Diana Vignard is a British actress, star of black and white Hollywood cinema of the thirties. One of her most famous roles is the role of Natasha Romanova in the 1932 film Rasputin and the Empress.
Beginning of acting and work in Hollywood
Diana Vignard (real name - Dorothy Isobel Cox) was born on January 16, 1906 in Lewisham - one of the areas in southeast London.
She began her career in English theaters and quickly achieved significant success in this field.
In the early thirties, producers from Broadway drew attention to her, and already in 1932 she made her debut in New York in the play Rasputin and the Empress. The play told about the rise of Grigory Rasputin, as well as about his murder by a group of conspirators. The production aroused tremendous interest among the public, and as a result, they decided to film it. Diana Vignard was invited to play Natasha Romanova (she also played this role in the play). It is worth noting that the prototype of this character was a real-life personality - Princess Irina Alexandrovna Romanova-Yusupova.
Interestingly, Irina Aleksandrovna later even filed a lawsuit against the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film company. The company lost the lawsuit, and ultimately this led to the standard legal clause of coincidence with real people and events (this clause is often found today).
After evaluating Vignard's work in Rasputin and the Empress, Fox Film Corporation invited her to participate in the film based on Noel Coward's play Cavalcade. This film covers a fairly long period of English history - from 1899 to the early thirties. The backdrop for the main plot are real historical events such as the Second Boer Conflict, the death of Queen Victoria, the sinking of the Titanic and the First World War.
In 1933, the film "Cavalcade" received three Oscar statuettes at once - in the nominations for "Best Film of the Year", "Best Director" and "Best Work of a Production Designer". Diana Vignard, who played the role of Jane Marriott in The Cavalcade, could also become the owner of the statuette, she was nominated for Best Actress. However, in the end, the award went to another actress. However, the nomination itself was a definite achievement - Vignard became the first British woman to receive such an honor.
After that, Diana starred in such Hollywood films as "Reunion in Vienna" (1933), "Man Must Fight" (1933), "Another River" (1934) and "Where Sinners Meet" (1934).
Diana Vignard in the late thirties and during the war
The British actress did not want to stay in the States for a long time. In the mid-thirties, she moved to live back to England.
At first, after returning to his homeland, Vignard's work was limited exclusively to the theater. In particular, she starred in another play by Noel Coward - "Plans for Life."
In 1937, she appeared on British television as Desdemona in the television play Othello.
After some time, Diana Vignard was tempted to test herself again in a big movie. She accepted the offer of filmmaker Brian Desmond Hirst and played one of the roles in his film "Night of the Fire" (1939). Her partner on the set was another famous then artist - Ralph Richardson.
But, perhaps, the most striking role of Vignard - the role in the film "Gas Light" (1940), directed by Thorold Dickinson, based on the play of the same name by Patrick Hamilton. Here she portrayed an impressionable girl Bella Mullen, who, having moved with her husband to a new, very large and gloomy house, begins to go crazy.
Then Diana Vignard took part in such films as "Radio Liberty" (played by Irene Roder), "Prime Minister" (played by Mary Disraeli) and "Kipps" (played by the heroine named Helen). Interestingly, the director of the film "Kipps" (1941) was Carol Reed, with whom Diana married in 1943. This marriage, by the way, lasted until 1947 and was not the last in Diana's personal life. She later became the wife of a Hungarian-born doctor, Tibor Chato.
Further theatrical career
When the war ended, Diana Vignard continued her theatrical activities - she performed a lot with her troupe in her native London and abroad.
By this time, she was considered quite an influential artist and she could choose the roles herself. It is known that in the period from 1948 to 1952, Diana often played the classic Shakespearean heroines - Lady Macbeth, Desdemona, Catherine of Aragon, Beatrice (this is the name of the main character in the comedy Much Ado About Nothing).
It should be noted that in the 1940s and 1950s she also took part in productions based on the works of contemporary writers (for example, in the play "Camino Real" based on the drama of Tennessee Williams).
Vignard's work in cinema after the war
After 1945, filmmakers offered the actress, mainly, supporting roles - as a rule, she portrayed experienced women and caring mothers on the screen.
In 1947, Diana Vignard played in Alexander Korda's film The Ideal Husband, and in 1951 she took part in the film Thomas Brown's School Years (1951), based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Hughes.
In 1957, Diana Vignard brilliantly performed the Empress Elisabeth of Austria in the American television movie Mayerling (1957). It is interesting that the Hollywood icon of those years Audrey Hepburn played with her here.
Another significant work of this period is the role of Mrs. Flory in the film "Island of the Sun" by Robert Rossen (1957), which tells about the complex relationship of former slaves and planters on the tropical island of Santa Marta.
The latest TV recording and death
In March 1964, Diana Vignard took part in the filming of the play "The Man in Panama" for television. In the end, it turned out that this was her last shooting.
On May 13, 1964, Diana Vignard passed away at her home in London. The official cause of death is renal failure. The body of the actress was cremated at the Golders Green crematorium, and the ashes were scattered.
The recording of the play "The Man in Panama" was shown on British TV after her death - in September 1964.
