Edna Best

Edna Best
Edna Best
Born	Edna Clara Best; 3 March 1900; Hove, England
Died	18 September 1974 (aged 74); Geneva, Switzerland
Alma mater	Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1917–1959
Known for	The Man Who Knew Too Much; Swiss Family Robinson; The Ghost and Mrs. Muir; Intermezzo: A Love Story;
Spouses	; Seymour Beard (div. 1928) ; Herbert Marshall (m. 1928; div. 1940) ; Nat Wolff (m. 1940; died 1959)
Children	3; including Sarah Marshall

Edna Clara Best (3 March 1900 – 18 September 1974)^[1] was a British actress.

Early life

Born in Hove, Sussex, England, she was educated in Brighton and later studied dramatic acting under Miss Kate Rorke who was the first professor of Drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama,^[2] London.

Career

Edna Best was known on the London stage before she entered films in 1921, having made her debut at the Grand Theatre, Southampton, in Charley's Aunt in 1917. She also won a silver swimming cup as the lady swimming champion of Sussex. She appeared with husband Herbert Marshall in John Van Druten's 1931 play There's Always Juliet on both Broadway and London.

For Gainsborough Pictures, she starred in the melodramas Michael and Mary and The Faithful Heart alongside her husband. She is best remembered for her role as the mother in the original 1934 film version of Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. Her subsequent roles were a mixture of British and Hollywood productions. Her other film credits include Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939), Swiss Family Robinson (1940), The Late George Apley and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (both 1947), and The Iron Curtain (1948).

Best received a nomination for an Emmy Award in 1957 for her role in This Happy Breed. She had appeared on television as early as 1938 in a live production of Love from a Stranger, adapted from the Agatha Christie short story "Philomel Cottage" by Frank Vosper.

Personal life

Best was married three times and divorced twice.

Her first marriage to William Seymour Beard ended in divorce in 1928. The London Divorce Court gave Beard custody of the couple's twins (James and John Beard^[3]) in granting the divorce "owing to the misconduct of his wife, Miss Best, with Mr. Marshall."^[4] The Mr. Marshall was actor Herbert Marshall, whose divorce from Hilda Lloyd Marshall ("owing to the misconduct of her husband ... with ... Miss Edna Best") was granted in the same court session.^[4] Best later was married to Marshall from 28 November 1928^[5] until 1940, and they had a daughter, actress Sarah Marshall. She married talent agent Nat Wolff on 7 February 1940 in Las Vegas. The judge "who granted the divorce [from Marshall] after a five-minute closed hearing, performed the marriage a few minutes later."^[3]

Best suffered a stroke in 1959.^[6]

Recognition

In 1960, Best was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a motion pictures star located at 6124 Hollywood Boulevard.^[7]

Death

She died in Geneva, Switzerland in 1974 at age 74.

Filmography

Tilly of Bloomsbury (1921) - Tilly Welwyn
A Couple of Down and Outs (1923) - Molly Roarke
Sleeping Partners (1930) - She
Loose Ends (1930) - Nina Grant
Escape (1930) - Shingled Lady
Beyond the Cities (1930) - Mary Hayes
The Calendar (1931) - Jill Panniford
Michael and Mary (1931) - Mary Rowe
The Faithful Heart (1932) - Blackie Anderway / Blackie's Daughter
The Key (1934) - Norah Kerr
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) - Jill Lawrence
South Riding (1938) - Sarah Burton
Prison Without Bars (1938) - Yvonne Chanel
Intermezzo (1939) - Margit Brandt
Swiss Family Robinson (1940) - Elizabeth Robinson
This Man Reuter (1940) - Ida Magnus
The Late George Apley (1947) - Catherine Apley
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) - Martha Huggin
The Iron Curtain (1948) - Mrs. Albert Foster

Radio appearances

Year	Programme	Episode/Source
1952	Theatre Guild on the Air	Love from a Stranger^[8]
1953	Theatre Guild on the Air	Jane^[9]

References

^ "Edna Best - Hollywood Star Walk - Los Angeles Times". projects.latimes.com. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
^ "RUSC Old Time Radio". Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Edna Best Divorces Herbert Marshall, Weds an Agent". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. No. 8 February 1940. p. 3. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Miss Edna Best Divorced". The Advertiser. 28 June 1928. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
^ "Actor Edna Best Divorces Marshall And Marries Wolff". Newspapers.com. The Lincoln Star. 7 February 1940. p. 7. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
^ "Actress Suffers Stroke". The Decatur Herald. Newspapers.com. 7 May 1959. p. 1. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
^ "Hollywood Walk of Fame - Edna Best". walkoffame.com. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
^ Kirby, Walter (16 March 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". Newspapers.com. The Decatur Daily Review. p. 44. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
^ Kirby, Walter (11 January 1953). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". Newspapers.com. The Decatur Daily Review. p. 42. Retrieved 19 June 2015.