Jane Baxter

Acting

Jane Baxter

Born 1909-09-09 · Bremen, Germany

A distinguished stage and film actress Jane Baxter was one of the most glamorous performers on the London stage. Winston Churchill, an ardent fan, once described her as, "that charming lady who grace personifies all that is best in British womanhood". Her stage career spanned half a century and she is best remembered for her role in "Dial M For Murder", in which she co-starred with Michael Redgrave. Redgrave said that she was "every undergraduate's ideal of an English rose". Born Fedora Kathleen Alice Forde in Germany, she came to London as a child and studied acting at the Italia Conti Stage School. She made her West End debut at the age of 13 in the musical comedy "Love's Prisoner". On the advice of the playwright J.M. Barrie, she changed her name to Jane Baxter and, in 1938, played the lead in the hit comedy "A Damsel in Distress". Several other West End shows followed as well as films such as We Live Again (1934), with Fredric March and The Clairvoyant (1935), with Claude Rains and, in 1935, she joined the repertory company at the Liverpool Playhouse where the leading actor was Michael Redgrave. He viewed her arrival "with some alarm", expecting "a spoilt and temperamental film star". Instead, he found "a delightful actress". Baxter eventually became godmother to Redgrave's daughter, the future actress Vanessa Redgrave. She had success again in London in 1937 with "George and Margaret", which ran for two years and, on Broadway, she co-starred with John Gielgud and Margaret Rutherford in "The Importance of Being Earnest", in which she played "Cicely Cardew". She continued to make films and appear on stage throughout the 1960s and her final London stage role was in John Mortimer's "A Voyage Round My Father", in which she starred opposite Michael Redgrave. Her last stage role was at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley in 1978 in the thriller "Assault", in which she appeared with Richard Todd. In 1992, she made a guest appearance - to a standing ovation - at the London Palladium in "A Tribute to Evelyn Laye". In her will, she requested that there be no memorial service for her but just a gathering of friends at her local church in Wimbledon, South London. Film director Bryan Forbes gave the address

Acting credits

We Live Again poster
6.8

Nekhludoff, a Russian nobleman serving on a jury, discovers that the young girl on trial, Katusha, is someone he once seduced and abandoned and that he himself bears responsibility for reducing her to crime. He sets out to redeem her and himself in the process.

We Live Again

1934

The Flemish Farm poster
5.9

Wartime commando story based on fact. Allied airman risks return (on the ground) to occupied France for the honour of his regiment.

The Flemish Farm

1943

The Clairvoyant poster
6.0

A fake psychic suddenly turns into the real thing when he meets a young beauty. (TCM)

The Clairvoyant

1935

The Man Behind the Mask poster
5.3

A young couple attend a masked ball before their planned (but secret) elopement. Suddenly everything goes wrong when the young woman is attacked and held hostage by a crazed attacker.

The Man Behind the Mask

1936

Ships with Wings poster
6.0

Before the war, a Fleet Air Arm pilot is dismissed for causing the death of a colleague. Working for a small Greek airline when the Germans invade Greece, he gets a chance to redeem himself and rejoin his old unit on a British carrier. This is regarded the last of the conventional, rather stiff 1930's style Ealing war films, to be succeeded by much more realism and better storytelling.

Ships with Wings

1941

The Briggs Family poster
7.0

During the Second World War, a special constable and former solicitor is called upon to defend his son who is accused of the theft of a car

The Briggs Family

1940

The Little Minister poster
5.8

The stoic, proper Rev. Gavin Dishart, newly assigned to a church in the small Scottish village of Thrums, finds himself unexpectedly falling for one of his parishioners, the hot-blooded Gypsy girl Babbie. A village-wide scandal soon erupts over the minister's relationship with this feisty, passionate young woman, who holds a secret about the village's nobleman, Lord Milford Rintoul, and his role in an increasingly fractious labor dispute.

