Peggy Ashcroft bagged an Oscar for her role in “A Passage to India”

Udhagamandalam: Cinema and Ooty go a long way. Be it Kollywood, Bollywood, Tollywood or Mollywood, their romance with this scenic hill station has been long and enduring. However, not many are aware that even Hollywood had found this quaint legacy of the Raj suitable to shoot a part of one of the masterpieces of the legendary filmmaker David Lean.

The film, “A Passage to India” based on a novel by English author E M Forster, featured a number of scenes shot in the hill town about 32 years ago, especially on the fabled Nilgiri Mountain Railway (NMR), was recalled by some film buffs on Wednesday.

What had kindled their memory was the birth centenary of one of the greatest actresses who had figured prominently in the film, the late Dame Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft, aka Peggy Ashcroft, which falls on December 22.

The acclaimed British actress had won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her stellar performance as Mrs. Moore in “A Passage to India.”

In the movie based on India under the British rule, the NMR figured as the “Marabar Express”.

Peggy Ashcroft was 77 when she was chosen for the Academy award. She died at the age of 83.