Agatha Christie dedicated her 1963 novel, The Mirror Crack'd From Side To Side, to Rutherford in admiration.
Her cousin is the well-known British politician Tony Benn.
Her husband, Stringer Davis, portrayed Mr. Stringer in her four Miss Marple films and appeared with her in other films as well.
In 1925 (age 33), she was accepted as a student at the Old Vic Theatre, where she appeared in several small Shakespearean roles in productions starring Edith Evans, including The Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure and The Taming of the Shrew.
She developed an interest in the theatre while at school. Her guardian aunt paid for her to have private acting lessons.
She started work on The Virgin and the Gypsy (1970), but illness caused her to be replaced by Fay Compton.
She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1961 Queen's Honours List and awarded a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1967 Queen's Honours List for her services to drama.
She was interred at Saint James Churchyard in Gerrards Cross, Buckinhamshire, England with her husband, Stringer Davis. Her epitaph reads "A Blithe Spirit.".
She was the daughter of William Benn and Florence Nicholson. Just before her birth, her father murdered her grandfather. Her mother died when she was three years old and she was brought up by her aunt, Bessie Nicholson, in Wimbledon. When her aunt died a small inheritance allowed her to join the Old Vic in repertory.
The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts named an award after her.