Wendy Hiller was born on 15th August 1912 in Bramhall, nr Stockport, Cheshire, England. The daughter of Frank and Marie Hiller. She was educated at Winceby House School, Bexhill then moved on to Manchester repertory Theatre. She appeared on stage in Sir John Barry's tour of Evensong, then as Sally Hardcastle in Love on the Dole. She extensively toured, playing in London and New York. She took leading parts in Pygmalion and Saint Joan at the Malvern Festival in 1936.



She was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 1971 for her services to drama. She was awarded an honorary LLD by Manchester University in 1984. She was personally chosen by George Bernard Shaw to play the lead roles in 1930s productions of his plays Saint Joan and Pygmalion. She was reputedly his favorite actress of the time. In 1967, she accepted the Oscar for best actor in a leading role on behalf of Paul Scofield (her co-star in A Man for All Seasons (1966)), who wasn't present at the awards ceremony. She played Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion (1938) opposite Leslie Howard as Professor Henry Higgins. Rex Harrison, who also appeared in Major Barbara (1941) with Hiller, played Professor Henry Higgins in the Lerner and Loewe musical My Fair Lady on Broadway, followed by the West End London production (both opposite Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle) and in the My Fair Lady (1964) opposite Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle. He continued to appear in the role on and off in smaller productions for decades.