Crutchley was born in London on 4 January 1920. She trained at the Royal Academy of Music. She played
Madame Defarge twice in adaptations of
A Tale of Two Cities, in both the
1958 film and in the
1965 television serialisation of the same story. Other roles included Mrs Sparsit in
Hard Times (ITV, 1977) and
Electra (1974). She also starred in the 1979 BBC TV production of
Testament of Youth, playing the role of the Principal of Somerville College, Oxford. She was in the films
Quo Vadis (1951), as
Acte, the former mistress of the Emperor
Nero (
Peter Ustinov) and
The Haunting (1963), as the sinister housekeeper Mrs Dudley. Crutchley also appeared in film adaptations of two
A.J. Cronin novels,
The Spanish Gardener (1956) and
Beyond This Place (1959) and played the flinty maiden aunt in the TV adaptation of
Brendon Chase (1980–81). In the role, her less-than-good singing voice was used for intentionally comic effect in the song "I'm Only Thinking of Him". Her final acting role was in the pilot episode of the TV detective series,
Midsomer Murders, playing Lucy Bellringer. == Personal life ==