One of Britain's biggest female stars of the post-war years, she
appeared at various positions (3rd being the highest) in the British
and Motion Picture Herald popularity polls, between 1945-50. She was
pretty, vivacious and charming, which was all most of her early roles
called for. She appeared in a number of the hugely popular wartime
Gainsborough costume dramas, including
Madonna of the Seven Moons (1945)
and
The Wicked Lady (1945). She
also made one film in Hollywood, the Technicolor
Canyon Passage (1946). Her best
acting opportunities were in
The Brothers (1947), as a sexy
orphan wreaking havoc on a remote Scottish Island, and
When the Bough Breaks (1947),
a stark unwed mother drama.
She moved to Paris upon her second marriage in 1949 and began to work
increasingly in European cinema, filming in France and Italy (and a
French-Canadian feature in Quebec). She returned to England in the late
fifties, making three more films (her last) and a few TV appearances
before retiring in 1963. She lived in Locarno, Switzerland for many
years and died there in December 2003.