... on April 5 at Hampton Wick. She appeared in many celebrated productions, including The Scarlet Pimpernel with Fred Terry's com pany and Sweet Nell of Old Drury Two of her greatest successes were as Jenny Diver in The Beggar's Opera and as Tessa in The Constant Nymph. After the war she concentrated on films and televi sion, appearing regularly in Dixon of Dock Green as the canteen lady. Her ...

... The sudden collapse and death of JOE DAVIS within a couple of hours of conducting a lighting rehearsal for42nd Street at Drury Lane last Thursday will shock but not surprise everyone wh knew him. If ever there was a theatre man who was certain to die in harness, it was Joe. For many years now he had suffered a heart condition which used to shoot him off to the emergency ward But each time, ...

... WITH the death of MATT MONRO at the age of 54 on February 7, Britain has lost its finest singer of popular songs, com parable to any of the grpat American stylists, not excluding Prank Sinatra. It was with Sinatra that Monro was often compared, especially after he did a startlingly good impression of the Amer ican singer, masquerading under the name Fred Flange, on the famous Peter Sellers ...

... writing music at 7, made his debut as piano soloist with the Berlin Phil at 13, wrote his first song-hit at 14, and won worldwide fame for the record-breaking musical My Fair Lady (originally titled My Fair Liza), that starred Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews at its Broadway opening on March 15, 1956. It ran for 2,717 performances there and for 2,281 at Orury Lane. Its success came just in time ...

... FOR ME. there was a question mark beside the name of ALAN BADEL who has died suddenly aged 58. He was an actor of singul ar distinction who never completely took the place in our theatre his gifts warranted. I do not know why, but I do know that he gave some of the most rewarding performances of our day, including a Hamlet o! remarkable insight, power, originality and panache. Alan Badel was ...

... Colin Blakely COUN BLAKELY, who died aged 56 on May 7, was a late entrant to the profes sion but made an immediate impact. Within months of making his first profes sional appearance with the Ulster Group Theatre in 1958, he was at the Royal Court, where he came to notice in a series of striking small parts. In the next year, 1960, he was at the Arts in Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the ...

... Brothers and Juamta variety act, one of the most graceful and thrilling of its kind ever produced They first arrived in England from the Continent in 1933 and in that same year were included in the Royal Command Performance, subsequently starring for many years in variety, revue and summer season, both in London and the provinces, and journeying through out the world, including the United ...

... The funeral took place on October 26 at Ringstead cemetery, Northants, of PE TER DUKER, who was well known as a jazz musician and who worked with Lonnie Donegan and Ken Colyer among many. He was born Peter Deuchar in the North East of England and was the grandson of the late James Deuchar of the Deuchar brewery empire. Apart from his great love for jazz, Duker was an expert racing cyclist and ...

... structured training, being an East End cabinet makers son who left school when he was 14. He acquired a taste for the theatre when he was encouraged to join a youth clubs drama section and made his first professional appearance at Unity at the age of 18 in Plant of the Sun just before World War II He had a major success in the title role of Ted Willis' Buster in 1943, and retained an interest ...

... at the Windmill and later led her to become a member of the close-harmony trio the Cavendish Three, she joined the BBC as an announcer in 1942 with the Forces Programme. At the conclusion of hositi- lites she switched to the Home Service and then to the Third Programme, where her love of music and gift for languages came into their own She was born in Java, her mother being Dutch, the family ...

... where he became a leading performer on television and radio, died on June 10. During World War II he achieved distinc tion as a Wellington bomber pilot with the Royal New Zealand Air Force. ...

... Brewster Mason JOAN HAYTHORNE, died on August 27 aged 72- Born Joan Haythornthwaite, she was educated at Lausanne Universi ty and made her professional debut on the Continent, coming back to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She was nearly 30 before she was seen in London, however, having in the in terim worked extensively in repertory in Manchester, Birmingham and Wol- ...