Editing Diana Wynyard

{{Short description|English stage and film actress}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
{{Lead too short|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name             = Diana Wynyard
| honorific_suffix = [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]]
| image            = Diana Wynyard Argentinean Magazine AD.jpg
| caption          = Wynyard in 1933
| birth_name       = Dorothy Isobel Cox
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=yes|1906|1|16}}  
| birth_place      = [[Lewisham]], [[South London]], England
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1964|5|13|1906|1|16}}
| death_place      = [[Holborn]], [[Central London]], England
| years_active     = 1928–1960
| spouse           = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Carol Reed]]|1943|1947|end=div}}
* {{marriage|Tibor Csato|1951|1958|end=div}}
}}
}}
'''Diana Wynyard''' (born '''Dorothy Isobel Cox'''; <ref>{{cite book|last1=Shaw|first1=Bernard|last2=Pascal|first2=Gabriel|title=Bernard Shaw and Gabriel Pascal|date=1996|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=9780802030023|page=16|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Od_Ee6-HcCcC&q=%22Dorothy+Isobel+Cox%22&pg=PA16|access-date=30 April 2017|language=en}}</ref> 16 January 1906 – 13 May 1964) was an English stage and film actress.

==Life and career==
Born in [[Lewisham]], [[South London]], Wynyard began her career on the stage. After performing in [[Liverpool]] and London with the Liverpool Repertory Company and the [[Hamilton Deane|Hamilton Deane Repertory Company]],<ref name="hyf">{{cite book|last1=Endres|first1=Stacey|last2=Cushman|first2=Robert|title=Hollywood at Your Feet: The Story of the World-Famous Chinese Theater|date=2009|publisher=Pomegranate Press|isbn=9780938817642|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CRiQCgAAQBAJ&q=%22Diana+Wynyard%22&pg=PT175|access-date=30 April 2017|language=en}}</ref> she performed on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]], appearing first in ''[[Rasputin and the Empress]]'' in 1932, with [[Ethel Barrymore|Ethel]], [[John Barrymore|John]], and [[Lionel Barrymore]]. She appeared in the film version, beginning her brief Hollywood career.

[[20th Century Fox#Fox Film Corporation|Fox Film Corporation]] then borrowed her for their lavish film version of [[Noël Coward]]'s stage spectacle ''[[Cavalcade (1933 film)|Cavalcade]]'' (1933). As the noble wife and mother she aged gracefully against a background of the [[Second Boer War|Boer War]], the sinking of the [[RMS Titanic|''Titanic'']], the [[First World War]], and the arrival of the [[Jazz Age]]. With this performance, she became the first British actress to be nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]]. After a handful of film roles, including playing [[John Barrymore]]'s old flame in ''[[Reunion in Vienna]]'', she returned to Britain, but concentrated on theatre work, including roles as [[Charlotte Brontë]] in [[Clemence Dane]]'s ''[[Wild Decembers (play)|Wild Decembers]]'', in ''Sweet Aloes'', and as Gilda in the British premiere of [[Noël Coward]]'s ''[[Design for Living]]''.

She was tempted to return to the screen to play opposite [[Ralph Richardson]] in ''[[On the Night of the Fire]]'' (1939), a film directed by [[Brian Desmond Hurst]]. Her best remembered success was as the frightened heroine of ''[[Gaslight (1940 film)|Gaslight]]'' (1940), the first film version of [[Patrick Hamilton (writer)|Patrick Hamilton]]'s play ''[[Gas Light]]''. This was followed by roles opposite [[Clive Brook]] in ''[[Freedom Radio]]'', [[John Gielgud]] in ''[[The Prime Minister (film)|The Prime Minister]]'' and [[Michael Redgrave]] in ''[[Kipps (1941 film)|Kipps]]'' (all 1941), directed by [[Carol Reed]], later her first husband.

==After World War II==
[[File:Mayerling 1957.jpg|thumb|260px|right|{{center|[[Raymond Massey]], Diana Wynyard (seated), [[Judith Evelyn]], [[Mel Ferrer]] and [[Audrey Hepburn]] in<br>''[[Mayerling (1957 film)|Mayerling]]'' (1957 TV production)}}]]
Her stage career flourished after the war, and as a [[William Shakespeare|Shakespearean]] leading lady at [[Stratford-upon-Avon|Stratford]], in London's [[West End theatre|West End]] and on tour in Australia, she had her pick of star parts. Between 1948 and 1952, she played [[Portia (Merchant of Venice)|Portia]], [[Gertrude (Hamlet)|Gertrude]], [[Lady Macbeth (Shakespeare)|Lady Macbeth]], [[The Taming of the Shrew|Katherine the shrew]], [[Desdemona (Othello)|Desdemona]], [[Henry VIII (play)|Katherine of Aragon]], Hermione in ''[[The Winter's Tale]]'', and [[Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing)|Beatrice]] to Gielgud's Benedick in ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]''. In this production, she succeeded her friend [[Peggy Ashcroft]]. Wynyard stumbled off the rostrum during the sleepwalking scene in ''[[Macbeth]]'' in 1948. She fell 15 feet, but was able to continue. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s she also had success in the works of several contemporary writers, including the British production of [[Tennessee Williams]]'s ''[[Camino Real (play)|Camino Real]]''.

