She joined the Old Vic company during the First World War, and in the early 1920s George Bernard Shaw, impressed by seeing her in a tragedy, wrote Saint Joan with her in mind.

During the Second World War, Thorndike and her husband toured in Shakespeare productions, taking professional theatre to remote rural locations for the first time.

[1] In May 1899 Thorndike gave her first solo piano recital, but shortly afterwards she developed recurrent pianist's cramp, and although she performed in leading concert venues in London – the Bechstein, Steinway and St James's halls – by 1902 it was clear that a musical career would be impossible.

[4] She studied for the stage at the drama school run by Ben Greet, who engaged her for an American tour beginning in August 1904, in advance of which she made her professional début at Cambridge in June, as Palmis in W. S. Gilbert's The Palace of Truth.

[6] On her return to England, Thorndike was spotted by Bernard Shaw in a one-off Sunday night performance at the Scala Theatre in London; he invited her to join the company for a revival of his Candida to be given in Belfast by Annie Horniman's players.

The company was based at the Gaiety Theatre, Manchester, where she first appeared in September 1908 as Bessie Carter in Basil Dean's Marriages are Made in Heaven.

[9] According to her biographer Jonathan Croall she played "most of the main female characters" and – with a shortage of young actors during the war – she took six male roles including Prince Hal in Henry IV Part 1, the Fool in King Lear, Ferdinand in The Tempest and Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

[n 2] Her non-Shakespearean roles included Lady Teazle in The School for Scandal, Peg Woffington in Masks and Faces, Kate Hardcastle in She Stoops to Conquer, the Angel Gabriel in the mystery play The Star of Bethlehem, and Nancy in a stage version of Oliver Twist adapted by her brother Russell, who was the leading man of the company.

[9] After leaving the Old Vic company Thorndike was engaged by C. B. Cochran, and appeared at the Oxford Music Hall, London, in June 1918 as Françoise in a sketch, "The Kiddies in the Ruins", which was introduced into The Better 'Ole.

In various West End theatres during 1919 she appeared as Sygne de Coûfontaine in The Hostage, Naomi Melsham in The Chinese Puzzle, Clara Bortswick in The Great Day, Anne Wickham in Napoleon and in October she played Hecuba in The Trojan Women, adding to her growing reputation as Britain's leading tragedienne.

[6][12] Praising her as "a new leading lady" for the West End, The Times predicted, "Much as the Old Vic will regret it, it is hardly conceivable that Miss Thorndike will be allowed to cross over to the south side of the river again".

[5] The vogue for theatrical horror began to wane and Casson and Thorndike joined Bronson Albery and Lady Wyndham in the management of the New Theatre in 1922.

[35] Thorndike made three films during the decade, appearing as Madam Duval in A Gentleman of Paris (1931), Mrs Hawthorn in Hindle Wakes (1931) and Ellen in Tudor Rose (1936).

[37] When the Second World War began in September 1939, Thorndike, a convinced pacifist, protested against the conflict, but recognised that while it lasted the populace needed entertainment.

In 1940 she took part in a film of Shaw's Major Barbara as General Baines, after which she and Casson joined a touring Old Vic company taking Macbeth to even the remotest corners of Wales.

[33] When Ralph Richardson, Olivier and John Burrell were appointed to re-establish the Old Vic as a leading London company in 1944 they recruited Thorndike, who played Aase in Peer Gynt, Catherine Petkoff in Arms and the Man, Queen Margaret in Richard III, Marina in Uncle Vanya, Mistress Quickly in Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, Jocasta in Oedipus Rex and the Justice's Lady in The Critic.

The play, described by Croall as "a cosy middle-class drama [with] certain elements of Chekhov", received tepid reviews but proved popular with audiences and ran for 835 performances at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket between 1951 and 1953.

[46] In the West End in June 1956 Thorndike played Amy, Lady Monchensey in The Family Reunion, with Casson, Paul Scofield and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies.

[47] In New York the couple appeared in the world premiere of Graham Greene's The Potting Shed, which ran on Broadway for 143 performances in 1957,[48] after which they revisited Australia and New Zealand, touring in The Chalk Garden.

[49] During the 1950s Thorndike appeared in eleven films: Stage Fright (as Mrs Gill, 1950), Gone to Earth (Mrs Marston, 1951), The Lady with a Lamp (Miss Bosanquet, 1951), The Magic Box (the Aristocratic Client, 1951), Melba (Queen Victoria, 1953), The Weak and the Wicked (Mabel, 1953), The Prince and the Showgirl (The Queen Dowager, 1957), Alive and Kicking (Dora, 1958), Smiley Gets a Gun (Granny, 1958), Shake Hands with the Devil (Lady Fitzhugh, 1959) and Jet Storm (Emma Morgan, 1959).

[54] In 1961 Thorndike played the longest part of her career, the title role in Hugh Ross Williamson's Teresa of Avila, about the eponymous saint.

The Guardian said that at her age Thorndike "should have known better than be caught up in this piece of prolonged nonsense",[59] although The Times found consolation in her "blazingly theatrical figure" who "stamps every line with comic authority".

He included Uncle Vanya in his first season, with many of his Chichester cast reprising their roles, but Casson, by this time in his late eighties, declined, and Thorndike did likewise.

[61] At the Duchess Theatre in January 1964 she appeared as the Dowager Countess of Lister in William Douglas-Home's play The Reluctant Peer, a comic fictionalisation of the author's elder brother's recent renunciation of his peerage so as to be eligible for the premiership.

She thought the critics were wrong to dismiss the play – "they only want avant-garde and classics now" – and was sorry when her contractual commitments forced her to leave the cast six months into the eighteen-month run.

[62] After appearing in two successive box-office failures – Arthur Marshall's Season of Goodwill (1964) and William Corlett's Return Ticket (1965) – Thorndike rejoined Casson in what turned out to be their last West End production together, a revival of the classic black comedy Arsenic and Old Lace.

With Athene Seyler co-starring as her equally well-meaning and homicidally lunatic sister, Thorndike enjoyed herself, the critics were enthusiastic, and the play ran from February to November 1966.

[16] Her last public appearance was at the National Theatre's final night at the Old Vic in February 1976, where from a wheelchair she acknowledged the applause of her fellow members of the audience.

[72] Hallam Tennyson felt "she over-elocuted: she was the last trace of the Irving-Terry era in which the important thing was to speak beautifully and clearly and be heard throughout the auditorium".