Background
Wendy Hiller was born in Bramshall, Lancashire, United Kingdom on August 15, 1912. She was a daughter of Frank Hiller and Marie Stone.
Wendy Hiller was born in Bramshall, Lancashire, United Kingdom on August 15, 1912. She was a daughter of Frank Hiller and Marie Stone.
She was educated at Winceby House, Bexhill.
Acting in films over the space of six decades, Wendy Hiller was nominated for an Oscar three times. Still, she would no doubt reckon that her best work was on the stage she preferred. Perhaps the truth is rather that because she was never quite glamorous, a lot of shallow filmmakers missed the chance to work with a great actress: Lancashire Luck (37, Henry Carr); nomination for her Eliza opposite Leslie Howard in Pygmalion (38, Gabriel Pascal); as Major Barbara (41, Pas¬cal); enchanting and brilliant in I Know Where I'm Going (45, Michael Powell); Outcast of the Islands (51, Carol Reed); Single Handed/Sailor of the King (53, Roy Boulting); Something of Value (57, Richard Brooks); How to Murder a Rich Uncle (57, Nigel Patrick); winning the supporting actress Oscar in Separate Tables (58, Delbert Mann); the mother in Sons and Lovers (60, Jack Cardiff); Toys in the Attic (63, George Roy Hill); nominated again for A Man for All Seasons (66, Fred Zinnemann), playing Mores wife; Mrs. Micawber in David Copperfield (70, Mann); Murder on the Orient Express (74, Sidney Lumet); Voyage of the Damned (76, Stuart Rosenberg); The Cat and the Canary (78, Radley Metzger); The Elephant Man (80, David Lynch); Making Love (82, Arthur Hiller); in William Trevor’s short storv Attracta (83, Kieran Hickey); The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne (87, Jack Clayton); The Counters Alice (92, Moira Armstrong).
In 1937 she married Ronald Gow.