' Her face, with its glamour-gorgon makeup, softens, as Madame Armfeldt seems to melt into memory itself, and the wan stage light briefly appears to borrow radiance from her.

Her first appearance on the stage was at Haymarket in 1755 as Miranda in Mrs Centlivre's play, Busybody.

Her stage name derives from Mitch Ryder, a soul and rock singer her father happened to be listening to when her agent called and asked how she wanted to appear on the credits of her first film.

Her house on Mustique, designed by her husband's uncle the stage designer Oliver Messel, was her favourite holiday destination.

Her early acting pursuits led her to the stage, most notably a Broadway debut in Strindberg's The Father alongside Raymond Massey.

Her physical condition may have limited her mobility on the stage, but the charm of her voice, which had altered little with age, ensured her triumphs.

Her performance was kept secret from former Czech Republic President Havel until the moment she appeared on stage.

Her older sister, Amber, sings cabaret under the stage name Maude Maggart.

Her benefactors gone, and her own health in decline, she made her last appearance on the stage in Edinburgh in 1785.

Her final stage performance came in 1966 when she played Mrs Malaprop in The Rivals at the Haymarket Theatre, alongside Sir Ralph Richardson.

Her mother Georgette, from whom she acquired her stage name, was a French Catholic.

Her stage work in the late 1950s laid the foundation for her film career in the 1960s.

Her stage name is derived from her obsession with fluids.

Her father was a cattle baron and orange farmer, and her mother was a well-known opera singer who gave up the stage to marry and raise a family.

Her performance as Ulrica in Giuseppe Verdi's Un ballo in maschera at the Met was the only time she sang an opera role on stage.

Her story was also put to the stage in the verse tragedy Canace ( 1588 ), by Italian playwright Sperone Speroni.

Howard is reported to have had an affair with Tallulah Bankhead when they appeared on stage ( in the UK ) in Her Cardboard Lover ( 1927 ); Merle Oberon, while filming The Scarlet Pimpernel ( 1934 ) and Conchita Montenegro, with whom he had appeared in the film Never the Twain Shall Meet ( 1931 ).

Her mother uses the stage name " Catrine Dominique " for the music videos in which she has appeared.

Her stage work remained a priority and continued with Ann Veronica ( Piccadilly, 1949 ), which was another collaboration with Gow, who wrote the play with his wife as leading lady.

Her father, Walter Augustus de Havilland ( 31 August 1872 – 23 May 1968 ; aged 95 ), was a patent attorney with a practice in Japan, and her mother, Lilian Augusta ( née Ruse ; 11 June 1886 – 20 February 1975 ; aged 88 ) was a stage actress who had left her career after going to Tokyo with her husband – she would return to work after her daughters had already won fame in the 40s, with the stage name of Lillian Fontaine.

Her first stage appearance was when her mother brought her on stage in costume for the curtain call of the short-lived Broadway play The Leaf People.

Her earliest professional stage appearances were as a chorus girl on tour with Guido Thielscher's Girl-Kabarett, vaudeville-style entertainments, and in Rudolf Nelson revues in Berlin.

Her revue, with future TV pioneer Danny Thomas as her opening act, included songs from her films, performances on her musical saw ( a skill she had originally acquired for stage appearances in Berlin in the 1920s ), and a pretend " mindreading " act.

Her father, Robert Lawrence Berenson, was an American career diplomat turned shipping executive ; he was of Lithuanian Jewish descent, and his family's original surname was Valvrojenski.

Her popularity as a radio performer and vocalist, which included a second hit record " My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time ", led directly to a career in films.

Her impact on him was immediate, and her involvement in his career far-reaching, leaving Pitt with limited influence which he found frustrating.

Her movie career included a bit part in It Happened One Night ( 1934 ) and roles in Outlaw Women ( 1952 ), Glen or Glenda ( 1953 ), Body Beautiful ( 1953 ), The Blue Gardenia ( 1953 ), Count the Hours ( 1953 ), Mesa of Lost Women ( 1953 ), College Capers ( 1954 ), Jail Bait ( 1954 ), The Raid ( 1954 ), This Is My Love ( 1954 ), The Opposite Sex ( 1956 ), The Ironbound Vampire ( 1997 ), and Dimensions in Fear ( 1998 ).

Her almost 60-year career crossed most media frontiers with both supporting and leading roles, but she may be best-remembered for playing the sardonic but engaging title character, a high school teacher, on Our Miss Brooks, and as the Rydell High School principal in the films Grease and Grease 2.

Her film career began in earnest in 1937 when she appeared in the films Oh Doctor and Stage Door.

Her husband's academic fraud had been exposed by one of his fellow dons there, destroying his career and driving him to suicide.

Her pediatrician was Benjamin Spock early in his career.

Her singing career received a boost with the help of songwriter / producer / arranger Lee Hazlewood, who had been making records for ten years, notably with Duane Eddy.

Her mother worked in the city as a schoolteacher, while her father pursued a promising career as a homoeopathic doctor and surgeon.

Her first starring role at the studio, in the title role as Mildred Pierce ( 1945 ), revived her career and earned her an Oscar for Best Actress.

Her show business career began when a dance teacher urged her parents to find an agent for her.

Her book, My Chicago ( ISBN 0-8101-2087-9 ), was published in 1992, and covers her life through her political career.

Her career as the primary actress of Fox Studios continued with the advent of sound film, and she achieved a notable success in the original version of A Star Is Born ( 1937 ).

Her career in fashion includes designing a line of jeans for Rock & Republic and later designing her own denim brand, dVb Style.

Her distinctive colours of blue with buff stripes were carried by horses such as Special Cargo, the winner of the 1984 Whitbread Gold Cup, and Devon Loch, which spectacularly halted just short of the winning post at the 1956 Grand National and whose jockey Dick Francis later had a successful career as the writer of racing-themed detective stories.

Her true professional career began at that 1959 Newport Folk Festival ; following that appearance, she recorded her first album for Vanguard, Joan Baez ( 1960 ), produced by Fred Hellerman of The Weavers, who produced many albums by folk artists.

Her sensual performance in her English-language debut The Unbearable Lightness of Being ( 1988 ), directed by Philip Kaufman, launched her international career.

Her role required just two days on set, but was enough to inspire Binoche to pursue a career in film.

Her career spanned more than six decades.

Her career went through several periods of eclipse, and she admitted that her success had often been at the expense of her personal relationships.

Tree also pursued four Shakespeare film projects during his career at Her Majesty's.

Her sister Betty sang in a duo with Clooney for much of her early career.

Her coach throughout her athletic career was Peter Fortune.