Rutherford Family History & Genealogy

Margaret Rutherford Born May 11, 1892 in Balham, London, England, UK Died May 22, 1972 in Chalfont St. Peter, Buckinghamshire, England, UK (pneumonia) Birth Name Margaret Taylor Rutherford Height 5' 5" (1.65 m) Mini Bio (1) Rare is the reference to Margaret Rutherford that doesn't characterize her as either jut-chinned, eccentric, or both. The combination of those most mundane of attributes has led some to suggest that she was made for the role of Agatha Christie's indomitable sleuth, Jane Marple, whom Rutherford portrayed in four films between 1961 and 1964 plus in an uncredited film cameo in The Alphabet Murders (1965). Rutherford began her acting career first as a student at London's Old Vic, debuting on stage in 1925. In 1933, she first appeared in the West End at the not-so-tender age of 41. She had her screen debut in 1936 portraying Miss Butterby in the Twickenham-Wardour production of Hideout in the Alps (1936). In summer 1941, Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit opened on the London stage, with Coward himself directing. Appearing as Madame Arcati, the genuine psychic, was Rutherford, in a role in which Coward had earlier envisaged her and which he then especially shaped for her. She would carry her portrayal of Madame Arcati to the screen adaptation, David Lean's Blithe Spirit (1945). Not only would this become one of Rutherford's most memorable screen performances - with her bicycling about the Kentish countryside, cape fluttering behind her - but it would establish the model for portraying that pseudo-soothsayer forever thereafter. Despite Rutherford's appearances in more than 40 films, it is as Madame Arcati and Miss Jane Marple that she will best be remembered. - IMDb Mini Biography By: Bill Takacs Spouse (1) Stringer Davis (26 March 1945 - 22 May 1972) ( her death) Trivia (19) Agatha Christie dedicated her 1963 novel, The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side, to Rutherford in admiration. She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1961 Queen's New Year Honours List and the DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1967 Queen's New Year Honours List for her services to drama. She started work on The Virgin and the Gypsy (1970), but illness caused her to be replaced by Fay Compton. Her husband, Stringer Davis, portrayed Mr. Stringer in her four Miss Marple films and appeared with her in other films as well. Her cousin is the well-known British politician Tony Benn. She was the daughter of William Benn and Florence Nicholson. In 1883, nine years before her birth, her father murdered her grandfather. Her mother committed suicide when she was three years old and she was brought up by her aunt, Bessie Nicholson, in Wimbledon. When her aunt died a small inheritance allowed her to join the Old Vic in repertory. She developed an interest in the theatre while at school. Her guardian aunt paid for her to have private acting lessons. In 1925 (age 33), she was accepted as a student at the Old Vic Theatre, where she appeared in several small Shakespearean roles in productions starring Edith Evans, including The Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure and The Taming of the Shrew. The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts named an award after her. She was interred at Saint James Churchyard in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England, with her husband, Stringer Davis. Her epitaph reads "A Blithe Spirit.". Was the 58th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The V.I.P.s (1963) at The 36th Annual Academy Awards (1964) on April 13, 1964. While filming "The Virgin and the Gypsy" in 1969 Rutherford, who was playing a deaf old grandmother, suffered frequent memory lapses causing filming delays. This resulted in her being replaced by Fay Compton. Unfortunately Rutherford never made another film. A memorial service was held for her at St Paul's, Covent Garden (commonly known as the Actors' Church), on 21 July 1972. Among those in attendance were John Gielgud, Flora Robson, Ralph Richardson, Joyce Grenfell and Sybil Thorndike. Robert Morley said in a 1967 TV interview, "Although the profession is crowded with very nice people, she's always too nice, too soft, too much the perfect auntie. She's frightfully funny. She's a marvelous woman... a good woman.". Song of Norway (1970) was the last project for which Margaret Rutherford was contracted, but because of her poor memory at the time, she was replaced before shooting began. She was offered the role of Miss La Creevy in The Great Inimitable Mr. Dickens (1970). Margaret also rehearsed the part in her home in the presence of Ned Sherrin and Anthony Hopkins. Having been unwell for quite a while, she didn't manage to remember her lines though and was therefore replaced. She collaborated with husband Stringer Davis on a total of 27 television and cinema productions. She appeared in two adaptations of the 1895 play "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde: she played Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest (1946) and Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest (1952). Decided not to have children, despite having strong maternal feelings and a great love for children, out of fear that her children would contract mental illnesses, as she and her parents did. (Margaret battled depression throughout her life; her father murdered her grandfather and her mother committed suicide.). Personal Quotes (5) I hope I'm an individual. I suppose an eccentric is a super individual. Perhaps an eccentric is just off centre - ex-centric. But that contradicts a belief of mine that we've got to be centrifugal. You never have a comedian who hasn't got a very deep strain of sadness within him or her. One thing is incidental on the other. Every great clown has been very near to tragedy. [on co-starring with Alastair Sim in The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950)] I found doing the film a bit tiresome. Film actors are, by nature, more complicated than stage actors. Mr Sim is a brilliant actor but most competitive. [on her initial aversion to doing a Miss Marple movie] Murder, you see, is not the sort of thing I can get close to. I don't like these things that are just for thrills. I would far rather go without work. I do not like murder. It has an atmosphere I have always found uncongenial. How I would love to have been a great traditional actress like Bernhardt, Duse, or Ellen Terry. There have been so many parts I yearned to play.

