Edna Best: Movies & Box Office

Edna Clara Best (3 March 1900 – 18 September 1974) was a renowned British actress. Born in Hove, Sussex, England, Best was educated in Brighton and received drama training under Miss Kate Rorke, the first professor of Drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. Prior to entering films in 1921, she was recognized on the London stage, having made her debut at the Grand Theatre, Southampton, in Charley's Aunt back in 1917. Besides acting, she was also the lady swimming champion of Sussex, having won a silver swimming cup. She gained further notoriety when she starred alongside her then-husband Herbert Marshall in the 1931 play There's Always Juliet on Broadway and London. Her most notable role was in the original 1934 film version of Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. Her career spanned British and Hollywood productions, and some of her significant 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 was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1957 for her role in the Ford Star Jubilee adaptation of This Happy Breed.