This Is Your Life: Sybil Thorndike

Dame Sybil THORNDIKE DBE (1882-1976)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Dame Sybil Thorndike, actress, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Television Centre, having been led to believe she was there to read a speech from Shakespeare's play Henry VIII.

Sybil, who studied at London's Guildhall School of Music, toured the United States in Shakespearean repertory before becoming a leading figure in Annie Horniman's Repertory Company in Manchester. She joined the Old Vic company during the First World War, and in the early 1920s, George Bernard Shaw wrote Saint Joan with her in mind.

During the Second World War, she took professional theatre to remote rural locations for the first time with her husband, Lewis Casson. After the war, they made many overseas tours, playing in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Known as Britain's leading tragedienne and mainly as a stage actress, Sybil made several films, including The Prince and the Showgirl and Uncle Vanya.

"Crikey!"

programme details...

Edition No: 133
Subject No: 133
Broadcast date: Mon 10 Oct 1960
Broadcast time: 7.30-8.00pm
Recorded: Mon 10 Oct 1960 5.00pm
Repeated: Sun 6 Oct 1991 6.05pm
Venue: BBC Television Theatre
Series: 6
Edition: 4

on the guest list...

Michael Redgrave
Lewis Casson - husband
Natalie Kent
Annie Jones
Ralph Richardson
Joseph Kirby
Ann Todd
John Gielgud
Russell Thorndike - brother
Ann Casson - daughter
Deidre O'Connor
Irene Hanford
Tan Thiam Hock
John Casson - son
Emlyn Williams
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur
Teresa - granddaughter
Dirk - grandson
Tom - grandson
Ben - grandson

production team...

Researcher: Nickola Sterne
Writer: Nickola Sterne
Director: Michael Goodwin
Producer: T Leslie Jackson

names above in bold indicate subjects of This Is Your Life

related pages...

An Actor's Life For Me

spotlight on the stars

The Big Red Book

the programme's icon

Robert Mcintosh

Interviews

Dirk Campbell, grandson of Sybil Thorndike, recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in an exclusive interview recorded in April 2013

Sybil Thorndike This Is Your Life Big Red Book

Photographs and screenshots of Sybil Thorndike This Is Your Life - and a photograph of Sybil Thorndike's big red book

John Casson recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his biography of his parents, Lewis & Sybil, A Memoir...

The accumulation of this depression finally made him sell Cedar Cottage in the middle of 1960, but by then they were rehearsing Noel Coward's Waiting in the Wings, a play about a home for old actors, and they were together again. During the run of the play, however, Eamonn Andrews did a This Is Your Life programme of Sybil. It was bad luck for me that of the two of her children who were away over the ocean, and could therefore be brought into the programme as a shock surprise, Ann in Canada and I in Australia, Ann was the nearer.

I don't think it is always realised what a shock such appearances can be, especially to older people. They showed her shots of Ann in Canada. Suddenly Ann walked in and Sybil said afterwards she thought it was some new form of three-dimensional projection.

I must say I felt a long way away when I was asked to record a two-minute message on a tape knowing that the rest of the family were all having a surprise meeting together.

Sybil of course carried it off superbly, but somehow they both felt awful, in different ways, that Lewis had known about it and had had to keep it a secret from her. They have always hated secrets from each other. Lewis had quite a bad feeling of guilt about it, which added to his more and more frequent bouts of depression.

Elizabeth Sprigge recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in her book, Sybil Thorndike Casson...

On October 10th she appeared on BBC television in This Is Your Life, the programme which, unknown to the protagonist, invites people to meet on the screen the celebrity in whose life they have played a part.

Sybil was invited to the studio, as she thought, simply to record the moving Prologue to Henry VIII and the heartbreaking speeches of Queen Katharine. This she did superbly. Hearing those speeches, delivered with consummate grace, at a recent replay of the programme, viewers and technicians were as moved as the original audience. On this evening in 1960, Eamonn Andrews suddenly appeared.

"Hullo," said Sybil, friendly and surprised.

Eamonn Andrews congratulated her on her performance, then explained that it was not the real reason for her being there, and handed her a large volume entitled This Is Your Life.

"Oh crikey!" Sybil exclaimed, words that are joyfully remembered by the planners of the programme. But it really was a shock to her, and she could scarcely forgive Lewis, who soon appeared to talk of their happy life and endless arguments, for having kept the secret so well.

Her brother Russell came to recall older memories, with Jenny Hyman of those early musical days, a postmistress from the Rhondda Valley, Joseph Kirby, who had taught Sybil to fly in Alice, and a member of the staff from the Leper Colony near Hong Kong. [Bigredbook.info editor: Jenny Hyman did not appear on the programme]

Fellow actors came to add their tributes, John Casson broadcast from Melbourne and a film showed Ann's children in Canada, after which she herself dramatically appeared, flown over for the occasion. The programme had a dream-like quality with its anachronistic dives into the past, the young old and the old young again.

Jonathan Croall recalls this edition of This Is Your Life in his book, Sybil Thorndike: A Star of Life...

During the run of the Coward play she was the subject of a This Is Your Life programme. 'Oh crikey! was her response when, having recorded some scenes from Shakespeare in a studio, the programme's presenter Eamonn Andrews suddenly appeared and broke the news to her. Among all the usual tributes from family and friends, the most striking moment came when, after shots were shown of Ann and her children in Canada, Ann suddenly appeared in person, flown over especially for the occasion. This shocked Sybil, who thought at first it was some new form of three-dimensional projection. She was also initially aggrieved that Lewis, who had been consulted beforehand, had kept the secret from her. But the programme raised her profile with the public, who now took to stopping her in the street or talking to her on buses, still her favourite form of transport in London.

Series 6 subjects