Adam Richard Rutherford was born on July 6th, 1983 in Ward, Texas, to Ivan Richard Rutherford and Louise Harrys Dott Marlow. NOTE: His obituary states that his parents were Louise and Dean Dishner. His mother must have re-married and Dean was his stepfather. Adam had two sisters, Reana Hensley and Stevie Dishner. Adam's obituary says that he died from a knife wound that he suffered in a confrontation. See Adam R Rutherford: Obituary. He had attended Rogers High School in Spokane, Washington, where he died at the age of 19. A contemporaneous news report says that "The stabbing death of Adam Richard Rutherford on Thursday, which occurred just a few blocks from the Maplehurst, was a case of self-defense, police concluded." - The Spokesman-Review, Tuesday, January 21, 2003 on page 7. A longer news report from the same newspaper on January 17th, 2003, more fully explains the confrontation that resulted in Adam's stabbing and death. The police were not expecting to press charges in the fight since they saw it as a case of self-defense. See Adam R Rutherford: Obituary.

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Christine (Rutherford) Hay.

Gideon Brown Rutherford was born to Gideon Rutherford and Margaret (Brown) Rutherford, and has siblings George Rutherford and George Brown Rutherford. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Gideon Brown Rutherford.

Connie Lea (Peeples) Rutherford was born on October 21 in Austin, Travis County, Texas United States. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Connie Lea (Peeples) Rutherford.

Christopher Dale Rutherford Sr. was born on October 21, 1973. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Christopher Dale Rutherford Sr.

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Margaret (Brown) Rutherford.

Gideon Rutherford was born on September 8, 1772, and died at age 97 years old in 1869. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Gideon Rutherford.

Mary Emily (Duncan) Rutherford was born on February 2, 1910 in Bonnybridge, Scotland United Kingdom to Isabella (Fletcher) Duncan and Andrew Duncan, and had siblings Ellen Mitchell Duncan and William Duncan. She was in a relationship with David Rutherford, and had children Helen MD (Rutherford) Crerar, Isabella Fletcher Rutherford, Ian Kenneth Rutherford, Morag Duncan (Rutherford) McCusker, Andrew Duncan Rutherford, Isabella Davina Rutherford, David Rutherford, Jeanie Munro Robertson (Rutherford) Barr, Anne Munro Rutherford, and Irene Mary (Rutherford) Robertson. Mary Rutherford died at age 49 years old on March 1, 1959 at Southern General Hospital 133 Govan Road, in Glasgow. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Mary Emily (Duncan) Rutherford.

Emma (Hair) Keneipp Rutherford was married twice and had five children, eight grandchildren, and fourteen great-grandchildren. She was born in Illinois and died in Lancaster, Ohio at the age of 92. She is buried in Forest Rose Cemetery in Lancaster, Ohio. See Emma Rutherford : Obituary.

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Lee Rutherford.

Ian Kenneth Rutherford was born on February 2, 1934 at 34 Earlston Avenue 34 Earlston Avenue, in Glasgow, Scotland United Kingdom, and died at age 85 years old on June 26, 2019. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Ian Kenneth Rutherford.

Helen Md (Rutherford) Crerar was born in December 1932 at Stobhill Hospital Springburn,, in Glasgow, Scotland United Kingdom, and died at Glasgow Royal Infirmary in Glasgow. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Helen MD (Rutherford) Crerar.

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Irene Mary (Rutherford) Robertson.

Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Christina (Rutherford) Hay.

Eliza (Rutherford) Murray of Kew Australia. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Eliza Rutherford Murray.

Michele Fratrik Rutherford was born on February 10, 1970 at Philadelphia,Pa. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Michele Fratrik Rutherford.

Ivan "Jerry" Richard Rutherford, was a Police officer for many years, finally in the Conroe Independent School District, TX, USA.

Harold Joseph Memory Rutherford was born in 1912 to Alice (Firth) Rutherford and Robert Edward Rutherford. He married Edna (Menadue) Rutherford, and they were married until death separated them. Harold Rutherford died at age 81 years old in 1993. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Harold Joseph Memory Rutherford .

Edna (Menadue) Rutherford was born in 1910 to Edwin Menadue and Sarah May Menadue. She married Harold Joseph Memory Rutherford, and they were married until death separated them. Edna Rutherford died at age 80 years old in 1990. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Edna (Menadue) Rutherford .