KATIE JOHNSON

Katie Johnson (18 November 1878 in Clayton, Sussex, England - 4 May 1957, Elham, Kent), born Bessie Kate Johnson, was an English actress who appeared on stage from the 1890s and on screen from the 1930s to the 1950s. In 1908 she was married to the actor Frank Goodenough Bayley who predeceased her. She first appeared in a film at age 55, in 1932, but never received critical acclaim for her performances until 1955, when she starred, aged 77, in the Ealing Studios comedy The Ladykillers as Mrs. Louisa Wilberforce. The role earned her a British Film Academy award for best British actress. She died less than two years afterwards having only appeared in a single further film. She also appeared in the BBC science fiction serial The Quatermass Experiment (1953) and played a spy in I See a Dark Stranger (1946).