Norma Varden was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 actress with a long film career in Hollywood

Cinema of the United States

The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...

.

Born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, the daughter of a retired sea-captain, Varden was a child prodigy. She trained as a concert pianist in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 and performed in England before deciding to take up acting. She studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...

 and made her first appearance as Mrs Darling in Peter Pan

Peter Pan

Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...

.

She acted in rep and made her West End theatre

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

 debut in The Wandering Jew in 1920. From Shakespeare to farce, she established herself as a regular member of the Aldwych Theatre

Aldwych Theatre

The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...

 company where she appeared in plays from 1929 to 1933. She then began to appear in British films, usually in haughty upper-class roles.

Visiting California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 with her ailing mother in the 1940s, she decided to settle permanently there and began her American film career. She appeared in Casablanca

Casablanca (film)

Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...

(1942), The Major and the Minor

The Major and the Minor

The Major and the Minor is a 1942 American comedy film starring Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland. It was the first American film directed by Billy Wilder, and launched his "incomparable" directing career...

(1942), The White Cliffs of Dover

The White Cliffs of Dover (1944 film)

The White Cliffs of Dover is a 1944 film made by Loew's and MGM. It was directed by Clarence Brown and produced by Clarence Brown and Sidney Franklin. The screenplay was by Claudine West, Jan Lustig and George Froeschel, based on the Alice Duer Miller poem titled The White Cliffs with additional...

(1944), National Velvet

National Velvet (film)

National Velvet is a 1944 drama film, in Technicolor, based on the novel by Enid Bagnold, published in 1935. It stars Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp and a young Elizabeth Taylor....

(1944), The Green Years

The Green Years (film)

The Green Years is a 1946 American comedy-drama film featuring Charles Coburn, Tom Drake, Hume Cronyn, Gladys Cooper, Dean Stockwell, and Jessica Tandy, based on A. J. Cronin's novel of the same title...

(1946), Forever Amber

Forever Amber (film)

Forever Amber is a 1947 film directed by Otto Preminger and starring Linda Darnell and Cornel Wilde. It was based on the book of the same name. It also starred Richard Greene, George Sanders, Glenn Langan, Richard Haydn, Dolores Hart, and Jessica Tandy...

(1947), Strangers on a Train

Strangers on a Train (film)

Strangers on a Train is an American psychological thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and based on the 1950 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. It was shot in the autumn of 1950 and released by Warner Bros. on June 30, 1951. The film stars Farley Granger, Ruth Roman,...

(1951), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and The Sound of Music

The Sound of Music (film)

Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical...

(1965).

She had a recurring role in the 1960s sitcom Hazel

Hazel (TV series)

Hazel is a Screen Gems television series about a fictional live-in maid named Hazel Burke and her employers, the Baxters. The five-season, 154-episode series aired in primetime from September 1961 until April 1966...

as Harriet Johnson, the Baxters' dotty neighbor.

She died of natural causes on the day before her 91st birthday, in Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...

.

Filmography

• The Glorious Adventure
  The Glorious Adventure (1922 film)
  The Glorious Adventure is a US/UK feature film directed by J. Stuart Blackton, written by Felix Orman.-Production background:The film was made entirely in Prizmacolor, and starred Lady Diana Manners, Gerald Lawrence, Cecil Humphreys, and Victor McLaglen, and was released by United Artists.Neither...
  
  (1922)
• A Night Like This (1932)
• Happy
  Happy (1933 film)
  Happy is a 1933 British musical film directed by Frederic Zelnik and starring Stanley Lupino, Laddie Cliff and Will Fyffe. In Paris, a band leader pretends to be a millionaire.-Cast:* Stanley Lupino ... Frank Brown* Laddie Cliff ... George...
  
  (1933)
• Turkey Time (1933)
• Crime on the Hill
  Crime on the Hill
  Crime on the Hill is a 1933 British mystery film directed by Bernard Vorhaus and starring Sally Blane, Nigel Playfair and Lewis Casson. The plot was based on a successful play by Jack de Leon and Jack Celestin...
  
  (1933)
• Evergreen
  Evergreen (film)
  Evergreen is a 1934 Gaumont British musical film, starring Jessie Matthews as a music hall singer, based on the 1930 musical Ever Green, also starring Matthews. Matthews had a dual role as both mother and daughter....
  
