Editing Flora Robson (section)

==Career==
Her father discovered that Flora had a talent for recitation and, from the age of five, she was taken around by horse and carriage to recite, and to compete in recitations. This established a pattern that remained with her.<ref name=chroniclelive>{{cite web|url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/chronicles-100-greatest-geordies-nos-1368804|title=Chronicle's 100 Greatest Geordies: No's 95 to 91|first=Evening|last=Chronicle|date=2 August 2012}}</ref>

Robson made her stage debut in 1921.<ref name=nytimes/> By the 1930s she was appearing in several prominent films both in the UK and in Hollywood, alongside such stars as [[Laurence Olivier]], [[Paul Muni]] and [[George Raft]]. Her most notable role was that of [[Elizabeth I of England|Queen Elizabeth I]] in both ''[[Fire Over England]]'' (1937) and ''[[The Sea Hawk (1940 film)|The Sea Hawk]]'' (1940).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/flora-robson-p60865|title=Flora Robson - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie|website=AllMovie}}</ref> In 1934, Robson played the [[Elizabeth of Russia|Empress Elizabeth]] in [[Alexander Korda]]'s ''[[Catherine the Great (1934 film)|The Rise of Catherine the Great]]'' (1934).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6fd91e4d|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815153951/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6fd91e4d|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 August 2016|title=Catherine the Great (1934)}}</ref> She was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress]] for her role as Angelique Buiton, a servant, in ''[[Saratoga Trunk]]'' (1945).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/saratoga-trunk-v108874/awards|title=Saratoga Trunk (1945) - Sam Wood - Awards - AllMovie|website=AllMovie}}</ref> The same year, audiences in the U.K. and the U.S. watched her performance as Ftatateeta, the nursemaid and royal confidante and murderess-upon-command to [[Vivien Leigh]]'s Queen Cleopatra in the screen adaptation of [[George Bernard Shaw]]'s ''[[Caesar and Cleopatra (film)|Caesar and Cleopatra]]'' (1945).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9802EFD91439E731A25755C0A96F9C946793D6CF|title=THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; Shaw's 'Caesar and Cleopatra' as Film Opens at the Astor-- Rains and Leigh Co-Stars --New Bill at Loew's State At Loew's State - NYTimes.com|newspaper=The New York Times|date=28 July 2022 }}</ref>

After the [[Second World War]], demonstrating her range, she appeared in ''[[Holiday Camp (film)|Holiday Camp]]'' (1947), the first of a series of films which featured the very ordinary Huggett family; as Sister Philippa in ''[[Black Narcissus]]'' (1947); as a magistrate in ''[[Good-Time Girl]]'' (1948); as a prospective Labour MP in ''[[Frieda (film)|Frieda]]'' (1947); and in the costume melodrama ''[[Saraband for Dead Lovers]]'' (1948).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f66f20a|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170725104858/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f66f20a|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 July 2017|title=Flora Robson}}</ref> Her other film roles included the [[Empress Dowager Cixi]] in ''[[55 Days at Peking]]'' (1963), Miss Milchrest in ''[[Murder at the Gallop]]'' (1963), the [[Queen of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Queen of Hearts]] in ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1972 film)|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'' (1972), and Livia in the aborted ''[[I, Claudius (film)|I, Claudius]]'' in 1937.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/163436%7C51514/flora-robson#filmography|title=Filmography for Flora Robson|website=Turner Classic Movies}}</ref>

