Margaret Rutherford

 

Our Ren has known of Rutherford her entire life as her mum adores her version of the Miss Marple stories. Due to this she is overly familiar with quite a few of Rutherford's films but she adores them too and has recently introduced Jamie to them.

Because of this, and of course our quest to visit Marple's creator, we decided to pay our respects to the actress and her grave was our first stop on our December getaway, just before we travelled up to see Ms Christie herself. 

Margaret Rutherford was born on the 11th of May 1892, but she didn't have an easy life right from the get go. Her father, the journalist and poet William Rutherford Benn, suffered a nervous breakdown a month after he married her mother, Florence Nicholson. He was sent to Bethnal House Lunatic Asylum and was released to travel under family supervision shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, during this time he murdered his father by bludgeoning him with a chamber pot and then slit his own throat at an Inn in Derbyshire in 1883. You'll notice that this event happened before Margaret's birth by some years, so it seems daft to point out that he did not die.

There was an inquest and her father was sent to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum after being found insane. He was released to Florence seven years later and dropped his surname of Benn. They had their only child and hoping to escape the murder of Reverend Benn emigrated to India, but sent Margaret back to England at the age of three to be brought up by her aunt Bessie (on her mother's side) as Florence, pregnant with her second child, hung herself from a tree. She was told that her father had died from a broken heart not longer after but at the age of 12 found out this was a lie. The reality was that he had been readmitted to Broadmoor in 1903 and stayed there until he died in 1921. It isn't clear why he was readmitted or why her mother took her own life indeed if she did so, but regardless Margaret took the paranoia that she would inherit her parent's mental illness for the rest of her life. In fact she suffered with depression and anxiety on and off throughout her life, but knowing what we do about her life, it is no surprise. To have lost both parents, regardless of quite how, at such a young age and in an era where mental illness was so frowned upon and feared would have been hard on anyone.

She grew up in Wimbledon and at 13 went off to boarding school in Seaford, it was here that she fell in love with theatre and when she left school her aunt paid for private acting lessons so that she could continue doing what she loved. Aunt Bessie died but left a legacy so that her niece could secure entry to the Old Vic School and this is the kindness that kickstarted the rest of the young woman's life.

She didn't find work as an actress until the age of 33, however in the meantime she was a piano and elocution teacher. As we are still aware to this day, women with a certain appearance are not accepted as romantic leads and this is the same difficulty Margaret faced and so she turned to comedy. It was her performance in the 1939 production of The Importance of Being Earnest as Miss Prism that finally got her recognised. Two years later she took to the stage again as another of her well known characters, Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit and was met with rave reviews and took on the roll again in the film version 4 years later that got her truly cemented as a film star.

She continued to work in film and on stage from that point onward, even returning to some other more familiar roles such as Miss Prism in the 1952 film version of The Importance of Being Earnest which Ren quotes from quite often. The sixties then came and she took on the role of Miss Marple, although played her quite a bit different from both how she was written and how she is shown in future adaptations. When she took the role she insisted on wearing her own clothes and having her husband cast alongside her, you'll know him as the 'sidekick-esque' character Mr Stringer which isn't too far from his own name! Ms Christie was quite critical of these Marple films as they strayed from her careful plots and played dramatic scenes for laughs, yet she dedicated the 1963 novel 'The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side' to the actress writing 'To Margaret Rutherford in Admiration', it seems strong women recognise each other even back then.

Much like Ms Christie, Rutherford was another woman to marry a man much younger than herself. She and Stringer Davis finally tied the knot after 15 years together in 1945. He was only 7 years younger than her, but they wed when she was 53 as Davis' mother did not approve of the match. Despite this they stayed together and wed following Mrs. Davis' death. During their time together they shared many scenes and her husband admired her greatly. He was with her all the time and acted as her private secretary. He was at her side guiding her through her depressive episodes and assumedly in attendance when Rutherford was subjected to electric shock therapy for her depression which was kept private until after her death.

At some point in the fifties, after finally being able to enjoy married life, the happy couple unofficially adopted their daughter, Dawn Langley Simmons (otherwise noted as Gordon Langley Hall but this is irrelevant after she became Dawn) who was actually in her twenties at the time. The happiness didn't last as although Margaret finally had a somewhat complete and happy life following her traumatic childhood and issues from her mother in law, she ended up with Alzheimer's and so was unable to work towards the end of her life. Her ill health meant she had to pull out of a few productions, but Davis was there to care for her as he always had. She died on the 22nd of May 1972 at the age of 80. Davis died a year later.

It was quite emotional visiting their gravesite to be honest. It was still dark when we arrived and the sun was just starting to rise. But having the opportunity to thank her for an interesting childhood from Ren's perspective was a treat. Not many people our age have sat through many black and white movies and enjoyed them, but Rutherford's films helped shaped Ren's love for films from all era and is what helped her keep such an open mind. Having the sun rise as we said thank you and bid goodbye was extremely special and we hold that memory dearly. We're glad she's finally at peace.