She appeared in [[Alexander Korda]]'s version ''[[An Ideal Husband (1947 film)|An Ideal Husband]]'' (1947), based on the [[Oscar Wilde]] [[An Ideal Husband|play]], but her remaining film appearances were in supporting roles. Usually maternal, these included ''[[Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951 film)|Tom Brown's Schooldays]]'' (1951) and the secretive mother (of [[James Mason]]'s character) in ''[[Island in the Sun (film)|Island in the Sun]]'' (1957). She played [[Elisabeth of Bavaria|Empress Elisabeth of Austria]] in ''[[Mayerling (1957 TV film)|Mayerling]]'' (1957), an early American television film which starred [[Audrey Hepburn]]. In 1958 she appeared in the West End in ''[[A Touch of the Sun (play)|A Touch of the Sun]]'' by [[N.C. Hunter]].

She was appointed [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) in 1953.<ref>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/39732/supplements/12 Notice of CBE]</ref>

==Personal life==
{{citations needed|section|date=July 2022}}
She was married to the English film director [[Carol Reed]] from 3 February 1943<ref>{{Cite news |date=1943-02-03 |title=DIANA WYNYARD PLANS MARRIAGE IN LONDON; British Actress to Be the Bride Today of Carol Reed, Director |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/02/03/archives/diana-wynyard-plans-marriage-in-london-british-actress-to-be-the.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312230114/https://www.nytimes.com/1943/02/03/archives/diana-wynyard-plans-marriage-in-london-british-actress-to-be-the.html |archive-date=2018-03-12}}</ref> until August 1947, and subsequently to a Hungarian physician, Tibor Csato.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Field |first=Ellie |title=Who is Diana Wynyard? |url=https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/stories/who-diana-wynyard |access-date=2022-07-06 |website=[[National Museums Liverpool]]}}</ref>

She died from [[renal disease]] in [[Holborn]], [[Central London]] in 1964, aged 58, while rehearsing ''[[The Master Builder]]'' with [[Michael Redgrave]] and [[Maggie Smith]] as part of the new [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre Company]]. [[Celia Johnson]] replaced her.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1964-05-14 |title=DIANA WYNYARD, ACTRESS, IS DEAD; British Star, 58, Appeared in 'Cavalcade' in '30's |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/14/archives/diana-wynyard-atress-is-dead-british-star-58-appeared-in-cavalcade.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813112636/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/14/archives/diana-wynyard-atress-is-dead-british-star-58-appeared-in-cavalcade.html |archive-date=2021-08-13}}</ref>

Her last television performance was in the play ''The Man in the Panama Hat'' recorded in March 1964. Her death occurred before the intended broadcast in May 1964 and it was eventually shown posthumously on 21 September 1964.

==Filmography==
* ''[[Rasputin and the Empress]]'' (1932)
* ''[[Cavalcade (1933 film)|Cavalcade]]'' (1933)
* ''[[Men Must Fight]]'' (1933)
* ''[[Reunion in Vienna]]'' (1933)
* ''[[Where Sinners Meet]]'' (1934)
* ''[[Let's Try Again]]'' (UK title: ''The Marriage Symphony'') (1934)
* ''[[One More River]]'' (1934)
* ''[[On the Night of the Fire]]'' (1939)
* ''[[Gaslight (1940 film)|Gaslight]]'' (1940)
* ''[[Freedom Radio]]'' (1941)
* ''[[The Prime Minister (film)|The Prime Minister]]'' (1941)
* ''[[Kipps (1941 film)|Kipps]]'' (1941)
* ''[[An Ideal Husband (1947 film)|An Ideal Husband]]'' (1947)
* ''[[Tom Brown's Schooldays (1951 film)|Tom Brown's Schooldays]]'' (1951)
* ''[[The Feminine Touch (1956 film)|The Feminine Touch]]'' (1956)
* ''[[Island in the Sun (film)|Island in the Sun]]'' (1957)

==Selected stage credits==
* ''[[Sorry You've Been Troubled]]'' by [[Walter Hackett]] (1929)
* ''[[Lean Harvest]]'' by [[Ronald Jeans]] (1931)
* ''[[Pygmalion (play)|Pygmalion]]'' by [[George Bernard Shaw]] (1937)
* ''[[Watch on the Rhine (play)|Watch on the Rhine]]'' by [[Lillian Hellman]] (1942)
* ''[[The Wind of Heaven]]'' by [[Emlyn Williams]] (1945)
* ''[[Camino Real (play)|Camino Real]]'' by [[Tennessee Williams]] (1957)
* ''[[A Touch of the Sun (play)|A Touch of the Sun]]'' by [[N.C. Hunter]] (1958)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{Portal|Biography}}
*{{IMDb name|0944087}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110607074736/http://www.bris.ac.uk/theatrecollection/search/people_sub_plays?forename=Diana&surname=WYNYARD&job=Actor&pid=4472&image_view=Yes&x=19&y=17 selected performances in Theatre Archive University of Bristol]
*{{IBDB name}}
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWpfCluSdaU Diana Wynyard in ''One More River'' (1934) from YouTube]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wynyard, Diana}}
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:1964 deaths]]
[[Category:English film actresses]]
[[Category:English stage actresses]]
[[Category:English television actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century English actresses]]
[[Category:Actresses from London]]
[[Category:English Shakespearean actresses]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:20th-century English businesspeople]]
[[Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players]]