Inescort, Frieda (1900–1976)

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Inescort, Frieda (1900–1976)

Scottish-born actress . Born Frieda Wightman on June 29, 1900, in Edinburgh, Scotland; died of multiple sclerosis on February 21, 1976, in the Motion Picture Country Hospital where she had been a patient since 1969; daughter of Elaine Inescort (an actress); married Ben Ray Redman (a critic and poet), in 1926 (died 1961); no children.

Selected films:

The Dark Angel (1935); The Garden Murder Case (1936); The King Steps Out (1936); Mary of Scotland (1936); Give Me Your Heart (1936); Hollywood Boulevard (1936); The Great O'Malley (1937); Call It a Day (1937); Another Dawn (1937); Portia on Trial (1937); Beauty for the Asking (1939); Woman Doctor (1939); Tarzan Finds a Son (1939); The Zero Hour (1939); A Woman Is the Judge (1939); Convicted Woman (1940); Pride and Prejudice (1940); The Letter (1940); Father's Son (1941); The Trial of Mary Dugan (1941); Sunny (1941); You'll Never Get Rich (1941); Remember the Day (1941); The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942); Street of Chance (1942); It Comes Up Love (1943); The Return of the Vampire (1943); Heavenly Days (1944); The Judge Steps Out (1949); The Underworld Story (1950); A Place in the Sun (1951); Never Wave at a WAC (1953); Casanova's Big Night (1954); Foxfire (1955); The Eddy Duchin Story (1956); Darby's Rangers (1958); The Alligator People (1959); The Crowded Sky (1960).

The daughter of a journalist and the actress Elaine Inescort , Frieda Inescort was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1900 and worked in England as a private secretary to Lady Nancy Astor before coming to New York in 1919. After jobs with

the National Child Labor Commission and the British Consulate, she made her Broadway debut in The Truth about Blayds (1922). Although her mother strongly objected to her acting, Inescort made subsequent appearances in You and I (1923) and Hay Fever (1925), but did not commit fully to her career until 1926, after her marriage to critic and poet Ben Redman. Following appearances in Escape (1927) and Springtime for Henry (1931), she headed for Hollywood.

Inescort made her film debut in Dark Angel (1935) and appeared regularly through the late 1950s, playing mostly dignified character roles, notably in Pride and Prejudice (1940) and A Place in the Sun (1951). Steady work and good notices, however, did not spell stardom for the actress who later recognized her 35-year marriage, rather than her career, as her greatest success. Characterized as an unpretentious woman of great humor, Inescort battled multiple sclerosis for many years before succumbing to the disease in 1976.