Brenda Forbes

Acting

Brenda Forbes

Born 1909-01-14 · Wandsworth, London, England, UK

Born as Dorothy Brenda Taylor, Brenda adopted the last name Forbes as did her two notable acting relatives: mother Mary (born Ethel Louise) and brother Ralph. Like her relatives, she moved to the United States to further pursue her acting career. While her film roles were limited, she worked on stage for decades. Shortly before her death, she published her memoirs, "Five Minutes, Miss Forbes."

Acting credits

Mrs. Miniver poster
7.1

Middle-class housewife Kay Miniver deals with petty problems. She and her husband Clem watch her Oxford-educated son Vin court Carol Beldon, the charming granddaughter of the local nobility as represented by Lady Beldon. Then the war comes and Vin joins the RAF.

Mrs. Miniver

1942

This Above All poster
6.8

In 1940 England, aristocratic Prudence Cathaway alarms her snobbish parents by joining the WAF service branch. She soon meets and falls in love with the brooding Clive Briggs, despite his prejudice against the upper classes, and agrees to spend a week with him at a Dover hotel. When Clive's soldier friend, Monty, arrives to retrieve him, Prudence learns that Clive went AWOL after Dunkirk, and urges him to recall why England must fight the war.

This Above All

1942

Blithe Spirit poster
8.0

While holding a séance for skeptical novelist Charles Condomine, self-proclaimed 'spiritualist medium' Madame Arcati inadvertently summons the spirit of his deceased first wife Elvira, leading to an increasingly complex love triangle with Ruth, his current wife of five years.

Blithe Spirit

1956

The White Cliffs of Dover poster
6.7

American Susan travels with her father to England for a vacation. Invited to a society ball, Susan meets Sir John Ashwood and marries him after a whirlwind romance. However, she never quite adjusts to life as a new member of the British gentry. At the outbreak of World War I, John is sent to the trenches and never returns. When her son goes off to fight in World War II, Susan fears the same tragic fate may befall him too.

The White Cliffs of Dover

1944

The Jerky Boys poster
4.4

When two unemployed telephone pranksters decide to use their vocal "talents" to impersonate a Chicago mob boss and curry favor with organized crime in New York, the trouble begins. It isn't long before Johnny and Kamal (the "Jerky Boys" of crank call fame) are wanted by the local mafia, the police, and their neighbor.

The Jerky Boys

1995

Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry poster
6.8

A rich widow shocks her snobbish WASP family when she decides to marry her Jewish, divorced, doctor. His family is equally shocked.

Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry

1986

The Man Upstairs poster
5.7

Hepburn plays an elderly woman whose house becomes a hideaway for an escaped convict (O'Neal), and the pair strike up an unlikely friendship.

The Man Upstairs

1992

Miss Polly poster
4.9

A small-town spinster, who's a born romantic, takes on the strict members of the local "Purity League" by spilling a few of their well-kept secrets. Comedy.

Miss Polly

1941

Laura Lansing Slept Here poster
6.5

With a glittering cast that includes Katharine Hepburn and Karen Austin in lead roles, Laura Lansing Slept Here is a humorous family movie. Hepburn plays Laura Lansing, a novelist who undergoes an identity crisis as, despite her fame and fortune, she feels something is missing from her life. Entering into a quest to return a degree of normalcy to her life, Lansing's attempts provide many comedic moments, as well as a salient lesson for the famous author.

Laura Lansing Slept Here

1988

Vigil in the Night poster
5.9

A good nurse ruins her career by covering up for her sister's careless mistake.

Vigil in the Night

1940

The Perfect Gentleman poster
6.3

A strait-laced country vicar is very embarrassed by his father's naughty exploits with a lively actress.

The Perfect Gentleman

1935

No artwork available
10.0

Elizabeth Barrett's tyrannical father has forbidden any of his family to marry. Nevertheless, Elizabeth falls in love with the poet Robert Browning.

The Barretts of Wimpole Street

1956