Allgood, Sarah (1883–1950)

Irish-born US actor. She appeared at the opening night of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in 1904 in Lady Gregory's Spreading the News, and played the Widow Quinn in J M Synge's The Playboy of the Western World. She was on stage with Annie Horniman's company in Manchester in 1908 and later toured Australia with Peg O'My Heart (1915). In 1914 Allgood became a member of the Liverpool Repertory Theatre, but occasionally returned to the Abbey to perform in successful plays such as Seán O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock and The Plough and the Stars. Her performance of Juno in the Hitchcock film of Casey's play in 1930 gives a glimpse of the dignity and realism she brought to the part.

Allgood was born in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. In 1940 she settled in Hollywood, USA, and became a US citizen in 1945. She appeared in over 30 films there, including haunting appearances in Jane Eyre (1943), The Lodger (1944), and Between Two Worlds (1944). She was seldom offered parts commensurate with her talent, however, and died penniless.

She made the film Just Peggy while on tour in Australia in 1918 and her first British feature was Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail (1929), Britain's first film with synchronous sound.