Ann Todd
Dorothy Ann Todd (24 January 1907 – 6 May 1993) was an English film, television and stage actress who achieved international fame when she starred in The Seventh Veil (1945). From 1949 to 1957 she was married to David Lean who directed her in The Passionate Friends (1949), Madeleine (1950), and The Sound Barrier (1952). She was a member of The Old Vic theatre company and in 1957 starred in a Broadway play. In her later years she wrote, produced and directed travel documentaries.
This article is about the English actress. For the child actress, see Ann Todd (American actress).
Ann Todd
24 January 1907
Actress
1931–1992
Victor N. Malcolm
(m. 1933; div. 193?)
2
Early years[edit]
Todd was born in Hartford, Cheshire. Although latterly claiming to be born in 1909, 1911 census records show her born in 1907 and christened in March 1907.[1] Her Scottish-born father Thomas was a salesman, and her London-born mother Constance a housewife. She had a younger brother Harold Brooke (who took their mother's maiden name), who became a screenwriter of light comedies.[1]
After the family moved to London, Todd was educated at St. Winifrid's School, Eastbourne, Sussex. She studied speech training and drama under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based at the Royal Albert Hall, London, with the intention of becoming a drama teacher. But during her studies she made her stage debut as a fairy in The Land of Heart's Desire at the Arts Theatre Club in Soho, and decided instead to pursue a career in acting.[2]
Later career[edit]
After co-starring in Ninety Degrees in the Shade in 1965, Todd effectively retired from acting, only returning throughout her life to roles to finance her new career producing a series of travel films. Her autobiography was titled The Eighth Veil, an allusion to the film which made her a star in Britain. Todd was known as the "pocket Garbo" for her diminutive, blonde beauty.[7]
Personal life[edit]
Todd said of herself, "I'm really very shy, and I get over that playing an actress."[8]
Todd married three times. Her first husband, Victor N. Malcolm, was a grandson of Lillie Langtry; she had a son with him named David Malcolm.[9][10] Her second and third husbands (Nigel Tangye and David Lean) were first cousins. She had a daughter with Nigel Tangye named Ann Francesca Tangye. She was divorced from Tangye 12 March 1949.[11]
Todd married film director Lean on 21 May 1949[12] and starred successively in three of his films: The Passionate Friends (1949), Madeleine (1950) and The Sound Barrier (1952). Lean and Todd divorced 15 July 1957.[13]
Media related to Ann Todd at Wikimedia Commons