Nova Pilbeam Biography

15-year-old Nova Pilbeam was already a seasoned stage veteran when she made her screen debut as the youthful kidnap victim in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934). She went on to deliver a superb performance as the ill-fated Lady Jane Grey in Nine Days a Queen (1934). Her first significant adult role was in Young and Innocent (1937), again for Hitchcock. Nova Pilbeam retired in 1939 upon marrying director Pen Tennyson, returning to the screen after Tennyson's death in WWII. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi