Constance Cummings

The San Diego Stock Company gave Cummings her initial acting opportunity in a "walk-on part" playing a prostitute in a 1926 production of Seventh Heaven.

While appearing on Broadway, she was discovered by Samuel Goldwyn, who brought her to Hollywood in 1931. Between 1931 and 1934, Cummings appeared in more than 20 films, including Movie Crazy opposite Harold Lloyd, and American Madness, directed by Frank Capra.

She was a committee member of the Royal Court Theatre and the Arts Council. She has a star in the Motion Pictures section on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6201 Hollywood Boulevard. It was dedicated on February 8, 1960.

She was married to the playwright and screenwriter Benn Levy from July 3, 1933 until his death in 1973. As Levy was from Britain, Cummings moved there and continued acting, both in films and on the stage, in Britain. Few of her films were hits in the US, although Blithe Spirit, adapted from the Noël Coward play, was popular. Levy went on to write and direct films for Cummings, such as The Jealous God (1939); he also served in the UK Parliament from 1945-50 as the Labour MP for Eton and Slough. They had a son and a daughter.

On January 1, 1974, Cummings, who resided in Britain for many decades until her death, was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her contributions to the British entertainment industry.

In 1979, Cummings won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance as Emily Stilson in the drama Wings (1978–79) (written by Arthur Kopit), a play about a former aviator (Stilson) who has suffered a stroke, from which she struggles to recover. This role also brought her Obie and Drama Desk awards and an Olivier nomination. In 1982, she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play for her work in The Chalk Garden.

Constance Cummings Levy died in Wardington, Oxfordshire, England, on November 23, 2005, aged 95, from natural causes.