Frieda Inescort (June 29, 1901 – February 26, 1976) was a Scottish-born actress who, after a distinguished career as a leading lady on the Broadway stage, became one of Hollywood’s most reliable and sophisticated character actresses.
Inescort was a major star on Broadway throughout the 1920s and 30s, creating the role of Sorel Bliss in Noël Coward’s classic play Hay Fever and appearing in dozens of other hit productions. She brought this theatrical polish and aristocratic grace to Hollywood, where she specialized in playing cool, intelligent, and often aloof society women.
She is best remembered for her definitive and deliciously conniving performance as Caroline Bingley in the classic 1940 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, where she memorably condescends to Greer Garson’s Elizabeth Bennet. Her other notable film roles include playing a loyal lady-in-waiting in Mary of Scotland (1936), the wife of a murder victim in the Bette Davis classic The Letter (1940), and the society mother in the Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift drama A Place in the Sun (1951).