  (1934)
• Dirty Work
  Dirty Work (1934 film)
  Dirty Work is a 1934 British comedy crime film directed by Tom Walls and starring Ralph Lynn, Gordon Harker, Robertson Hare and Basil Sydney...
  
  (1934)
• The Iron Duke
  The Iron Duke (film)
  The Iron Duke is a 1934 British historical film directed by Victor Saville and starring George Arliss, Ellaline Terriss, Gladys Cooper and Peter Gawthorne...
  
  (1934)
• Music Hath Charms
  Music Hath Charms
  Music Hath Charms is a 1935 British musical film directed by Thomas Bentley. Walter Summers, Arthur B. Woods and Alexander Esway, and starring Henry Hall, Carol Goodner and Arthur Margetson.-Cast:* Henry Hall - Himself* W.H. Berry - Basil Turner...
  
  (1935)
• The Student's Romance (1935)
• Boys Will Be Boys (1935)
• Stormy Weather (1935)
• Foreign Affaires
  Foreign Affaires
  Foreign Affaires is a 1935 British comedy film directed by and starring Tom Walls based on an Aldwych Farce written by Ben Travers. It also features Ralph Lynn, Robertson Hare, Norma Varden and Cecil Parker. The film is set on the French Riviera where two hard-living British spongers become mixed...
  
  (1935)
• Get Off My Foot
  Get Off My Foot
  Get Off My Foot is a 1935 British comedy film, directed by William Beaudine and starring Max Miller and Chili Bouchier. It is classed as a lost film....
  
  (1935)
• The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss
  The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss
  The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss is a 1936 British romantic comedy film directed by Alfred Zeisler and starring Cary Grant. The film was re-issued in the United States in 1937 under the title The Amazing Adventure. It is a remake of the 1920 film The Amazing Quest of Mr. Ernest Bliss.-Plot...
  
  (1936)
• Where There's a Will (1936)
• Windbag the Sailor
  Windbag the Sailor
  Windbag the Sailor is a British comedy film directed by William Beaudine, starring Will Hay in the title role. Ben Cutlet is a sea captain who entertains his bar room audience with tales of his days at sea, even though in reality his maritime experience extends only to navigating a coal barge...
  
  (1936)
• East Meets West
  East Meets West (1936 film)
  East Meets West is a 1936 British drama film directed by Herbert Mason and starring George Arliss, Lucie Mannheim, Godfrey Tearle and John Laurie...
  
  (1936)
• Strange Adventures of Mr. Smith (1937)
• Fire Over England
  Fire Over England
  Fire Over England is a 1937 London Film Productions film drama, notable for providing the first pairing of Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. It was directed by William K. Howard and written by Clemence Dane from the novel Fire Over England by A. E. W. Mason. Leigh's performance in the movie...
  
  (1937)
• Wanted! (1937)
• The Lilac Domino (1937)
• Make-Up (1937)
• Rhythm Racketeer (1937)
• Fools for Scandal
  Fools for Scandal
  Fools for Scandal is a 1938 comedy film starring Carole Lombard, Fernand Gravey, and Ralph Bellamy. It is now best remembered today as one of Lombard's worst films and one that set her on the course for seeking dramatic roles for the next few years.-Plot:...
  
  (1938)
• You're the Doctor
  You're the Doctor
  You're the Doctor is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Roy Lockwood and starring Barry K. Barnes, Googie Withers and Norma Varden. A young woman pretends to be ill to avoid going on a cruise with her parents but this leads to a series of confusions....
  
  (1938)
• Everything Happens to Me
  Everything Happens to Me (1938 film)
  Everything Happens to Me is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Roy William Neill and starring Max Miller, Chili Bouchier and H.F. Maltby....
  
  (1938)
• Home from Home
  Home from Home (film)
  Home from Home is a 1939 British comedy drama film directed by Herbert Smith and starring Sandy Powell, René Ray and Peter Gawthorne. A man struggles to cope with life after being released from prison.-Cast:* Sandy Powell - Sandy...
  
