Dame Sybil Thorndike

Sybil Thorndike (1882-1976). Actress and manager.

Biography

Sybil Thorndike was born at Gainsborough, in Lincolnshire, on Oct. 24, 1882, the eldest of four children of a Church of England canon, the Rev. Arthur, John Webster Thorndike, and the former Agnes Macdonald Bowers. Her earliest aspiration was to be a pianist, and she studied at the Guildhall School of Music. But she broke her wrist, and was advised by her doctor that a concert artist's career was out of the question.

She then entered the Ben Greet Academy of acting and made her first stage appearance, in a bit part, at Oxtord on June 18, 1904. For the next four years she toured with the Ben Greet Players in the United States and Canada, playing roles in English classic comedy and Shakespeare. The actress made her London debut on Feb. 8, 1908. On Christmas Day of the same year she was married to Lewis Casson, who was actor‐manager with Annie E. F. Horniman's stock company at the Gaiety Theater in Manchester. The marriage was to last almost 61 years, and the Louple had four children. Sir Lewis, who was also a producer and director, and who often performed opposite his wife, died in 1969.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

In 1928-1929, she toured South Africa in Jane Clegg, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, Saint Joan, and as Mrs. Phelps in The Silver Cord. She directed a Jewish Guild production of The Sisters' Tragedy in 1929.

In 1935 she and her husband performed Shaw’s *** in South Africa under the auspices of African Consolidated Theatres.

In 1956, she toured South Africa, North and South Rhodesia, Kenya, Israel and Turkey with her husband. They were brought out to South Africa by Brian Brooke for a series of drama and poetry recitals, inter alia playing for a black audience at the Bantu Men's Social Centre. During these visits she became interested in and expressed support for the activities of the Johannesburg Repertory Society and the Bantu Dramatic Society.