Braithwaite, Dame Lilian (1873-1948), was an English stage actress known for her stately beauty. In 1924, she gained fame as a dramatic actress in the English playwright Noel Coward’s controversial play The Vortex. She won praise as a comic actress in 1928 in the English dramatist Ivor Novello’s The Truth Game. Her other notable roles included Queen Elizabeth I in La Femme sans Homme (1938) and Abby Brewster in the American comic thriller Arsenic and Old Lace in 1942.
Florence Lilian Braithwaite was born on March 9, 1873, in Ramsgate, Kent. She made her stage debut in South Africa in 1897 and her London debut in 1900. She first gained recognition when she toured with the English actor Sir Frank Benson’s company from 1901 to 1904, playing Shakespearean roles. In 1943, Braithwaite was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to the stage. She died on Sept. 17, 1948.