  (1939)
• Little Ladyship (1939, TV film)
• Shipyard Sally
  Shipyard Sally
  Shipyard Sally is a 1939 British musical comedy film directed by Monty Banks and starring Gracie Fields, Sydney Howard, Norma Varden, Morton Selten and Joan Cowick. Sally, a failed music hall performer, and her father take over a pub near the John Brown & Company shipyard at Clydebank...
  
  (1939)
• The Earl of Chicago
  The Earl of Chicago
  The Earl of Chicago is a 1940 American drama film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Robert Montgomery, Edward Arnold, Reginald Owen and Edmund Gwenn...
  
  (1940)
• Waterloo Bridge
  Waterloo Bridge (1940 film)
  Waterloo Bridge is a 1940 remake of the 1931 film of the same title, adapted from the 1930 play of the same title.The film was made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Sidney Franklin and Mervyn LeRoy. The screenplay is by S. N. Behrman, Hans Rameau and George...
  
  (1940)
• Hit Parade of 1941 (1940)
• A Date with Destiny (1941)
• Mr. District Attorney (1941)
• Scotland Yard (1941)
• Road to Zanzibar
  Road to Zanzibar
  Road to Zanzibar is a 1941 Paramount Pictures comedy film starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour, and marked the second picture in the popular "Road to …" series made by the trio....
  
  (1941)
• Hearts in Springtime (1941)
• We Were Dancing (1942)
• Flying with Music (1942)
• The Major and the Minor
  The Major and the Minor
  The Major and the Minor is a 1942 American comedy film starring Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland. It was the first American film directed by Billy Wilder, and launched his "incomparable" directing career...
  
  (1942)
• The Glass Key
  The Glass Key (1942 film)
  The Glass Key is a 1942 film noir, directed by Stuart Heisler and based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. The story had previously been adapted for film in 1935.-Plot:...
  
  (1942)
• Casablanca
  Casablanca (film)
  Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid, and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Dooley Wilson. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in...
  
  (1942)
• Random Harvest (1942)
• Johnny Doughboy (1942)
• Slightly Dangerous
  Slightly Dangerous
  Slightly Dangerous is a 1943 American romantic comedy film starring Lana Turner and Robert Young. A bored young woman in a dead-end job runs away to New York City and ends up impersonating the long-lost daughter of a millionaire. The film was directed by Wesley Ruggles and written by Charles...
  
  (1943)
• Dixie
  Dixie (film)
  Dixie is a 1943 Technicolor biographical film of American songwriter Daniel Decatur Emmett, starring Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. The movie is a musical directed by A. Edward Sutherland.The movie was only a moderate success and received mixed reviews...
  
  (1943)
• The Good Fellows (1943)
• Sherlock Holmes Faces Death
  Sherlock Holmes Faces Death
  Sherlock Holmes Faces Death is the sixth film in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of Sherlock Holmes films. Made in 1943, it incorporates elements of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story, "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual".-Plot:Dr...
  
  (1943)
• My Kingdom for a Cook (1943)
• The Beautiful Cheat
  What a Woman! (film)
  What a Woman! also known as The Beautiful Cheat is a 1943 black and white romantic comedy movie starring Rosalind Russell and Brian Aherne. The movie revolves around a literary agent Carol Ainsley's trying to transform her star client, Michael Cobb, into the actor playing his most famous character...
  
  (1943)
• Mademoiselle Fifi
  Mademoiselle Fifi (film)
  Mademoiselle Fifi is a 1944 RKO period film directed by Robert Wise, in his solo directorial debut. It was written by Josef Mischel and Peter Ruric based on two short stories by Guy de Maupassant, "Mademoiselle Fifi" and "Boule de Suif"...
  
  (1944)
• The White Cliffs of Dover (1944)
• National Velvet
  National Velvet (film)
  National Velvet is a 1944 drama film, in Technicolor, based on the novel by Enid Bagnold, published in 1935. It stars Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp and a young Elizabeth Taylor....
  
  (1944)
• Bring on the Girls (1945)
• Those Endearing Young Charms (1945)
• The Cheaters (1945)
• Girls of the Big House (1945)
• Hold That Blonde
  Hold that Blonde
  Hold that Blonde is a 1942 film directed by George Marshall. It stars Eddie Bracken and Veronica Lake.-Cast:*Eddie Bracken as Ogden Spencer Trulow III*Veronica Lake as Sally Martin*Albert Dekker as Insp Callahan*Frank Fenton as Mr. Phillips...
  
