Sybil Thorndike
(1882-1976), Actor; wife of Sir Lewis CassonDame Sybil Thorndike
Sitter in 50 portraits
Best known for playing the title-role in Saint Joan which Bernard Shaw wrote for her Thorndike was also acclaimed for performances in Greek tragedy and in Shakespeare. She spent her early years touring with Ben Greet's company in America, and playing seasons at the Gaiety theatre in Manchester and was the leading lady at the Old Vic during the Great War, when she played both male and female parts. In the second world war she toured classics such as Macbeth and Medea around the mining areas of Wales and the North-East. A suffragist, pacifist and socialist, she was married to the actor and director Lewis Casson, a celebrated theatrical partnership that lasted sixty years.
by Jacob Epstein
bronze bust, 1925
On display in the Entrance Hall on Floor 0 at the National Portrait Gallery
NPG 5976
by Bertram Park
bromide print, 9 February 1928
NPG P140(41)
'Past and Present Leads at Old Vic'
by Unknown photographer
bromide postcard print, 1910s
NPG x38350
by Howard Instead
matte bromide print, circa 1920
NPG Ax24973
by Howard Instead
matte bromide print, circa 1920
NPG Ax24998
by Dorothy Wilding
gelatin silver print on photographer's tissue and card mount, 1920s
NPG x200863
by Paul Tanqueray
vintage bromide print, 1926
NPG x26871
Sybil Thorndike; Ann Casson; Mary Casson
by Lenare
bromide press print, 1927
NPG x198245
by Bassano Ltd
bromide print, 3 December 1927
NPG x83491
by Bassano Ltd
bromide print, 3 December 1927
NPG x85561
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 3 December 1927
NPG x19086
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 3 December 1927
NPG x19087
Mary Casson; Sybil Thorndike; Ann Casson
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 4 August 1928
NPG x19088
by Dudley Glanfield
gelatin silver print, 1929-1932
NPG x198273
by Dorothy Wilding
bromide postcard print, 1930s
NPG x160597
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