Dorice Fordred

Dorice Fordred (25 November 19024 August 1980) was a South African actress, best known for character parts and Shakespearean roles on the London stage. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle commented in 1931, "She is one of those rare things, a young and attractive character actress."

Early life Dorice Fordred was born and raised near Port Elizabeth, Cape Colony. She went to England to study theatre. "Living on the veldt gives you – you can't help it, no matter who you are – a susceptibility to simple, earthy rhythms," she explained to an American interviewer in 1931.

Dorice Fordred also appeared in films, including Blue Bottles and Daydreams (both 1928), both short films, now lost, based in stories by H. G. Wells, and both starring Elsa Lanchester and Charles Laughton; The Silent Passenger (1935); As You Like It (1936), starring Laurence Olivier; Knight Without Armour (1937), starring Marlene Dietrich; The Nursemaid Who Disappeared (1939); Stolen Life (1939); John Smith Wakes Up (1940); and The Skin Game (1951). On Broadway, she had one credit, for Payment Deferred (1931), again with Elsa Lanchester and Charles Laughton as fellow cast members.

Personal life Fordred died in 1980, in London, aged 77 years.