--- name: "Wendy Hiller" canonical: "https://film.one/person/wendy-hiller" fi1m_id: "wendy-hiller" imdb_id: "nm0384908" tmdb_id: 13325 wikidata_id: "Q230626" roles: ["Actor"] born: "15 August 1912" died: "14 May 2003" reviewed_on_fi1m: 6 average_fi1m_score: 79 average_as: "actor" average_over: 6 updated: "2026-10-07T10:59:52.738187+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." --- # Wendy Hiller ## Identity Wendy Hiller - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/wendy-hiller - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** wendy-hiller - **IMDb ID:** nm0384908 - **TMDB ID:** 13325 - **Wikidata ID:** Q230626 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Hiller, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q230626, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0384908/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/13325 Actor. Born 15 August 1912 in Bramhall, Cheshire, England, UK. Died 14 May 2003. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 15 August 1912, Bramhall, Cheshire, England, UK - **Died:** 14 May 2003 - **Active:** 1938–1986 - **Also known as:** Dame Wendy Hiller, Уэнди Хиллер - **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar (1 won · 2 nominated) - **Average Fi1m score:** 79, as actor, over 6 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 84 (1), 1940s 88 (1), 1950s 74 (1), 1960s 72 (2), 1980s 84 (1) - **Score spread:** 4 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 0 under 60 - **Lead roles:** 3 of 6 acting credits billed first or second - **Genres:** Drama 6, Romance 3, Comedy 2, History 2 - **Screen time:** 11 hours of reviewed films - **Box office:** $54m across 2 films with figures - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Hiller, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q230626, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0384908/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/13325 ## Streaming the US now - **Tubi:** [*I Know Where I'm Going!*](https://film.one/film/i-know-where-im-going.md) (88) - **HBO Max:** [*Pygmalion*](https://film.one/film/pygmalion.md) (84) - **The Roku Channel:** [*A Man for All Seasons*](https://film.one/film/a-man-for-all-seasons.md) (81) - **Apple TV:** [*Separate Tables*](https://film.one/film/separate-tables.md) (74) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Wendy Hiller > Wendy Hiller played clever, unsentimental women who had worked out exactly how much feeling they could afford. She made few films across five decades and chose them with care; the hotel manager in *Separate Tables* is the place to start. Watch Pat Cooper in *Separate Tables* (1958) run her hotel. She takes the bookings, settles the squabbles at the dining-room doors, and gives nothing away to anyone, and Hiller lets us see that the composure costs her something and that she has judged the cost worth paying. David Niven and Deborah Kerr are doing the film's best work in the same rooms, and Hiller does not compete with them. She stays at the edge of the frame until the film needs someone to hold it together, and then she is the one holding it. We found ourselves watching her when the plot had gone elsewhere, and what moved us was how little she asked of us: not a line of hers pleads for sympathy, and we gave it anyway. She came to the screen from the stage and never really left it. She joined the Manchester Repertory Company at around 18, made her name as Sally Hardcastle in *Love on the Dole* in London in 1935 and New York in 1936, and that led to Shaw, who wanted her for his heroines and got her as Eliza Doolittle in *Pygmalion* (1938). After that the films came rarely and by choice: Gertrude Morel in *Sons and Lovers* (1960), Alice More in *A Man for All Seasons* (1966), the nurse Mothershead in *The Elephant Man* (1980), with theatre work continuing into the early 1990s. She put it plainly herself: "I tried to make only films that were rather special and have stature and to play only roles that were undull." What she did that other actresses of her period did not was refuse to soften. The face was sculpted and unconventional, the voice unmistakable, and she used both to play intelligence rather than charm. Her women are hoteliers, mothers, wives of difficult men, and they are bitter or resilient or both without ever being sorry for themselves. In *Pygmalion* the flower girl becomes a lady with almost no visible effort from the actress, which is the hardest trick of the lot. In *The Elephant Man* she is the stern presence in a film we admired for its compassion, and she is part of why that compassion feels earned rather than assumed. The only complaint anyone has ever made is that there is not more of it. Five decades produced a handful of films, and the theatre kept the rest. That is a loss for us and was plainly not one for her. Start with *Separate Tables*, and when Burt Lancaster and Rita Hayworth take over the foreground, do what the residents do and look at the far side of the dining room. Hiller will be there, keeping the place running, and she will not have noticed you are watching. ## Biography Dame Wendy Hiller was an English stage and film actress. She joined the Manchester Repertory Company at the age of 18 and made her London debut in 1935 in Love on the Dole. Her early film roles included Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion (1938) and the lead in I Know Where I'm Going! (1945). Hiller received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Separate Tables (1958). Other notable film performances include Alice More in A Man for All Seasons (1966), Prinzessin Dragomiroff in Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and Mothershead in The Elephant Man (1980). She was created a Dame of the British Empire in 1975 and continued working on stage and screen into the 1990s. *Sources: britannica.com, nytimes.com, en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (6) - *The Elephant Man* (1980), Fi1m 84, as Mothershead — [page](https://film.one/film/the-elephant-man.md) - *A Man for All Seasons* (1966), Fi1m 81, as Alice More — [page](https://film.one/film/a-man-for-all-seasons.md) - *Sons and Lovers* (1960), Fi1m 64, as Gertrude Morel — [page](https://film.one/film/sons-and-lovers.md) - *Separate Tables* (1958), Fi1m 74, as Pat Cooper — [page](https://film.one/film/separate-tables.md) - *I Know Where I'm Going!