Biography
Born on 3 September 1896 in London, England, and passing away on 15 February 1987 in Hiddington, England, Thatcher established herself as a skilled performer whose screen work began with silent features in 1915. Over the following ten years she took parts in Altar Chains (1916), The Green Terror (1919), A Little Bet (1920), and the Anglo-German co-production The Little Hour Of Peter Wells (1921), among numerous others. With the arrival of sound in the late 1920s her poised delivery and strong voice led to frequent casting as aristocratic women, chiefly in British productions yet now and then in Hollywood.
Among her 1930s credits stand A Warm Corner and Comets (both 1930), ... But The Flesh Is Weak (1932), Loyalties and It’s A Boy (both 1933), The Private Life Of Don Juan (1934), The Dictator (1935), the Anglo-German title Mama Steps Out (1937), Fools For Scandal, Girls’ School, and If I Were King (all 1938), together with Beau Geste (1939). On the London stage she appeared in the highly successful The Boy (1917), written by Fred Thompson with music by Lionel Monckton and Howard Talbot and lyrics by Adrian Ross and Percy Greenbank. Stage work throughout the 1920s featured Sally (1921, music by Jerome Kern), The Cabaret Girl (1922), and The Beauty Prize (1923), each headlined by Dorothy Dickson; the final two also included George Grossmith, with books and lyrics supplied by Grossmith and P.G. Wodehouse alongside Kern’s scores.
Her screen career extended into the 1940s with comparable upper-class roles in Man Hunt (1941), Anna Karenina (1948), and Trottie True aka The Gay Lady (1949). Thatcher remained active in films until the middle of the 1950s, though by then her assignments frequently shrank to minor or uncredited parts.
Among her 1930s credits stand A Warm Corner and Comets (both 1930), ... But The Flesh Is Weak (1932), Loyalties and It’s A Boy (both 1933), The Private Life Of Don Juan (1934), The Dictator (1935), the Anglo-German title Mama Steps Out (1937), Fools For Scandal, Girls’ School, and If I Were King (all 1938), together with Beau Geste (1939). On the London stage she appeared in the highly successful The Boy (1917), written by Fred Thompson with music by Lionel Monckton and Howard Talbot and lyrics by Adrian Ross and Percy Greenbank. Stage work throughout the 1920s featured Sally (1921, music by Jerome Kern), The Cabaret Girl (1922), and The Beauty Prize (1923), each headlined by Dorothy Dickson; the final two also included George Grossmith, with books and lyrics supplied by Grossmith and P.G. Wodehouse alongside Kern’s scores.
Her screen career extended into the 1940s with comparable upper-class roles in Man Hunt (1941), Anna Karenina (1948), and Trottie True aka The Gay Lady (1949). Thatcher remained active in films until the middle of the 1950s, though by then her assignments frequently shrank to minor or uncredited parts.