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Jane Baxter, a renowned stage and film actress, was among the most glamorous figures on the London stage. Winston Churchill, a devoted admirer, once called her "that charming lady who gracefully embodies all that is best in British womanhood." Her career on stage lasted fifty years, and she is best known for her role in "Dial M For Murder," where she starred alongside Michael Redgrave. Redgrave described her as "every undergraduate's ideal of an English rose."
Born Fedora Kathleen Alice Forde in Germany, she moved to London as a child and studied acting at the Italia Conti Stage School. She made her West End debut at 13 in the musical comedy "Love's Prisoner." Following playwright J.M. Barrie's advice, she adopted the stage name Jane Baxter and, in 1938, starred in the hit comedy "A Damsel in Distress."
She appeared in numerous West End productions and films such as We Live Again (1934) with Fredric March and The Clairvoyant (1935) with Claude Rains. In 1935, she joined the repertory company at the Liverpool Playhouse, where Michael Redgrave was the lead actor. Initially, Redgrave approached her arrival "with some alarm," expecting "a spoilt and temperamental film star," but instead found "a delightful actress." Baxter later became godmother to Redgrave’s daughter, future actress Vanessa Redgrave.
Baxter achieved further success in London with the 1937 play "George and Margaret," which ran for two years. On Broadway, she co-starred with John Gielgud and Margaret Rutherford in "The Importance of Being Earnest," playing the role of Cicely Cardew.
She continued acting in films and on stage through the 1960s, with her final London stage appearance in John Mortimer’s "A Voyage Round My Father," opposite Michael Redgrave. Her last stage role was in the 1978 thriller "Assault" at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley, alongside Richard Todd. In 1992, she made a guest appearance to a standing ovation at the London Palladium during "A Tribute to Evelyn Laye." In her will, she requested no memorial service, only a gathering of friends at her local church in Wimbledon, South London, where film director Bryan Forbes delivered the address.
