Dame Peggy Ashcroft remembered with blue plaque

At 77, Dame Peggy Ashcroft won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Leading actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft has been remembered with a blue plaque at her childhood home in south Croydon.

Ashcroft, who died in 1991 aged 83, became the oldest person to win an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Passage to India, when she was 77.

Ashcroft's family said of the plaque: "It is a wonderful tribute to both her amazing theatrical career and to her generosity and humanity."

Dame Judi Dench described Ashcroft as a "wonderful person and actress".

The plaque has been installed on Ashcroft's childhood home in south Croydon

Ashcroft starred in several of the most iconic productions of her day including numerous adaptations of Shakespeare's plays, as well as a diverse career on screen.

English Heritage said the blue plaque celebrated not only her birthplace but also her lifelong connection to the London borough.

"Peggy often spoke of her fond memories of growing up in what was then a leafy market town," a spokesperson said.

"It was while standing outside the local grocer’s shop on George Street, at the age of 13, that she first dreamt of becoming an actress."

In 1962, she opened a theatre in Croydon that was named after her.

Ashcroft's family said the plaque marked "the place where it all started" for the actress

'Very moved'

Ashcroft’s son, Nicholas Hutchinson, and granddaughters, Manon and Emily Loizeau, said: “Peggy always received honours with humility and a great sense of humour.

"But all of us who knew her - children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews - know how very moved she would have been to see this blue plaque on her childhood family home."

Ashcroft as Queen Margaret, with Donald Sinden and members of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the 'Wars of the Roses'

They added: “Peggy was and always will be in our hearts. She was an amazing mother, a wonderful and loving grandmother and a beautiful human being.

"We will be able to show to our own children, who didn’t know her but have heard so much about her, that this house was where she grew up, had her first dreams of going on stage, the place where it all started.”

Peggy Ashcroft as the Grand Duchess in Noel Coward's musical version of Terence Rattigan's The Sleeping Prince

In 1935, Ashcroft was hailed as the "Finest Juliet of Our Time" by the Daily Telegraph when she took on the Shakespearean role at the New Theatre in London’s West End.

She also created memorable performances on screen, from the young crofter’s wife in The Thirty-Nine Steps to her Oscar-winning portrayal of Mrs Moore in Lean’s A Passage to India.

Asked why she continued to act, Ashcroft said: "Well I think it’s some kind of compulsion, I’m compelled to do it".

From left: Deborah Grant, Ashcroft and Pauline Jameson during the National Theatre production of Watch On The Rhine in 1980

Dame Judi Dench said she met Ashcroft in 1961 when they worked together at The Cherry Orchard theatre in Stratford upon Avon.

"She and Sir John Gielgud (British actor and theatre director wo died in 2000) gave me immense encouragement and we became friends, and we remained friends throughout both their lives.

"We were neighbours with Peggy in Hampstead. Not only was she a wonderful as a person but as an actress. She is much missed.”