British Film and Stage Actress. Born the daughter of actor and theatrical manager, Arnold Pilbeam, and his wife, Margery, she made her professional stage debut as Ellen Brown in 'Gallows Glorious' in 1932. At the age of 14, she won the lead role in 'Little Friend', which earned her a seven-year contract with Gaumont British Films and a role in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1934 version of 'The Man Who Knew Too Much', starring Peter Lorre. Among films she appeared in were 'Tudor Rose' (1936), Hitchcock's 'Young and Innocent' (1937), 'Cheer Boys Cheer' (1939), 'Pastor Hall' (1940), 'Spring Meeting' (1941). During the filming of 'The Man Who Knew Too Much', she had fallen in love with Hitchcock’s assistant, Pen Tennyson, great-grandson of Lord Alfred Tennyson, and they married in London in 1939. Having been called up to film instructional shorts, Tennyson was killed in a plane crash in the Scottish highlands in 1941. His death robbed Pilbeam of her ambition to become an international star and she only made a few more films, including 'Next of Kin' (1942), 'Yellow Fever' (1943), 'Out of Chaos' (1944), 'This Man is Mine' (1946), 'Green Fingers' (1947), 'Counterblast' (1948) and 'The Three Weird Sisters' (1948). In 1951, she toured in the theatre production of 'The Philadelphia Story', but with her marriage the previous year, to a BBC journalist, Alexander Whyte, and the birth of a daughter, her public career gradually evaporated.
British Film and Stage Actress. Born the daughter of actor and theatrical manager, Arnold Pilbeam, and his wife, Margery, she made her professional stage debut as Ellen Brown in 'Gallows Glorious' in 1932. At the age of 14, she won the lead role in 'Little Friend', which earned her a seven-year contract with Gaumont British Films and a role in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1934 version of 'The Man Who Knew Too Much', starring Peter Lorre. Among films she appeared in were 'Tudor Rose' (1936), Hitchcock's 'Young and Innocent' (1937), 'Cheer Boys Cheer' (1939), 'Pastor Hall' (1940), 'Spring Meeting' (1941). During the filming of 'The Man Who Knew Too Much', she had fallen in love with Hitchcock’s assistant, Pen Tennyson, great-grandson of Lord Alfred Tennyson, and they married in London in 1939. Having been called up to film instructional shorts, Tennyson was killed in a plane crash in the Scottish highlands in 1941. His death robbed Pilbeam of her ambition to become an international star and she only made a few more films, including 'Next of Kin' (1942), 'Yellow Fever' (1943), 'Out of Chaos' (1944), 'This Man is Mine' (1946), 'Green Fingers' (1947), 'Counterblast' (1948) and 'The Three Weird Sisters' (1948). In 1951, she toured in the theatre production of 'The Philadelphia Story', but with her marriage the previous year, to a BBC journalist, Alexander Whyte, and the birth of a daughter, her public career gradually evaporated.
Bio by: Louis du Mort
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
