- Gladys Cooper, The Bishop’s Wife, 1947. Producer Sam Golwyn stopped everything, changed directors, had Oscar-winner Robert Sherwood’s script respun (by Billy Wilder among others) and ordered Cary Grant and David Niven to swop roles. The ensuing delay meant that Liverpool’s Whitty – acting since 1882, the first actress to be made a Dame In the UK (in 1918) and best known/loved as The Lady Vanishes, herself, in 1937 – was no longer available for the bishop’s benefactor Mrs. Hamilton. Gladys Cooper became a Dame, herself, in 1967.
Birth year: 1885Death year: 1948Other name: Casting Calls: 1