[1] Ffrangcon-Davies made her stage debut in 1911, as a singer as well as an actress, and received encouragement in her career from Ellen Terry.

She won the Evening Standard Award in 1958 for her performance as Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night.

[4] Ffrangcon-Davies retired from the stage in 1970, but continued to appear on radio and television; in one such appearance, broadcast on Christmas Day, 1990, a month before her 99th birthday, she featured in the BBC radio show, With Great Pleasure, in which stars chose favourite readings, spoken by others, and by themselves.

[5] She made her final acting appearance was as the Dowager in The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes feature length episode The Master Blackmailer at the age of 100.

[7][8] Ffrangcon-Davies was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1991,[9] aged 100, and was the oldest-ever appointee to that honour until fellow actress Olivia de Havilland received her damehood in 2017.