Ethel Griffies

Ethel Griffies (born Ethel Woods, 26 April 1878 in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire – 9 September 1975 in London) was an English actress of stage, screen and television. She was the daughter of actors Samuel Rupert Woods and Lillie Roberts, and taken onstage at the age of three, and would continue to act for the next 86 years. She was married, secondly, to fellow actor Edward Cooper, who predeceased his wife by almost two decades.

Career

She appeared in numerous plays, making her theatre debut in London in 1899. Having made brief cameos in films since 1917, she started a full career in the industry by 1930 in the film version of the play Old English, and appeared in her more than 90 film and television roles in a career that lasted until her retirement in 1967. She played Grace Poole in two versions of Jane Eyre, the 1934 Monogram version and the better-known 1943 version. One of her last roles was the elderly ornithologist Mrs. Bundy in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963).^[1][2]

Partial filmography

References