shining spirit came through almost everything she did. She never wavered in her humanitarian Christian socialist beliefs". Giving the address at her memorial service, Gielgud called Thorndike "the most loved actress since Ellen Terry". Her obituarist in The Times said the same. Croall and many others have concurred. Opinion is more divided about Thorndike's qualities as an actress. Sheridan Morley enlarged on Gielgud's comment, writing that she was not only the most loved actress but "one might add also the best". Gielgud thought her very fine in her playing of tragedy − "she was one of the few actresses of her generation who dared even to attempt it [and] riveted her audiences with her superb authority and vocal power" − but he thought her inclined to "hit too hard" in comedy. Hallam Tennyson felt "she over-elocuted: she was the last trace of the Irving-Terry era in which the important thing was to speak beautifully and clearly and be heard throughout the auditorium". Paul Scofield thought her "a glorious actress who suggested immense power. She aimed at the big targets, and used every ounce of her being to do justice to great classical themes". Notes, references and sources Notes References Sources External links The Sybil Thorndike Scrapbook Performances listed at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection archive The Sybil Thorndike and Lewis Casson Archive at the Victoria and Albert Museum Theatre and Performance Department. 1882 births 1976 deaths English film actresses English silent film actresses English stage actresses English Shakespearean actresses Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Actresses awarded damehoods People from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire People from Rochester, Kent English Christian pacifists English Christian socialists Anglican pacifists Burials at Westminster Abbey People educated at Rochester Grammar School 20th-century English actresses Female Christian socialists Wives of knights