Mary Clare

Mary Clare was a British performer who worked across stage, film and television. Born in Lambeth, she worked in an office and trained at a dramatic school before beginning her stage career in London in 1910 at the age of 18. She toured the provinces and made her West End debut in Turandot in 1913, going on to become one of Noel Coward's leading ladies in plays such as Cavalcade in 1931 and, later, Waiting in the Wings in 1960. On screen she was chiefly a character actress, often cast as mature women of strong or autocratic character. After silent films including The Black Spider in 1920, she played Mrs Jeffcote in the 1931 Hindle Wakes and repeated the part in the 1952 remake. Her films included Young and Innocent (1937), The Lady Vanishes (1938) and The Citadel (1938), and she took the title role in Mrs. Pym of Scotland Yard in 1940. She died in 1970.