Edith Cavell in Dawn (1928) and the Mother in To What Red Hell (1929).
1930s
Thorndike's roles of the early 1930s included the title part in Racine's Phèdre, Mrs Alving in Ibsen's Ghosts, and Emilia in a celebrated production of Othello at the Savoy Theatre with Paul Robeson and Peggy Ashcroft as Othello and Desdemona. In 1931 she was appointed DBE, the fourth actress to be made a Dame.