Actress. Born in Melbourne, Australia, she began acting on the Australian stage as a teen. When she was 21 she left Australia for London, England and quickly established herself on West End stages, usually playing sophisticates. Her roles included “The Taming of the Shrew,” “King Lear” and “Macbeth” and she toured the Soviet Union with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Starting in the 1930s she began a motion picture career culminating in appearances in nearly 30 films. Her best known roles include ‘Vera Charles’ in “Auntie Mame” and ‘Lady Claire Gurney’ in “The Ruling Class.” She was ‘murdered’ on screen by Vincent Price in 1973’s “Theatre of Blood,” after which she married him. Further roles included “The Drowning Pool” in 1975, “American Dreamer” in 1984, and her last, critically acclaimed role “Dreamchild” in 1985. She was a notably witty woman, whose one liners were legendary among her peers. After her death in 1991, her husband, Vincent, eulogized: “I’ve come to believe remembering someone is not the highest compliment — it is missing them.”