* (1945), Fi1m 88, as Joan Webster — [page](https://film.one/film/i-know-where-im-going.md) - *Pygmalion* (1938), Fi1m 84, as Eliza Doolittle — [page](https://film.one/film/pygmalion.md) ## Complete filmography (60) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *The Countess Alice* (1993), as Countess Alice von Holzendorf - *The Best of Friends* (1991), as Laurentia McLachlan - *Ending Up* (1989), as Adela - *A Taste for Death* (1988), series, as Lady Ursula Berowne - *The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne* (1987), as Aunt D'Arcy - *Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel* (1987), as Mrs Margaret Harris - *Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel* (1987), series, as Mrs Margaret Harris - *The Death of the Heart* (1987), as Matchett - *All Passion Spent* (1986), series, as Lady Slane - *All Passion Spent* (1986), as Lady Slane - *ScreenPlay* (1986), series, as Countess Alice von Holzendorf - *Lord Mountbatten: The Last Viceroy* (1986), series, as Princess Victoria - *The Comedy of Errors* (1983), as Aemilla - *Attracta* (1983), as Attracta - *The Kingfisher* (1983), as Evelyn - *Witness for the Prosecution* (1982), as Janet Mackenzie - *Making Love* (1982), as Winnie Bates - *Country* (1981), as Daisy - Lady Carlion - *Miss Morison's Ghosts* (1981), as Miss Elizabeth Morison - *The Importance of Being Earnest* (1981), as Lady Bracknell - *The Elephant Man* (1980), as Mothershead — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/the-elephant-man.md) - *The Curse of King Tut's Tomb* (1980), as Princess Vilma - *Tales of the Unexpected* (1979), series, as Louisa - *Richard II* (1978), as Duchess of York - *The BBC Television Shakespeare* (1978), series, as Duchess of York - *The Cat and the Canary* (1978), as Alison Crosby - *Last Wishes* (1978), as Mrs. Abercrombie - *Voyage of the Damned* (1976), as Rebecca Lara Weiler - *Murder on the Orient Express* (1974), as Prinzessin Dragomiroff - *Peer Gynt* (1972), as Aase - *Clochemerle* (1972), series, as Justine Putet - *Stage 2* (1971), series, as Aase - *Great Performances* (1971), series, as Lady Bracknell - *Play for Today* (1970), series, as Daisy - Lady Carlion - *David Copperfield* (1969), as Mrs. Micawber - *Plays of Today* (1969), series, as Mary Fox - *The Growing Summer* (1968), series, as Great Aunt Dymphna/Great-Aunt Dymphna - *From Chekhov with Love* (1968), as Mme. Avilova - *ITV Playhouse* (1967), series, as Mrs. Abercrombie - *A Man for All Seasons* (1966), as Alice More — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/a-man-for-all-seasons.md) - *BBC Play of the Month* (1965), series, as Harriet, Lily Moffat - *Knock on Any Door* (1965), series, as Bee Burton - *Profiles in Courage* (1964), series, as Anne Hutchinson - *Toys in the Attic* (1963), as Anna Berniers - *Sons and Lovers* (1960), as Gertrude Morel — Fi1m 64, [page](https://film.one/film/sons-and-lovers.md) - *Separate Tables* (1958), as Pat Cooper — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/separate-tables.md) - *How to Murder a Rich Uncle* (1957), as Edith Clitterbern - *Something of Value* (1957), as Elizabeth Newton - *Matinee Theater* (1955), series, Actor - *Alfred Hitchcock Presents* (1955), series, as Laura Siddons - *Lilli Palmer Theatre* (1955), series, Actor - *Sailor of the King* (1953), as Lucinda Bentley - *Hallmark Hall of Fame* (1951), series, as Janet Mackenzie - *Outcast of the Islands* (1951), as Mrs. Almayer - *To Be a Woman* (1951), as Narrator (voice) - *Studio One* (1948), series, as Margaret Rose - *I Know Where I'm Going!* (1945), as Joan Webster — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/film/i-know-where-im-going.md) - *Major Barbara* (1941), as Major Barbara Undershaft - *Pygmalion* (1938), as Eliza Doolittle — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/pygmalion.md) - *Lancashire Luck* (1938), as Betty Lovejoy ## Gallery - ![Wendy Hiller](https://film.one/media/person/103594/gallery-72a43c57cc23.jpg) Wendy Hiller — unknown (20th Century Fox), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Wendy_Hiller_in_Sailor_of_the_King.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Promotional still from the 1938 film Pygmalion, published in National Board of Review Magazine. L-R: Scott Sunderland, Leslie Howard, Wendy Hiller. (1939)](https://film.one/media/person/103594/gallery-0343df4e52c7.jpg) Promotional still from the 1938 film Pygmalion, published in National Board of Review Magazine. L-R: Scott Sunderland, Leslie Howard, Wendy Hiller. (1939) — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Pygmalion-1938.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Wendy Hiller](https://film.one/media/person/103594/gallery-0b86ab2cb659.jpg) Wendy Hiller — Image via TMDB - ![Wendy Hiller](https://film.one/media/person/103594/gallery-83b9ca060049.jpg) Wendy Hiller — Image via TMDB - ![Wendy Hiller](https://film.one/media/person/103594/gallery-f84f7a714b40.jpg) Wendy Hiller — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Academy Awards — 1 won, 2 nominated - 1967: Best Supporting Actress (nominated), for *A Man for All Seasons* - 1959: Best Supporting Actress (won), for *Separate Tables* - 1939: Best Actress (nominated), for *Pygmalion* ### Other awards — 2 won, 1 nominated - Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire 1975: Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (won) - Officer of the Order of the British Empire 1971: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (won) - Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play 1958: Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (nominated) *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/wendy-hiller