Edna Best

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, London. 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 the Ford Star Jubilee adaptation of 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.