Her father died when she was 12, and her mother subsequently taught evening courses to earn an income.
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She has a granddaughter named Meagan Tandy.
Her mother was from a large family in , Cambridgeshire, and the head of a school for mentally handicapped children, and her father was a travelling salesman for a rope manufacturer.
During her time as a leading actress on the stage in London she often had to fight for roles over her two rivals, and.
Eventually they were published as a book.
She had been married for eight years to British actor Jack Hawkins, by whom she had a daughter, Susan.