Leonora Corbett

Leonora Corbett (28 June 1908 – 29 July 1960) was an English actress, noted for her charm and elegance in stage roles, and for a number of films made in the 1930s.

Life and career Corbett was born in London, the daughter of Richard Ashwin Corbett, and was educated at Oxford High School. On leaving school she studied dress designing for two years, but decided that she would prefer the stage. She made her debut in a small part at the Everyman Theatre, Hampstead in 1927, and spent a season with the Festival Theatre Company at Cambridge. Her West End debut was in November 1931 in Lady in Waiting by Harry Graham and Jacques Natanson. The Times praised the gaiety and charm of her performance. The film producer Michael Balcon recruited her in 1932 for Gaumont-British, and she appeared in her first film, Love on Wheels, the same year. The critic in The Times was unimpressed by her screen performance: "In the début of Miss Leonora Corbett as a leading lady of the film there is more of promise than achievement. She affects a charm which she has not and neglects the charm which is hers on the stage."

In August 1932 Corbett appeared at the Malvern Festival under the directorship of Sir Barry Jackson, appearing with Cedric Hardwicke and Ralph Richardson in Shaw's Too True to Be Good, which transferred to the West End. Corbett made her Broadway debut in the role of the ghost, Elvira, in the first American production of Coward's comedy Blithe Spirit which ran for 657 performances from 5 November 1941. A later Broadway appearance was as Sybil Bennett in Park Avenue by George S. Kaufman, Nunnally Johnson, Arthur Schwartz and Ira Gershwin in 1947.

Corbett, who had been in a relationship with MP Robert Bernays until after the latter met his future wife, married John Francis Royal, formerly vice-president of the American National Broadcasting Company.