Danvers is the head housekeeper at Manderley, the stately manor belonging to the wealthy Maximillian "Maxim" de Winter, where he once lived with his first wife, Rebecca, whom she had adored obsessively.

In the 1940 film version, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, the character was played by Judith Anderson, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

As he and Mrs. de Winter approach they see a glow on the horizon and ashes on the wind indicating the house is burning, the fire implied to be set by Mrs. Danvers.

Her fate remains unknown; early in the novel, the narrator, looking back on the events of the story, writes, "Mrs. Danvers.

In the 1996 documentary The Celluloid Closet, screenwriter Susie Bright suggests Mrs. Danvers may have harbored romantic and sexual feelings for the late Rebecca.

[1][2] The characters of Frau Blücher in Young Frankenstein[3] and Nurse Charlotte Diesel in High Anxiety,[citation needed] both played by Cloris Leachman and directed by Mel Brooks, are parodies of Mrs. Danvers.

In 1972, in the third episode of the sixth season of The Carol Burnett Show, Vicki Lawrence played Mrs. Dampers in the sketch "Rebecky", a take-off of the film.

Val McDermid's modern retelling of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey mentions Mrs Danvers.

Stephen King's book, Bag of Bones, alludes to the character Mrs. Danvers numerous times.