She was as pretty as a Dresden shepherdess, and during the war came to represent the ideal of British womanhood: the sort of girl worth fighting for.
Felicia Herold was born in Hampstead into a wealthy family. After a finishing school in Paris she attended RADA. Her good looks soon got her noticed and, after a brief period on stage, she was taken up by Korda. It's possible she can be seen in The Divorce of Lady X, but her first proper role was as the pretty ingénue in The Rebel Son.
From then on there was a steady succession of nice young women to play. The big break came with Launder and Gilliat's Millions Like Us where she played an Everywoman figure whose romantic dreams of war service get shattered by the reality of factory work. This role took her to Gainsborough Studios just in time for the great melodrama cycle.
Her role in most of these is secondary to the lead actress whether Calvert or Lockwood. It's a measure of her unthreatening personality that the studio queens were happy to accept her - Calvert even plays her mother in Madonna of the Seven Moons. After a brief Hollywood loan-out, she got a lead of her own in The Brothers.
Her career cooled in the 50s. She moved to France with husband number two, cinematographer Andre Thomas, occasionally appearing in international productions. She returned to England after her husband's death in 1957, but retired to Switzerland on her third marriage in 1964.
| 1938 | The Divorce of Lady X |
| 1938 | Rebel Son |
| 1938 | The Gaunt Stranger |
| 1939 | The Mind of Mr. Reeder |
| 1939 | The Missing People |
| 1939 | A Window in London |
| 1940 | Dr. O'Dowd |
| 1940 | Pack Up Your Troubles |
| 1940 | Gentleman of Venture |
| 1940 | Three Silent Men |
| 1941 | The Farmer's Wife |
| 1941 | My Wife's Family |
| 1942 | Let the People Sing |
| 1942 | Suspected Person |
| 1942 | We'll Meet Again |
| 1943 | Millions Like Us |
| 1944 | Two Thousand Women |
| 1944 | Love Story |
| 1944 | Madonna of the Seven Moons |
| 1945 | Johnny Frenchman |
| 1945 | The Wicked Lady |
| 1946 | Canyon Passage (U.S.) |
| 1947 | The Brothers |
| 1947 | So Well Remembered |
| 1947 | Jassy |
| 1947 | Holiday Camp |
| 1948 | When the Bough Breaks |
| 1948 | One Night With You |
| 1949 | The Perfect Woman |
| 1949 | Retour a la Vie (Fr.) |
| 1950 | Fugitive From Montreal |
| 1950 | Man on the Eiffel Tower (US) |
| 1951 | Circle of Danger |
| 1952 | Captain Blackjack |
| 1952 | Something Money Can't Buy |
| 1953 | My Life is Yours |
| 1954 | Cartouche (It.) |
| 1955 | The Widow |
| 1957 | The Hypnotist |
| 1957 | The House in the Woods |
| 1959 | Bluebeard's Ten Honeymoons |
