Actress Googie Withers dies, aged 94

British actress Googie Withers, a Hollywood golden-age staple, best known for her appearance in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes, has died at her home in Australia. She was 94.

Born Georgette Lizette Withers in what was then British India, she was given her lifetime nickname by her Indian nanny.

Her family moved back to Britain where she began acting at age 12.

She was a dancer in a West End production in London when she was offered work in 1935 as a film extra in The Girl in the Crowd.

Soon after starting work, director Michael Powell fired one of the female leads and she stepped into the role.

In the 1980s she also appeared on British television in Northanger Abbey, Hotel du Lac and Time After Time.

Withers was the first non-Australian to be awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1980 and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2002.

She appeared in dozens of films in the 1930s and 40s, but was probably best known for her role as Blanche in The Lady Vanishes playing opposite Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave.

Her last role was in the 1996 Australian movie Shine, for which Geoffrey Rush won an Oscar.

She is survived by her three children.