The English actress Edith Evans, appeared in a wide range of stage and screen productions. After playing in amateur productions she turned professional in 1912 under the tutelage of the director William Poel. She came to wide public notice in 1924 with her performance as Millamant in The Way of the World and for the next fifty years was one of the leading performers on the British stage. She played several seasons on Broadway and made occasional appearances in continental Europe.
After briefly working in silent films during the First World War, Evans made no more screen appearances until after the Second. From 1949 to 1977 she made nineteen films. Two of them captured her celebrated stage performances: Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest and Mrs St Maugham in Enid Bagnold's The Chalk Garden. In some films she played supporting character roles, and in others took a leading part, notably The Whisperers in 1967 for which she received several awards and an Oscar nomination.
| Year | Play | Role | Venue London, unless otherwise stated | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1912 | Sakuntalá | Gautaumi | Cambridge University | |
| 1912 | Troilus and Cressida | Cressida | King's Hall, Covent Garden | |
| 1913 | Elizabeth Cooper | Martin | Haymarket | |
| 1914 | Hamlet | Gertrude | Little Theatre | |
| 1914 | The Ladies' Comedy | Isota | Little Theatre | |
| 1914 | Acid Drops | Mrs Taylor | Royalty | |
| 1914 | My Lady's Dress | Moeder Kaatje and Miss Sylvia | Royalty | |
| 1914 | Milestones | Mrs Rhead | Royalty | |
| 1916 | The Conference | Lady Frances Ponsonby | Court | |
| 1916 | The Man Who Stayed at Home | Miss Myrtle | Royalty | |
| 1918 | The Dead City | Nurse | Court | |
| 1918 | The Merry Wives of Windsor (basket scene, in variety) | Mistress Ford | London Coliseum and on tour | |
| 1918 | The Merchant of Venice (trial scene, in variety) | Nerissa | London Coliseum and on tour | |
| 1918 | Manfred | Witch of the Alps and Destiny | Drury Lane | |
| 1919 | The Player Queen | Nona | King's Hall, Covent Garden | |
| 1919 | The Merchant of Venice | Nerissa | Court | |
| 1920 | My Lady's Dress | Moeder Kaatje and Lady Appleby | Royalty | |
| 1920 | Wedding Bells | Mrs Hunter | Playhouse | |
| 1920 | Venice Preserv'd | Aquilina | Lyric, Hammersmith[1] | |
| 1921 | Daniel | Madame Girard | St James's | |
| 1921 | Mother Eve | Mrs Chester | Ambassadors[2] | |
| 1921 | Polly With a Past | Mrs Van Zile | St James's | |
| 1921 | The Witch of Edmonton | Anne Ratcliffe | Lyric, Hammersmith[3] | |
| 1921 | Out to Win | Mrs Barraclough | Shaftesbury | |
| 1921 | Heartbreak House | Lady Utterword | Court | |
| 1922 | The Wheel | Mrs Faraker | Apollo | |
| 1922 | All for Love | Cleopatra | Shaftesbury | |
| 1922 | I Serve | Kate Harding | Kingsway | |
| 1922 | The Laughing Lady | Cynthia Dell | Globe | |
| 1922 | Rumour | Ruby | Globe | |
| 1923 | Taffy | Marged | Prince of Wales's | |
| 1923 | Back to Methuselah | The Serpent, the Oracle, the She Ancient, the Ghost of the Serpent | Birmingham Repertory[4] | |
| 1923 | The Merry Wives of Windsor | Mistress Page | Lyric, Hammersmith | |
| 1924 | The Way of the World | Millamant | Lyric, Hammersmith | |
| 1924 | The Adding Machine | Daisy Devore | Strand[5] | |
| 1924 | Tiger Cats | Suzanne | Savoy | |
| 1924 | Getting Married | Mrs George Collins | Everyman, Hampstead | |
| 1924 | Back to Methuselah | The Serpent, the She Ancient | Court | |
| 1924 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Helena | Drury Lane | |
| 1925 | The Painted Swan | Ann | Everyman, Hampstead | |
| 1925 | The Merchant of Venice | Portia | Old Vic | |
| 1925 | Richard III | Queen Margaret | Old Vic | |
| 1925 | The Taming of the Shrew | Katherina | Old Vic | |
| 1925 | Measure for Measure | Mariana | Old Vic | |
| 1925 | Antony and Cleopatra | Cleopatra | Old Vic | |
| 1925 | The Child in Flanders | Vision | Old Vic | |
| 1925 | The Merry Wives of Windsor | Mistress Page | Old Vic | |
| 1926 | She Stoops To Conquer | Kate Hardcastle | Old Vic | |
| 1926 | Julius Caesar | Portia | Old Vic | |
| 1926 | As You Like It | Rosalind | Old Vic | |
| 1926 | Everyman | Old Vic[6] | ||
| 1926 | Romeo and Juliet | Nurse | Old Vic | |
| 1926 | The Shoemaker's Holiday | Dame Margery Eyre | Old Vic | |
