Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, 101; Acting Career Spanned 80 Years

Actress Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies, the first centenarian to be made dame commander of the Order of the British Empire, died Monday at her home in Essex, two days after her 101st birthday. Her 80-year career had continued until this month when she appeared in a television film.

Dame Ffrangcon-Davies, who made her debut at 20 with a walk-on part in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” was one of the last links with the world of Victorian theater.

As a girl she remembered the legendary actor-manager Sir Henry Irving playing Shylock in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” on a stage lighted by gas footlights.

As a teen-ager with a burning desire to become an actress, she drew encouragement from Ellen Terry, Irving’s leading lady.

Last year, in an interview celebrating her 100th birthday, Dame Ffrangcon-Davies (pronounced Frangkon-Davis) said she recited a speech from Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” for Terry and asked whether she thought she had any talent. The answer was “yes,” and she never looked back.

In 1924, she was called the finest Juliet of her generation when she played opposite a 19-year-old John Gielgud as Romeo.

During her prolonged stage career, she played most of the classic Shakespearean female leads, including Cleopatra and both Cordelia and Regan from “King Lear” and Lady Macbeth, again opposite Gielgud in 1942.

She was named dame commander last June, shortly after her protege, the internationally acclaimed actress Peggy Ashcroft, had died. Dame Peggy had received the honor 35 years earlier.