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Nora Nicholson

Nora Nicholson

Nora Nicholson (7 December 1887 – 18 September 1973) was an English actress. Known for her portrayal of character roles, she achieved her greatest success in the later years of her career. She played in classics by Shakespeare and Chekhov and in new plays by authors including Noël Coward and Alan Bennett. Many of her best-regarded performances were as eccentric or even unhinged characters.

In 1914 Nicholson joined the Old Vic company, where she played several Shakespearean roles, and during 1916 and 1917, she played Sally in a long tour of The Scarlet Pimpernel. From the 1920s to the 1940s, she played a variety of character roles on stage in England, France and North America. She achieved wider notice in the West End in 1947 for her role in Dark Summer and was admired in both London and on Broadway in New York in The Lady's Not for Burning in 1949–50. She continued to be in demand for her stage roles into the 1970s.

From the 1950s she made regular television appearances and is particularly remembered for her part in the BBC's The Forsyte Saga (1967). She appeared in many British films, mostly comedies, but also in more serious films, including A Town Like Alice (1956). She continued to act until the year of her death.