Historical records matching Madeleine Carroll
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About Madeleine Carroll
Formerly a school teacher and model, a blonde beauty of ladylike demeanour, Madeleine Carroll was on stage from 1927 and in films the following year. She made 20 films in Britain, including Victor Saville's WW1 drama, I Was a Spy (1933), in which she was very touching, and The 39 Steps (d. Alfred Hitchcock, 1935, as the hand-cuffed heroine) and Secret Agent (d. Hitchcock, 1936), establishing the prototype for such later Hitchcock heroines as Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly.
From the mid-1930s, hers is essentially a Hollywood career, in European-set romances like The Prisoner of Zenda (US, d. John Cromwell, 1937) and comedies like My Favorite Blonde (US, d. Sidney Lanfield, 1942), and she became an American citizen in 1943, when she married Sterling Hayden (her third of four husbands).
Following her sister's death during the blitz, she gave up filming for war relief work and was honoured by France and the US for her wartime and postwar efforts. She made only three further films, including the British alpine-set romance, White Cradle Inn (d. Harold French, 1947). Hers was perhaps a limited talent, but it was exercised with some grace. She was first in a line of English leading ladies Hollywood took to heart, paving the way for Greer Garson, Deborah Kerr and Julie Andrews.
-- Brian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of British Cinema
<The Times, October 6, 1987>
<MISS MADELEINE CARROLL>
Madeleine Carroll, film star of the '30s, has died at her home in Marbella, Spain, at the age of 81.
A blonde of cool and striking beauty, she will be particularly remembered as the leading lady of two Hitchcock thrillers, "The 39 Steps" and "The Secret Agent". She spent much of "The 39 Steps" handcuffed to the hero, played by Robert Donat, and the film contains a famous scene, considered daring at the time, in which he helps her to remove her wet stockings.
She was born Marie Madeleine O'Carroll in West Bromwich, on February 26, 1906, and read French at Birmingham University. She was a teacher and modelled hats before taking to the stage.
By the early 1930s she was one of Britain's most popular female stars, though she often complained about the quality of the films. Among the better ones were "Sleeping Car", with Ivor Novello, and a First World War story, "I Was A Spy".
She first went to Hollywood in 1934 for a John Ford picture, "The World Moves On". In Britain, she made "The Dictator" with Clive Brook and the Hitchcock films. Her best Hollywood film was "The Prisoner of Zenda" in which she starred with Ronald Coleman.
Others including an historical drama, "Lloyd's of London", with Tyrone Power, the "General Died at Dawn" and a Bob Hope comedy, "My Favourite Blonde."
In 1943 she interrupted her career to devote herself to war relief in England after her sister was killed in the London blitz. She made only three more films, her last, in 1949, in "The Fan", a version of the play by Oscar Wilde.
In 1964 she attempted a stage comeback, but the play failed to reach Broadway.
She was married four times, her second husband being the Hollywood actor, Sterling Hayden. She had been a virtual recluse since the death of her only daughter five years ago.
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Madeleine Carroll's Timeline
| 1906 |
February 26, 1906
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| 1987 |
October 2, 1987
Age 81
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