The Washington Post (04/Oct/1987) - 1930s Movie Star Madeleine Carroll Dies at Age 81

Details

• article: 1930s Movie Star Madeleine Carroll Dies at Age 81
• newspaper: The Washington Post (04/Oct/1987)
• keywords: Alfred Hitchcock, Madeleine Carroll, Secret Agent (1936), Seymour Hicks, The 39 Steps (1935)

Article

1930s Movie Star Madeleine Carroll Dies at Age 81

Madeleine Carroll, 81, a cool, blond beauty who starred in such movie classics as Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" and "Secret Agent," died Oct. 2 at her home in Marbella, Spain. She had cancer.

Her career spanned the 1930s and 1940s. "The 39 Steps" in 1935 won her international fame and was followed by "Secret Agent" the next year. Other movies she appeared in included "The Prisoner of Zenda" in 1937, "Honeymoon in Bali" in 1939, "The Scarlet Tunics" in 1940, "An Innocent Affair, in 1948, and Otto Preminger's 1949 film, "The Fan."

Miss Carroll was born in Birmingham, England. She received a university degree in French and taught junior high school in France. Her father, a university professor, opposed her taking up acting, but with her mother's support she quit teaching and traveled to London to look for acting jobs. She won a small role in a traveling company in London in 1929, and received better parts by actor Seymour Hicks. By 1934, she had received an offer to work in Hollywood and the following year shot to stardom in "The 39 Steps."

Miss Carroll served as a nurse in Europe for the U.S. Red Cross during War II. She earned the rank of captain and received the Medal of Freedom for her nursing service. In 1946, France awarded her the Legion of Honor for her work as a liaison between U.S. Army forces and French Resistance forces.

In 1940, after a divorce from her first husband, Philip Ashley, she met American actor Sterling Hay-den. They were married six years before divorcing. She also was married to Henry Lavorel and Andrew Heiskell. Both marriages ended in divorce.