Born December 18, 1908, Celia “Betty” Johnson was the second child of John Robert and Ethel Collins, who made her first public appearance at the age of 8 in a charity performance of King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid to raise funds for returning World War I soldiers.

The young actress attended St. Paul’s Girl School from 1919-1926 during which she performed in several school productions. She later spent time in Paris studying with Pierre Fresnay and the Comédie Francaise.

Johnson made her stage debut in a 1928 production of Major Barbara and went to London the following year to replace Angela Baddeley in A Hundred Years Old. In 1930 she appeared in Cynara with Gerald DuMaurier and Gladys Cooper and the following year made her first trip to the U.S. where she played Ophelia opposite Raymond Massey in a Broadway production of Hamlet.

The actress returned to London in 1933 where she starred in a two-year run of The Wind and the Rain. In 1939, she married journalist Peter Fleming, the older brother of James Bond author Eric Fleming, giving birth to the first of her three children in 1940. Her career flourished with her starring roles in Pride and Prejudice and Rebecca on the London stage, but she had to curtail her stage work during the remainder of World War II during which time she lived with her widowed sister and sister-in-law helping to care for their combined seven children while being heavily involved in charity work.

During this time, Johnson accepted less time consuming roles on radio and made her film debut in 1942’s In Which We Serve, followed by 1944’s This Happy Breed (1947 in the U.S.) and 1945’s Brief Encounter (1946 in the U.S.), receiving a New York Film Critics award and an Oscar nomination for the latter.

Away from acting while her children were young, Johnson did not make another film until 1950’s The Astonished Heart, followed by 1951’s I Believe in You for which she received a BAFTA nomination, 1952’s The Holly and the Ivy (1954 in the U.S.), 1953’s The Captain’s Paradise for which she received a second BAFTA nomination, 1955’s A Kid for Two Farthings and 1957’s The Good Companions.

Johnson was absent from the screen for twelve years when she returned in a BAFTA award-winning performance as the principal in 1969’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. She subsequently received BAFTA Best Actress nominations for her TV work in 1973’s Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, 1980’s Staying On and 1981’s The Potting Shed the same year she was made a Dame of the British Empire.

On April 26, 1982, Celia Johnson suffered a stroke while playing cards with friends at home and died shortly thereafter. She was 73.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

IN WHICH WE SERVE (1942), directed by Noel Coward and David Lean

Coward wrote, co-directed and starred in his “film about a ship” which won the New York Film Critics Award for Best Picture of 1942 and was runner-up for Best Screenplay. It received Oscar nominations in both categories the following year. Johnson made her film debut as Coward’s wife, the two being role models for Coward’s junior officers and their wives. John Mills, Bernard Miles, Richard Attenborough (also making his film debut), Kay Walsh, Joyce Carey, Michael Wilding, Penelope Dudley-Ward, Daniel Massey (Coward’s real-life godson as his and Johnson’s son) and Juliet Mills (John’s daughter as Walsh’s baby) co-star.

BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1946), directed by David Lean

Adapted from Noel Coward’s 1935 one-act play, Still Life, filmed in the closing days of World War II, this unpretentious gem of a movie about a lonely British housewife (Johnson) and the man she meets for tea (Trevor Howard) before boarding her train home, earned Johnson a New York Film Critics award for Best Actress followed by Oscar nominations for her as well as Lean for both direction and screenplay, the latter shared with producer Anthony Havelock-Allan and future director Ronald Neame. Stanley Holloway and Joyce Carey have prominent supporting roles.

THIS HAPPY BREED (1947), directed by David Lean

Made by the same writing, producing and directing team before BRIEF ENCOUNTER , but released in the U.S. a year later on the strength of the popularity of the later film, Johnson won the National Board of Review award for her performance in this film about British life between the World Wars. Robert Newton played her husband with Lean regulars, Stanley Holloway, John Mills and Kay Walsh (then Mrs. Lean) in principal supporting roles. The title is taken from a line in Shakespeare’s Richard II: “This happy breed of men…this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.”

THE HOLLY AND THE IVY (1954), directed by George More O’Ferrell

Johnson is at her best as the put-upon middle-aged daughter of an Anglican parson who is the sole support of her recently widowed father (Ralph Richardson), whose fiancé (John Gregson) must relocate due to his job. Her future happiness depends on whether her successful sister (Margaret Leighton) will quit her job and take her place so that she can marry Gregson. The alternative of finding outside help for the somewhat senile Richardson is out of the question in this somber Christmastime movie featuring strong support from Denholm Elliott, Margaret Halston and Maureen Delaney, the latter two repeating their stage roles.

THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE (1969), directed by Ronald Neame

Maggie Smith won her first Oscar as the freethinking 1930s Scottish schoolteacher in this sublime film version of the Broadway and London play. Johnson, in her first film in twelve years and her last, plays the school’s pinch-nosed, conservative principal. Both Smith and Johnson won BAFTAs for their performances with Pamela Franklin, equally fine as the girl who takes Smith down, receiving a nomination for hers. Smith was the first choice for the stage version but had to turn it down due to her film commitments, getting the part in the film after Vanessa Redgrave, Audrey Hepburn and Julie Andrews all turned it down.

CELIA JOHNSON AND OSCAR