Judy Davis (1982). In 1984, she was cast as Adela Quested in David Lean's final film "A Passage to India", an adaptation of E. M. Forster's novel, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. The film became a critics' favourite, opening to tremendous praise worldwide and "Variety" praised Davis for having "the rare gift of being able to look very plain (as the role calls for) at one moment and uncommonly beautiful at another. Likewise, "The Washington Post" wrote, "With makeup the color of smudged ivory, her pallor enhanced by the off-white linens she wears, Davis is
Peggy Ashcroft Titania in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and the title role in "The Duchess of Malfi". She won excellent notices, but the productions were thought to lack flair and were unfavourably compared with the exciting work of the rival Old Vic company under Richardson and Olivier's leadership. After the Haymarket season Ashcroft resumed her break from the theatre, first campaigning for her husband, who stood as a Labour candidate in the 1945 general election, and then bearing a second child, Nicholas, in 1946. Returning to the stage in 1947, Ashcroft had two long-running successes in a row as the alcoholic Evelyn