This caricature shows Flora Robson (1902-1984) as Lady Catherine Brooke in Autumn, by Margaret Kennedy and Gregory Ratoff, at the Oxford New Theatre in May 1938. It was drawn by Gilbert Sommerlad (1904-1976), a rehearsal pianist and orchestral violinist at the Brighton Theatre Royal from 1932 until 1936, and at the Oxford New Theatre from 1936 for over forty years. Sommerlad sketched the stars on stage when he wasn’t needed in the orchestra pit, compiling the sketches in a series of albums.

Flora Robson, born in County Durham, was a character actress who was created Dame of the British Empire in 1960. She began her career in the early 1920s in Ben Greet’s company and went on to appear in a wide variety of roles on the London stage, including Varya in The Cherry Orchard and Isabella in Measure For Measure at the Old Vic in 1933. She appeared in numerous films after 1939 when she first went to Hollywood, and in 1946 was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Saratoga Trunk. The touring production of Autumn had originally opened in London at the St Martin's Theatre in October 1937.