Biography
Dame Peggy Ashcroft was an English actress whose career on stage and screen spanned more than six decades. Born Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft on 22 December 1907 in Croydon, she trained at the Central School of Dramatic Art and made her professional stage debut in 1926.
She appeared in numerous Shakespeare productions and other classic plays with the Old Vic and elsewhere. Her film roles were fewer but included the crofter's wife in The 39 Steps (1935) and Mrs Moore in A Passage to India (1984), for which she received an Academy Award for best supporting actress. She was appointed DBE in 1956 and died in London on 14 June 1991.
