Actress. Born in Adelaide, Australia, she worked in stage in Australia before coming to United States in 1918. After a few difficult years, she appeared on Broadway and built a solid career as one of the greatest ladies in stage. She obtained acclaim playing “Medea” and “Lady Macbeth”, wining two Emmys for these performances. In the movies, she is best remembered as the housekeeper in Alfred Hithcock’s “Rebecca”. Also played in “Laura” (1944), “The Ten Commandments” (1956), “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1958) as “Big Mama”, and in the television series “Santa Barbara”. She was made a British Dame in 1959.