The Little Minister

1934

Dusty Ermine poster
5.8

A forger returns to his family when he leaves jail vowing to go straight. Although approached by an international counterfeiting gang he keeps his word only to find his nephew is in the Swiss Alps helping the crooks. He sets off to try and put a stop to things, but with Scotland Yard also hot-footing it to the resort his problems are just beginning. Written by Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

Dusty Ermine

1936

No artwork available
6.0

Jill Trevor vows revenge on newspaper baron Sir Joshua Morple, who she holds responsible for ruining her father. Her very public antics to draw attention to Morple's despicable conduct come to the notice a rival newspaper, who send journalist Jim Brent to offer to write up Jill's story.....

Confidential Lady

1939

Enchanted April poster
4.9

Mrs. Lotty Wilkins is an unhappily wife whom's life husband and romance have departed. In order to possibly salvage some of the missing elements in her life she rents an old Italian mansion and sharing it with three women. Here the four women plan to spend the month of April away from the cares of home, husbands and the everyday monotony.

Enchanted April

1935

Drake of England poster
6.8

Imposing Canadian-born stage actor and playwright Matherson Lang was one of the twentieth century's great Shakespearean players, and became Britain's foremost screen actor during the 1920s; in Drake of England, one of his final films, he takes the title role in Arthur Woods' portrayal of the life and times of the flamboyant piratical adventurer who founded Britain's sea fortunes. From clandestine romance at the court of Elizabeth I to conquests in the newly discovered lands of South America and spectacular victory over the Armada, Drake of England offers a panoramic overview of Drake's life.

Drake of England

1935

The Night of the Party poster
5.7

A major newspaper publisher dies in suspicious circumstances during a parlour game at a dinner party. The publishers secretary is the obvious suspect, but the inspector isn't so sure ...

The Night of the Party

1934

Down River poster
9.0

A murderous skipper involved in dope trafficking.

Down River

1931

The Ware Case poster
6.4

An aristocrat won't economize, then his rich brother in law is found murdered in the grounds of the aristocrat's house

The Ware Case

1938

Death of an Angel poster
7.5

The angel of the title is Jane Baxter, the wife of country physician Patrick Barr. Everybody in the small British village where she lives thinks the world of Baxter; thus, when she is murdered, the authorities are out for blood. Dr. Barr seems above suspicion, at least until he begins behaving eccentrically. As time passes, most everyone learns that Baxter wasn't quite as angelic as she seemed-and that quite a few people might have wanted her dead.

Death of an Angel

1952

Blossom Time poster
5.6

World-renowned tenor Richard Tauber features in a dramatisation of the life of Schubert, focusing on the composer's unrequited love for a dance master's daughter.

Blossom Time

1934

The Chinese Bungalow poster
4.7

All but a prisoner in the exotic Malayan retreat she shares with her Chinese financier husband, Yuan Sing, British singer Sadie Merivale begins a dangerous affair with nearby plantation owner Harold Marquess. But when Sing discovers his wife’s betrayal, he plots to regain his honor by slowly torturing her lover to death.

The Chinese Bungalow

1940

Two White Arms poster
7.0

A man becomes bored with married life and pretends to have lost his memory so he can pursue other women.

Two White Arms

1932

No artwork available
NR

Paul and Pamela Raymond become immersed in intrigue after receiving a costly jade. As they look for assistance in saving their skins, all their leads disappear, including the man who had given them the jade.

Murder Will Out

1939

No artwork available
9.0

Second of three versions of Margaret Kennedy’s novel about a sickly, sensitive Belgian schoolgirl, Tessa (Victoria Hopper), in love with world-famous composer Lewis Dodd (Brian Aherne), who marries her wealthy cousin Florence (Leonora Corbett). Undermining the already delicate Tessa’s health, the composer realises that life without Tessa is unbearable and leaves his unloving wife – but sadly too late.

The Constant Nymph

1933

No artwork available
10.0

A woman falls in love with a ghost on All Hallows Eve.

All Hallowe'en

1953

Bed and Breakfast poster
10.0

A newlywed couple have a fight, and in order to get even with one another, each decides to take up with a lover but without actually going through with "the deed".

Bed and Breakfast

1930

No artwork available
9.0

A comedy film directed by Frank Richardson

Flat No. 9

1932

No artwork available
8.3

A newly married couple run into difficulty when the wife refuses to obey her husband.

Second Best Bed

1938