| 1926 | Much Ado About Nothing | Beatrice | Old Vic | |
| 1926 | Caroline | Maude Fulton | Playhouse | |
| 1926 | Rosmersholm | Rebecca West | Kingsway | |
| 1927 | The Beaux' Stratagem | Mrs Sullen | Lyric, Hammersmith | |
| 1927 | The Lady in Law | Maître Bolbec | Wyndham's | |
| 1927 | The Way of the World | Millamant | Wyndham's | |
| 1928 | Back to Methuselah | The Serpent, the ghost of the Serpent | Court | |
| 1928 | The Tragic Muse | Miriam Rooth | Arts | |
| 1928 | Napoleon's Josephine | Josephine | Fortune | |
| 1929 | The Lady with a Lamp | Florence Nightingale | Arts (transferred to Garrick) | |
| 1929 | The Apple Cart | Orinthia | Malvern Festival | |
| 1929 | Heartbreak House | Lady Utterword | Malvern Festival | |
| 1929 | The Apple Cart | Orinthia | Queen's | |
| 1930 | The Beaux' Stratagem | Mrs Sullen | Royalty | |
| 1930 | Delilah | Delilah | Prince of Wales's | |
| 1931 | OHMS | Mrs Carruthers | Arts (transferred to New) | |
| 1931 | Tiger Cats | Suzanne | Royalty | |
| 1931 | The Old Bachelor | Laetitia | Lyric, Hammersmith | |
| 1931 | The Lady with a Lamp | Florence Nightingale | Maxine Elliott Theatre, New York | |
| 1932 | Othello | Emilia | Old Vic | |
| 1932 | Twelfth Night | Viola | Old Vic | |
| 1932 | Heartbreak House | Lady Utterword | Queen's | |
| 1932 | Evensong | Irela | Queen's | |
| 1932 | Bulldog Drummond | Irma Petersen | Adelphi | |
| 1933 | Evensong | Irela | Selwyn Theatre, New York | |
| 1933 | Once in a Lifetime | May Daniels | Queen's | |
| 1933 | The Late Christopher Bean | Gwenny | St James's | |
| 1934 | Viceroy Sarah | Duchess of Marlborough | Arts | |
| 1934 | Romeo and Juliet | Nurse | Martin Beck Theatre, New York | |
| 1935 | The Old Ladies | Agatha Payne | New | |
| 1935 | Romeo and Juliet | Nurse | New | |
| 1936 | The Seagull | Arkadina | New | |
| 1936 | The Country Wife | Lady Fidget | Old Vic | |
| 1936 | As You Like It | Rosalind | Old Vic | |
| 1936 | The Witch of Edmonton | Mother Savage | Old Vic | |
| 1937 | As You Like It | Rosalind | New | |
| 1937 | The Taming of The Shrew | Katherina | New | |
| 1937 | Robert's Wife | Sanchia Carson | Globe | |
| 1939 | The Importance of Being Earnest | Lady Bracknell | Globe and on tour | |
| 1940 | Cousin Muriel | Muriel Meilhac | Globe | |
| 1940 | Diversion (revue) | various | Wyndham's | |
| 1941 | Diversion No 2 (revue) | various | Wyndham's | |
| 1941 | Old Acquaintance | Katherine Markham | Apollo | |
| 1942 | The Importance of Being Earnest | Lady Bracknell | Phoenix and on tour | |
| 1942 | ENSA revue | various | Gibraltar | |
| 1942 | Heartbreak House | Hesione Hushabye | Cambridge | |
| 1944 | The Late Christopher Bean | Gwenny | India (ENSA tour) | |
| 1945 | The Rivals | Mrs Malaprop | Criterion | |
| 1946 | Crime and Punishment | Katerina | New | |
| 1946 | Antony and Cleopatra | Cleopatra | Piccadilly | |
| 1948 | The Way of the World | Lady Wishfort | New | |
| 1948 | The Cherry Orchard | Ranevskaya | New | |
| 1949 | Daphne Laureola | Lady Pitts | Wyndham's | |
| 1950 | Daphne Laureola | Lady Pitts | Music Box Theatre, New York | |
| 1951 | Waters of the Moon | Helen Lancaster | Haymarket | |
| 1954 | The Dark Is Light Enough | Countess Rosmarin Ostenburg | Aldwych | |
| 1956 | The Chalk Garden | Mrs St Maugham | Haymarket | |
| 1958 | Henry VIII | Queen Katherine | Old Vic, and toured to Paris, Antwerp, and Brussels | |
| 1959 | All's Well That Ends Well | Countess of Rousillon | Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford | |
| 1959 | Coriolanus | Volumnia | Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford | |
| 1961 | Richard III | Queen Margaret | Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford | |
| 1961 | Romeo and Juliet | Nurse | Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford | |
| 1963 | Gentle Jack | Violet | Queen's | |
| 1964 | Hay Fever | Judith Bliss | Old Vic | |
| 1965 | The Chinese Prime Minister | Mrs Forest | Globe | |
| 1968 | Aerial Football and The Black Girl in Search of God | Narrator | Mermaid | |
| 1971 | Dear Antoine | Carlotta | Chichester Festival | |
| 1974 | Edith Evans and Friends | Reciter | Haymarket |
Sources: Who's Who in the Theatre,[7] and Who's Who,[8] except where noted in fourth column