Rawlings (1906 – 1996) … made her stage debut on 21 March 1927 in George Bernard Shaw’s ‘The Doctor’s Dilemma’ at the Grand Theatre, Croydon. During the 1930s, her reputation as a leading tragedy actress gained ground as she starred as Bianca Capello in Clifford Bax’s play ‘The Venetian’ and Oscar Wilde’s ‘Salome’, and she continued to receive praise from critics for her vivid and emotional performances. Rawlings was particularly successful playing the spectacular dual role of Mary Charrington and her husband’s murdered Mistress, Lucy, in Gordon Sherry’s thriller ‘Black Limelight’, which had a long run at the St James Theatre in 1937 … Rawlings gained further recognition following her roles as Eliza Doolittle in Shaw’s ‘Pygmalian’; ‘A House in the Square’ by Diana Morgan, in which she starred with Lillian Braithwaite; and Vittoria Corombona in John Webster’s tale of corruption and deceit ‘The White Devil’.