Margaret Johnston - 15520

Lovely Australian-born British stage and film actress. After moving to London in 1936, RADA-trained Johnston learnt her craft in repertory theatre, before being cast in a 1942 production of Murder Without Crime at London's Comedy Theatre, which was a box-office hit and ran for over a year. Further critically acclaimed stage work followed, including The Last of Summer (opposite Fay Compton) in 1944, The Barretts of Wimpole Street (as Elizabeth Barrett) in 1948 and Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke, which ran for a year from 1951 and led to the Daily Mirror describing her as "probably our finest young actress”. From 1956 Johnston appeared in several productions at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, playing Desdemona in Othello, Portia in The Merchant of Venice and Isabella in Measure for Measure. Two roles in 1959, in Sugar in the Morning at the Royal Court and a rare venture into comedy with The Ring of Truth at the Savoy Theatre, marked her last stage appearances until 1966, when she starred as Lady Macbeth in Michael Benthall's production of Macbeth at the Chichester Festival Theatre in what would prove to be her last stage role. Johnston's film work was limited but excellent and her credits include The Prime Minister (debut, 1941), Rex Harrison's The Rake's Progress (1945), Portrait of Clare (title role, 1950), The Magic Box (as Robert Donat's long suffering second wife, 1951), the horror film Night of the Eagle (1962), Life at the Top (1965) and her last, Sebastian (1968, a part she accepted to please producer Michael Powell). Johnston's later years were devoted to running the theatrical agency business, started by her husband. Her clients included James Mason, Helen Mirren and Frank Finlay. This is a very pretty borderless vintage black and white photograph (9.5" x 7.75") of the lovely young Johnston, nicely signed and inscribed ("Good Luck John Street, Margaret Johnston") in blue ink across a clear area of the image. There's evidence of album adhension to each of the four corners of the reverse but that apart, condition is very good.