She was married twice. First to actor Dan Cunningham in 1939 and secondly to actor Peter Ashmore in 1946. Both marriages ended in divorce. She had two children, the Physicist Jonathan Ashmore and Catherine Ashmore, the theatrical Photographer.

Her screen debut was as a Violinist who is murdered in Take My Life (1947). 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.

Crutchley also appeared in 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). She had two guest roles in Casualty, in 1992 and 1995. She also had a short, but memorable, appearance in Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994).

She played Catherine Parr in the 1970 TV series, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, and played the same character in its sequel, Elizabeth R (1971). She had previously portrayed Henry's first wife Catherine of Aragon in the 1953 film The Sword and the Rose.

She appeared in only one film musical, Man of La Mancha (1972), based on the successful stage production, as Don Quixote's housekeeper. In the role, her less-than-good singing voice was used for intentionally comic effect in the song "I'm Only Thinking of Him".

Other roles included Mrs Sparsit in Hard Times (ITV, 1977), and Electra (1974). She also starred in Testament of Youth, the 1979 BBC TV production, playing the role of the Principal of Somervile College, Oxford. She was in the films Quo Vadis (1951) as Acte, Nero's confidante, and The Haunting (1963) as the sinister housekeeper Mrs. Dudley.

Her last appearance was in an episode of the TV detective series, Midsomer Murders, in the episode, The Killings at Badger's Drift, playing Lucy Bellringer. This was shown in 1997, shortly before she died.