“I’ll Act Till I’m 100”- Dame Sybil Thorndike

Press, Volume C, Issue 29681, 27 November 1961, Page 2

“I’ll Act Till I’m 100”Dame Sybil Thorndike

(By the London Correspondent of “The Press’’} LONDON, November 16. In her attractive Chelsea flat, in a fine drawing-room that breathed theatre and the literary arts, Dame Sybil Thorndike proudly confessed today to being in her eightieth year.

“I’ll act till I’m 100, probably,” she said. Her husband, Sir Lewis Casson, is 86. Together they are currently appearing in “ Teresa of Avila,” at the Vaudeville Theatre in the Strand.

Critic* are unanimous that Dssr.e Sybil T’torndike ba* grasped a further opportunity to exercise her unsurpassed talent in the portrayal ot a character in the heroic mould. Dame Sybil Thorndike and Sir Lewis Casson will attend the Perth Festival early next year, and present excerpts from their most celebrated plays. Nothing would please them more than a further trip to New Zealand —they visited the Dominion in 1933, 1964. 1955 and 1958 and the possibilities of such a visit may be explored.

N.Z. Friend* ••We love New Zealand, ard have so many good friends there. And we do enjoy travelling,” she said. She recalled many close New Zealand friends, among them Mr Walter Nash, for whom V.e has the highest regard. “And Peter Fraser . what a dear friend he was: we do miss him very much.”

The daughter of a Canon in the Cbureh of England (“he loved the theatre and had no objection to his daughter's embarking on a stage career”), Dame Sybil Thorndike first acted at the age of four in amateur theatricals She made her first professional appearance at the age of 22 in “My Lord from Town,” at Oxford, in 1904.

Since then she has appeared in play* and in hundreds of roles. There have been some resounding flops as well a* sensational SUC-

"Of course, there have been flops.” she said. “An actress can’t be on the stage professionally for nearly 60 year* without experiencing some of those; then, again, I’ve always played what I wanted to play. I have always liked the idea of accepting a challenge . . . and one is very quickly aware

of the play to which people are not going to pay their money to see. “My favourite role? St. Joan, in Shaw’s play of that name. It was big; it was tragic; it had a touch of comedy; it said something; above everything else it was a role that carried with it something which has always meant a great deal to me —a belief in God.” Dame Sybil Thorndike reflected for a moment: “You know, it is so often the most interesting plays that do flop . . and I was adventurous; but one becomes quite philosophical—you must do that, or go mad.” Modern Plays

Her admiration for other people in the theatre is unbounded, and, of course, she has known all the “greats” very well. She has a profound knowledge of and enormous regard for modern plays, and makes a point of seeing them all. Sir Laurence Olivier, Sir John Gielgud

and Sir Ralph Richardson are three actors for whom she ba* admiration; Emlyn William* 1* another. Then, furflier back there were Sir George Alexander with whom she starred; the great Du Maurier, and others. Mrs Patrick Campbell, Gladys Cooper, Edith Evans . . . were some of the celebrated actresses she admired. “Edith Evans is a really tremendous actress . . . she is, indeed, the greatest actress we have.” Dame Sybil Thorndike has made 30 talking films. Even she was astonished to find- she had made so many . . . with such actors as Dana Andrews, Harry Secotnbe (one of the Goons), Marty Wilde, and so on. Wesker, Osborne, Pinto, Ervine . . . these are some of the modem authors and playwrights whose works Dame Sybil Thorndike finds appealing, but on playwrights generally she makes one pertinent observation: ‘•Shaw, I think, tops them all.” Rebecca West, the authoress; Vera Brittain, president of the Peace Pledge Union to which Dame Sybil Thorndike also belongs; Dame Myra Hess, ttie pianist; and-Nancy, Viscountess Astor, president of the Nursery Association, are among the women whom she has placed upon a pedestal for their wonderful work. Her association with the British Royal Family goes back many years. Of Queen Mary, Dame Sybil Thorndike said: “She was so interested in theatre . . . she was a darling.” In more recent times she has been associated with the Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth, through the activities of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Dame Sybil Thorndike and Sir Lewis Casson are very family minded. Thev have four children, John. Christopher, Mary and Ann, and 10 £ r t n 5 k *“ ldren - who® Dame Sybil Thorndike has “rather pushed off the theatre.” John’s daughter, Jane Casson, ■ who has appeared on stage in New Zealand and Australia, is entertaining thoughts of embarking on a literary career. Speaking for both Sir Lewis Casson and herself, Dame Sybil Thorndike said: “We’re both younger than our years; we're healthy and strong: and we have quite a lot of work to which we are committed.” I