Phyllis Konstam

Phyllis Konstam, born Phyllis Esther Kohnstamm on 14 April 1907 in London, was an English actress who built a career across stage and screen on both sides of the Atlantic. The daughter of Alfred and Esther Kohnstamm of Middleheath, Hampstead, she came from a Jewish family whose prosperity derived from a leather business run by her father and his brother. She received her dramatic training in Paris, and her professional stage debut came in 1925 at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in The Jew of Malta. The following year she appeared in Escape by John Galsworthy in London's West End, a production that was later adapted into a film directed by Basil Dean in 1930.

Konstam's Broadway career spanned from 1929 to 1951 and included appearances in Jotham Valley and Murder on the Second Floor. The latter production, a stage adaptation of Frank Vosper's play, brought her to the United States, and it was during the voyage to America that she met tennis star Bunny Austin aboard a cruise liner. The two married in 1931 and became a prominent celebrity couple of their era. Austin was acquainted with figures including Charlie Chaplin, Daphne du Maurier, Queen Mary, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Konstam and Austin had two children together and later co-authored an autobiography titled A Mixed Double.

Her film career encompassed 12 productions between 1928 and 1964, among them four directed by Alfred Hitchcock. In her later years, Konstam joined her husband in supporting the Oxford Group, participating in films and theatrical productions connected to the cause around the world. She died in Somerset on 20 August 1976 from a heart attack at the age of 69.