  (1945)
• The Green Years
  The Green Years (film)
  The Green Years is a 1946 American comedy-drama film featuring Charles Coburn, Tom Drake, Hume Cronyn, Gladys Cooper, Dean Stockwell, and Jessica Tandy, based on A. J. Cronin's novel of the same title...
  
  (1946)
• The Searching Wind (1946)
• Millie's Daughter (1947)
• The Trouble with Women (1947)
• Ivy
  Ivy (film)
  Ivy is an American crime film noir directed by Sam Wood and written by Charles Bennett, based on The Story of Ivy, the novel written by Marie Belloc Lowndes. The drama features Joan Fontaine, Patric Knowles, Herbert Marshall, among others. The film was entered into the 1947 Cannes Film...
  
  (1947)
• Thunder in the Valley
  Thunder in the Valley (film)
  Thunder in the Valley is a 1947 American drama film directed by Louis King and starring Lon McCallister, Peggy Ann Garner and Edmund Gwenn. It is based on the novel Bob, Son of Battle by Alfred Ollivant.-Main cast:* Lon McCallister - David MacAdam...
  
  (1947)
• Forever Amber
  Forever Amber (film)
  Forever Amber is a 1947 film directed by Otto Preminger and starring Linda Darnell and Cornel Wilde. It was based on the book of the same name. It also starred Richard Greene, George Sanders, Glenn Langan, Richard Haydn, Dolores Hart, and Jessica Tandy...
  
  (1947)
• Where There's Life
  Where There's Life
  Where There's Life is a 1947 comedy film. The film's title derives from a line in Don Quixote .-Plot:...
  
  (1947)
• Mr. Ashton Was Indiscreet (1947)
• The Spiritualist (1948)
• The Scar
  Hollow Triumph
  Hollow Triumph, also known as The Scar in the United Kingdom, is a film noir released in 1948. It was directed by Steve Sekely and stars Paul Henreid and Joan Bennett.-Plot:...
  
  (1948)
• Let's Live a Little (1948)
• My Own True Love (1949)
• The Secret Garden
  The Secret Garden (1949 film)
  The Secret Garden is a 1949 US drama film. It is the second screen adaptation of the classic 1909 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett . The screenplay by Robert Ardrey was directed by Fred M. Wilcox...
  
  (1949)
• Bachelor Bait (1949)
• Fancy Pants (1950)
• Strangers on a Train
  Strangers on a Train (film)
  Strangers on a Train is an American psychological thriller film produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and based on the 1950 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. It was shot in the autumn of 1950 and released by Warner Bros. on June 30, 1951. The film stars Farley Granger, Ruth Roman,...
  
  (1951)
• The Highwaymen (1951)
• Bonaventure (1951)
• Target for Scandal (1952)
• Les Miserables
  Les Misérables (1952 film)
  Les Misérables is a 1952 American film adapted from the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. It was directed by Lewis Milestone, and featured Michael Rennie as Jean Valjean, Robert Newton as Javert, Sylvia Sidney as Fantine, Debra Paget as Cosette, Edmund Gwenn as the bishop, Cameron Mitchell as...
  
  (1952)
• Something for the Birds
  Something for the Birds
  Something for the Birds is a 1952 film directed by Robert Wise. It stars Victor Mature and Patricia Neal.-Cast:*Victor Mature as Steve Bennett*Patricia Neal as Anne Richards*Edmund Gwenn as Admiral Johnnie Adams*Larry Keating as Roy Patterson...
  
  (1952)
• Young Bess
  Young Bess
  Young Bess is a 1953 biographical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer about the early life of Elizabeth I, from her turbulent childhood to the eve of her accession to the throne of England...
  
  (1953)
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
• Loose in London
  Loose in London
  Loose in London is a 1953 comedy film starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on May 24, 1953 by Allied Artists and is the thirtieth film in the series.-Plot:...
  
  (1953)
• Elephant Walk
  Elephant Walk
  Elephant Walk is a 1954 Paramount Pictures film, directed by William Dieterle, and starring Elizabeth Taylor, Dana Andrews, Peter Finch and Abraham Sofaer....
  
