Editing Celia Johnson (section)

==Career==
Her stage début, and first professional role, was as Sarah in [[George Bernard Shaw]]'s ''[[Major Barbara]]'' at the [[Huddersfield|Theatre Royal, Huddersfield]] in 1928. She went to London the following year to take the place of [[Angela Baddeley]] in the part of Currita in ''A Hundred Years Old'', which was performed at the [[Lyric Hammersmith|Lyric Theatre]] in [[Hammersmith]]. In 1930 Johnson played in ''Cynara'' with [[Gerald du Maurier|Sir Gerald Du Maurier]] and [[Dame Gladys Cooper]]. She made her first trip to the United States the following year to star as [[Ophelia (character)|Ophelia]] in a New York City production of ''[[Hamlet]]''.{{Citation needed|date=February 2014}}

She returned to London, where she appeared in a number of minor productions, before establishing herself with a two-year run in ''The Wind and the Rain'' (1933–35).<ref name="blueplaque">{{cite web |title=Blue plaque for actress Celia Johnson |url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.15256 |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20090507022530/http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.15256 |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 May 2009 |publisher=[[English Heritage]] |date=18 December 2008 |access-date=3 May 2009}}</ref> She married the journalist [[Peter Fleming (writer)|Peter Fleming]] in 1935, and in 1939 gave birth to their first child, a son.<ref name="blueplaque"/> Her theatre career flourished with her portrayals of [[Elizabeth Bennet]] in ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'' (1940) and the second Mrs. de Winter in ''[[Rebecca (novel)#Theatre|Rebecca]]'' (1940); the production of the latter was halted when the theatre was destroyed by a [[Luftwaffe]] bomb in September 1940.{{Citation needed|date=February 2014}}

During the [[Second World War]] Johnson lived with her widowed sister and sister-in-law, and helped care for their combined seven children. Unable to commit her time to the often lengthy run of a play, Johnson preferred the less time-consuming schedules of film and radio,<ref name="Kate Grimond">{{cite web |last=Grimond |first=Kate |title=Growing up with a movie icon Celia Johnson as mum |url=http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article5360307.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615191543/http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article5360307.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 June 2011 |work=[[The Times]] |location=London |date=18 December 2008 |access-date=4 May 2009}}</ref> which allowed her to devote time to her family and her work for the Women's Auxiliary Police Corps.<ref name="blueplaque"/> She appeared in ''[[In Which We Serve]]'' (1942) and ''[[This Happy Breed (film)|This Happy Breed]]'' (1944), both directed by [[David Lean]] and written by [[Noël Coward]].

Lean and Coward sought Johnson for the next production, ''[[Brief Encounter]]'' (1945). She accepted the role with misgivings because of her family responsibilities, but was interested in the part, writing to her husband, "There is no getting away from the fact that it is a very good part and one which I should love to play. I have found myself already planning how I should play bits and how I should say lines..."<ref name="Kate Grimond"/> A romantic drama about a conventional middle-class housewife who falls in love with a married doctor she meets in the refreshment room at a railway station, the film was well-received, and is now regarded as a classic. Johnson was awarded the [[New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress]] and was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]].

After the war, Johnson concentrated on her family life, which included two daughters born in 1946 and 1947 and her occasional acting work was secondary for the following decade.<ref name="blueplaque"/>

In 1957 she acted with [[Ralph Richardson]] in ''The Flowering Cherry''.<ref name="blueplaque"/> In 1958, she opened ''[[The Grass is Greener (play)|The Grass is Greener]]''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theoldie.co.uk/blog/my-encounter-with-celia-johnson | title=My encounter with Celia Johnson - Simon Williams }}</ref> As a member of [[Laurence Olivier]]'s [[National Theatre Company]], Johnson appeared in the plays ''[[The Master Builder]]'' (1964) (with Olivier) and ''[[Hay Fever (play)|Hay Fever]]'' (1965), and later reprised her roles in the television productions.<ref name="blueplaque"/>