series, as Grandmother
- *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland* (1972), as Queen of Hearts
- *The Beast in the Cellar* (1971), as Joyce Ballantyne
- *The Big Black Sow* (1971), as La Nonna
- *Sin* (1971), as Antigone
- *Fragment of Fear* (1970), as Lucy Dawson
- *The Shuttered Room* (1967), as Aunt Agatha
- *Eye of the Devil* (1966), as Countess Estelle
- *David Copperfield* (1966), series, as Betsey Trotwood
- *7 Women* (1965), as Miss Binns
- *BBC Play of the Month* (1965), series, as May Beringer
- *Thirty-Minute Theatre* (1965), series, as Mrs. Frobisher
- *Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes* (1965), as Mother Superior
- *Young Cassidy* (1965), as Mrs. Cassidy
- *Guns at Batasi* (1964), as Miss Barker-Wise
- *Murder at the Gallop* (1963), as Miss Milchrest
- *55 Days at Peking* (1963), as Dowager Empress Tzu-Hsi
- *The Human Jungle* (1963), series, as Dorothy Wyley
- *Innocent Sinners* (1958), as Olivia Chesney
- *The Gypsy and the Gentleman* (1958), as Mrs. Haggard
- *No Time for Tears* (1957), as Sister Birch
- *High Tide at Noon* (1957), as Donna MacKenzie
- *Armchair Theatre* (1956), series, as Miss. Pringle
- *Romeo and Juliet* (1955), as Nurse
- *Romeo and Juliet* (1954), as Nurse
- *Malta Story* (1953), as Melita Gonzar
- *Tall Headlines* (1952), as Mary Rackham
- *Saraband for Dead Lovers* (1948), as Countess Clara Platen
- *Good-Time Girl* (1948), as Miss Thorpe
- *Holiday Camp* (1947), as Esther Harman
- *Frieda* (1947), as Nell Dawson
- *Black Narcissus* (1947), as Sister Philippa — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/black-narcissus.md)
- *The Years Between* (1946), as Nanny
- *Caesar and Cleopatra* (1945), as Ftatateeta
- *Saratoga Trunk* (1945), as Angelique Buiton
- *Great Day* (1945), as Mrs. Liz Ellis
- *Two Thousand Women* (1944), as Miss Manningford
- *Bahama Passage* (1941), as Mrs. Ainsworth
- *The Sea Hawk* (1940), as Queen Elizabeth
- *Invisible Stripes* (1939), as Mrs. Taylor
- *We Are Not Alone* (1939), as Jessica Newcome
- *The Lion Has Wings* (1939), as Queen Elizabeth I (archive footage)
- *Poison Pen* (1939), as Mary Rider
- *Smith* (1939), as Mrs. Smith
- *Wuthering Heights* (1939), as Ellen Dean — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/wuthering-heights.md)
- *Fire Over England* (1937), as Queen Elizabeth I of England
- *Farewell Again* (1937), as Lucy Blair
- *I, Claudius* (1937), as Livia
- *The Rise of Catherine the Great* (1934), as Empress Elisabeth
- *One Precious Year* (1933), as Julia Skene
- *Dance Pretty Lady* (1931), as Mrs. Raeburn

## Gallery

- ![Flora Robson](https://film.one/media/person/7128/gallery-92be25b7c5d3.jpg) Flora Robson — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Studio_publicity_Flora_Robson.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Dame Flora Robson taken in her home in Brighton, England (1973)](https://film.one/media/person/7128/gallery-3396107a5811.jpg) Dame Flora Robson taken in her home in Brighton, England (1973) — Allan warren, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7b/Dame_Flora_Robson_26_Allan_Warren.jpg/1280px-Dame_Flora_Robson_26_Allan_Warren.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Dame Flora Robson taken at her home in Brighton, England (1973)](https://film.one/media/person/7128/gallery-e40dfcc33c9f.jpg) Dame Flora Robson taken at her home in Brighton, England (1973) — Allan warren, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/Dame_Flora_Robson_4_Allan_Warren.jpg/1280px-Dame_Flora_Robson_4_Allan_Warren.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Dam Flora Robson at home in Brighton, England (1974)](https://film.one/media/person/7128/gallery-9936b2e1de89.jpg) Dam Flora Robson at home in Brighton, England (1974) — Allan warren, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/Dame_Flora_Robson_Allan_Warren.jpg/1280px-Dame_Flora_Robson_Allan_Warren.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Flora Robson](https://film.one/media/person/7128/gallery-f74b0a27cbac.jpg) Flora Robson — Image via TMDB
- ![Flora Robson](https://film.one/media/person/7128/gallery-da968a613d7f.jpg) Flora Robson — Image via TMDB
- ![Flora Robson](https://film.one/media/person/7128/gallery-199375737f96.jpg) Flora Robson — Image via TMDB
- ![Memorial tablet to the actress Dame Flora Robson in the porch of St Nicholas Church, Brighton, East Sussex. (2019)](https://film.one/media/person/7128/gallery-bbd0bd0dfb4c.jpg) Memorial tablet to the actress Dame Flora Robson in the porch of St Nicholas Church, Brighton, East Sussex. (2019) — Antiquary, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Flora_Robson_tablet.jpg/1280px-Flora_Robson_tablet.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Sujet : Adieu chérie ! (film) Contient : coupures de presse Langue : français (1946)](https://film.one/media/person/7128/gallery-a5eae1e1c347.jpg) Sujet : Adieu chérie ! (film) Contient : coupures de presse Langue : français (1946) — Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Recueil._%22Adieu%2C_ch%C3%A9rie%21%22_film_de_Raymond_Bernard_-_btv1b105226175_%2808_of_32%29.jpg/1280px-Recueil._%22Adieu%2C_ch%C3%A9rie%21%22_film_de_Raymond_Bernard_-_btv1b105226175_%2808_of_32%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1947: Best Supporting Actress (nominated), for *Saratoga Trunk*

*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/flora-robson