She struggled to find a footing in the theatre after she graduated from [[RADA]] with a bronze medal since she lacked the conventional good looks which were then an absolute requisite for actresses in dramatic roles.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}} After touring in minor parts with [[Ben Greet]]'s Shakespeare company she may have played small parts for two seasons in the new repertory company at [[Oxford]], but her contract was not renewed.<ref name=nytimes/> She was told that they required a prettier actress.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1984/07/08/dame-flora-robson-dies-at-82/89087d49-0297-4bb2-9220-67c7fce20650/|title=Dame Flora Robson Dies At 82|date=8 July 1984|via=www.washingtonpost.com}}</ref> Unable to secure any acting engagements, she gave up the stage at the age of 23, and she took up work as a welfare officer in the [[Nabisco Shredded Wheat Factory|Nabisco shredded wheat factory]] in Welwyn Garden City.<ref name=nytimes/> [[Tyrone Guthrie]], due to direct a season at the new Festival Theatre, Cambridge, asked her to join his company.<ref name=timesobit>{{cite web|url=https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/alt.obituaries/3DWt2RghtQs/JaDOvwxZCsAJ|title=Google Groups|website=groups.google.com}}</ref> Her performance as the stepdaughter in [[Luigi Pirandello|Pirandello]]'s ''[[Six Characters in Search of an Author]]'' made her the theatrical talk of Cambridge.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NhK-AwAAQBAJ&q=Six+Characters+in+Search+of+an+Author+flora+robson&pg=PA50|title=Training through drama for work|first=Brian|last=Groves|date=6 June 2014|publisher=EDUCatt - Ente per il diritto allo studio universitario dell'Università Cattolica|isbn=9788867803781|via=Google Books}}</ref> She followed with Isabella in ''[[Measure for Measure]]'' with [[Robert Donat]], Pirandello's ''Naked'', the title role in ''[[Iphigenia in Tauris]]'', Varya in ''[[The Cherry Orchard]]'', and Rebecca West in [[Henrik Ibsen]]'s ''[[Rosmersholm]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/person/jhj/flora-robson/past?page=3|title=Flora Robson - Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kg15CgAAQBAJ&q=flora+robson+Iphigenia+in+Tauris&pg=PA280|title=Brill's Companion to the Reception of Euripides|date=17 September 2015|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9789004299818|via=Google Books}}</ref>

In 1931, she was cast as the adulterous Abbie in [[Eugene O'Neill]]'s ''[[Desire Under the Elms]]''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oXMsAQAAQBAJ&q=flora+robson+desire+under+the+elms&pg=PT431|title=The Methuen Drama Dictionary of the Theatre|first=Jonathan|last=Law|date=28 October 2013|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=9781408145913|via=Google Books}}</ref> Her brief, shocking appearance as the doomed prostitute in [[James Bridie]]'s play ''The Anatomist'' put her firmly on the road to success.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/17th-october-1931/12/the-theatre|title=The Theatre » 17 Oct 1931 » The Spectator Archive}}</ref> "If you are not moved by this girl's performance, then you are immovable" the ''Observer'' critic wrote. This success would lead to her famous 1933 season as leading lady at the [[Old Vic]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EsOvAwAAQBAJ&q=flora+robson+1933+old+vic+season&pg=PA652|title=The Continuum Companion to Twentieth Century Theatre|first=Colin|last=Chambers|date=14 May 2006|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=9781847146120|via=Google Books}}</ref>

She continued her acting career late into life, though not on the West End stage, from which she retired at the age of 67, often for American television films, including a lavish production of ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'' (in which she played Miss Pross).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/a-tale-of-two-cities-v48482|title=A Tale of Two Cities (1980) - Jim Goddard - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie|website=AllMovie}}</ref> She also performed for British television, including ''The Shrimp and the Anemone''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/59478d0a87d144da849bc547d83fbc21|title=Eustace and Hilda: The Shrimp and the Anemone|date=24 November 1977|issue=2820|pages=51|via=BBC Genome}}</ref> In the 1960s, she continued to act in the [[West End theatre|West End]], in ''[[Ring Round the Moon]]'', ''[[The Importance of Being Earnest]]'' and ''[[Three Sisters (play)|Three Sisters]]'', among others.

She continued to act on film and television. She was last briefly seen as a Stygian Witch in the fantasy adventure ''[[Clash of the Titans (1981 film)|Clash of the Titans]]'' in 1981.<ref name=screenonline>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/458854/index.html|title=BFI Screenonline: Robson, Flora (1902-1984) Biography|website=www.screenonline.org.uk}}</ref> Both the [[BBC]] and [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] made special programmes to celebrate her 80th birthday in 1982, and the BBC ran a short season of her best films.