A distinguished stage and film actress Jane Baxter was one of the most
glamorous performers on the London stage.
Winston Churchill, an ardent
fan, once described her as, "that charming lady who grace personifies
all that is best in British womanhood". Her stage career spanned half a
century and she is best remembered for her role in "Dial M For Murder",
in which she co-starred with
Michael Redgrave. Redgrave said that
she was "every undergraduate's ideal of an English rose".
Born Fedora Kathleen Alice Forde in Germany, she came to London as a
child and studied acting at the Italia Conti Stage School. She made her
West End debut at the age of 13 in the musical comedy "Love's
Prisoner". On the advice of the playwright
J.M. Barrie, she changed her name to Jane
Baxter and, in 1938, played the lead in the hit comedy "A Damsel in
Distress".
Several other West End shows followed as well as films such as
We Live Again (1934), with
Fredric March and
The Clairvoyant (1935), with
Claude Rains and, in 1935, she joined the
repertory company at the Liverpool Playhouse where the leading actor
was Michael Redgrave. He viewed her
arrival "with some alarm", expecting "a spoilt and temperamental film
star". Instead, he found "a delightful actress". Baxter eventually
became godmother to Redgrave's daughter, the future actress
Vanessa Redgrave.
She had success again in London in 1937 with "George and Margaret",
which ran for two years and, on Broadway, she co-starred with
John Gielgud and
Margaret Rutherford in "The
Importance of Being Earnest", in which she played "Cicely Cardew".
She continued to make films and appear on stage throughout the 1960s
and her final London stage role was in
John Mortimer's "A Voyage Round My
Father", in which she starred opposite
Michael Redgrave. Her last stage role
was at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley in 1978 in the thriller
"Assault", in which she appeared with
Richard Todd. In 1992, she made a
guest appearance - to a standing ovation - at the London Palladium in
"A Tribute to Evelyn Laye". In her will, she requested that there be no
memorial service for her but just a gathering of friends at her local
church in Wimbledon, South London. Film director
Bryan Forbes gave the address.