  (1954)
• Three Coins in the Fountain
  Three Coins in the Fountain (1954 film)
  Three Coins in the Fountain is the 1954 film that introduced the song of the same name, which became an enduring standard. It tells the story of three American girls looking for romance in Rome while employed at the American Embassy...
  
  (1954)
• The Silver Chalice
  The Silver Chalice (film)
  The Silver Chalice is a 1954 historical epic film from Warner Bros., based on Thomas B. Costain's 1952 novel of the same name.-Plot:A Greek artisan is commissioned to cast the cup of Christ in silver and sculpt around its rim the faces of the disciples and Jesus himself. He travels to Jerusalem and...
  
  (1954)
• Jupiter's Darling
  Jupiter's Darling (film)
  Jupiter's Darling is a musical romance film released by MGM in 1955 and directed by George Sidney. It starred Esther Williams as the Roman woman Amytis, Howard Keel as Hannibal, the Carthaginian military commander and George Sanders as Fabius Maximus, Amytis's fiance...
  
  (1955)
• The Birds and the Bees
  The Birds and the Bees (film)
  The Birds and the Bees is a 1956 screwball comedy film with songs, starring George Gobel, Mitzi Gaynor and David Niven. A remake of Preston Sturges' 1941 film The Lady Eve, which was based on a story by Monckton Hoffe, the film was directed by Norman Taurog and written by Sidney...
  
  (1956)
• Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
• In the Money
  In the Money
  In the Money is a comedy film starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on February 16, 1958 by Allied Artists Pictures and is the forty-eighth and final film in the series. It was directed by William Beaudine and written by Al Martin and Elwood Ullman.-Plot summary:Sach is hired to take...
  
  (1958)
• The Buccaneer
  The Buccaneer (1958 film)
  The Buccaneer is a 1958 War film, made by Paramount Pictures like the 1938 version and shot in Technicolor and VistaVision. It takes place during the War of 1812, and tells a heavily fictionalized version of how the pirate Jean Lafitte helped in the Battle of New Orleans and how he had to choose...
  
  (1958)
• The Miracle
  The Miracle (1959 film)
  The Miracle is a 1959 remake of a 1912 German film Das Mirakel directed by Cherry Kearton and Max Reinhardt which in turn was based on a 1911 pantomime play of the same name by Karl Vollmöller.-Production history and reception:...
  
  (1959)
• Five Minutes to Live
  Five Minutes to Live
  Five Minutes to Live is a 1961 American crime film. It was re-titled Door-to-Door Maniac for a re-release in 1966.-Plot:The film opens on Fred , sitting in a dark room, detailing his most recent bank robbery. He talks about how he has always had a plan for a small town bank robbery...
  
  (1961)
• Rome Adventure
  Rome Adventure
  Rome Adventure, also known as Lovers Must Learn, is a 1962 romantic drama film, based on Irving Fineman's novel. It was directed by Delmer Daves and stars Troy Donahue, Angie Dickenson, and Suzanne Pleshette.-Plot:...
  
  (1962)
• Island of Love (1963)
• 13 Frightened Girls! (1963)
• Kisses for My President
  Kisses for My President
  Kisses for My President is a 1964 comedy directed by Curtis Bernhardt, starring Fred MacMurray and Polly Bergen. Leslie McCloud makes history when she is elected the first female President of the United States. However, her husband Thad McCloud is less enthusiastic.-Plot summary:The United States...
  
  (1964)
• A Very Special Favor
  A Very Special Favor
  A Very Special Favor is a 1965 romantic comedy film directed by Michael Gordon, and starring Rock Hudson and Leslie Caron.-Plot:Paul Chadwick is a wealthy American oilman who is in a Parisian court, where he is up against the opposing lawyer Michel Boullard . Paul wins the case, but only by...
  
  (1965)
• The Sound of Music
  The Sound of Music (film)
  Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical...
  
  (1965)
• Doctor Dolittle
  Doctor Dolittle (film)
  Doctor Dolittle is a 1967 American musical film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Rex Harrison, Samantha Eggar, Anthony Newley and Richard Attenborough. It's adapted by Leslie Bricusse from the novel series by Hugh Lofting, primarily The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, The Story of Doctor...
  
  (1967)
• The Impossible Years (1968)
• Istanbul Express (1969, TV film)
• Doc (1969, TV film)

External links