Helena Pickard

Helena Pickard (13 October 1900 – 27 September 1959) was an English stage, film and television actress.

Career

Pickard was a prominent character actress in West End plays such as When We Are Married and Flare Path and also appeared on Broadway. She made her screen debut in the 1924 silent film The Clicking of Cuthbert. She played the female lead in the 1931 comedy Splinters in the Navy but mostly appeared in supporting roles. While working in the United States she appeared in two Hollywood productions before returning to Britain. During her later career she appeared occasionally on television in series including The Four Just Men, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Vanity Fair, and in the BBC radio series Saturday Night Theatre.

Personal life

Pickard was the sister of Group Captain Percy Charles Pickard, RAF, who died during the Second World War while leading the air raid on Amiens Prison in Operation Jericho on 18 February 1944. She was married to the celebrated actor Cedric Hardwicke, with whom she had a son, Edward Hardwicke, who also became an actor. Later, after divorcing Hardwicke, she married the financier Herbert Rothbarth. She committed suicide in 1959 by overdosing on sleeping pills, with her remains handled at Golders Green Crematorium.