Another day, another centenary...
Today, one hundred years ago, someone who was very dear to our hearts was born - Dame June Whitfield!
Probably the most "treasured" of "national treasures", in her long career she played ditzy "Eff"in The Glums, and the long-suffering eponymous wife in Terry and June, appeared in a long-running series of adverts for Birds Eye, played various supporting characters alongside comedy greats such as Jimmy Edwards, Tony Hancock, Roy Hudd, Arthur Askey, Frankie Howerd, Benny Hill and the Carry On team, and was even Miss Marple (on the radio).
She stuck her tongue firmly in her perfectly-crafted cheek for "cult" roles with Julian Clary, French & Saunders and in Dr Who, culminating in possibly her best-loved role as "Gran" in Ab Fab.
She sang with big and small bands, played deadly serious as well as light entertainment parts; the woman could do anything...
We had the privilege of sitting right in front of the great lady (and Prunella Scales and Timothy West, to boot!) at Wilton's Music Hall when Roy Hudd was appearing on stage delivering his History Of The Music Hall, and she was every bit the dear, sweet little old lady she appeared to be.
Speaking of "sweet":
All hail, Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11th November 1925 – 29th December 2018)!
Hello Jon,
ReplyDeleteWell, you have definitely surprised us with that first image of June Whitfield. We have never imagined her as this rather scary, blood-red, femme fatale. To us she has always been a carpet-slippered, somewhat dowdy, strangely hair-sprayed individual with a multitude of northern accents.
You have presented her in an entirely new light...perhaps you could turn this into a business? Can we be amongst the clients?
She was probably as surprised as anyone to be invited to do that fashion shoot (for the Daily Mail NOW magazine, of all things) - but it was around the time they were promoting the AbFab film, so it made sense I guess - more pics here at my other blog Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp... Jx
DeleteDarling Jon,
DeleteThank you for the extra pictures.
Gosh, she really was transformed.
And, by the Daily Mail....do you think The Guardian might arrange something similar?:):)
Not now she's dead, no.
DeleteJoking aside, The Guardian is hardly the home for lavish fashion shoots, to be honest. Jx
Oh, bloody buggery bollocks!* I thought Dame June was still alive :(
ReplyDelete* Sticking with the theme.
Now, that would have been a milestone and a half! She was a mere 93 when she departed for Fabulon... Jx
DeleteI remember her from AbFab! Being on this side of the pond, I had no idea of her other roles! Thank you for the enlightenment, sweetpea! xoxo
ReplyDeleteOh, gosh - I guess some people's careers are singular to their own country, if their main genre is TV or radio.
DeleteI had never heard of Betty White, for example, until we got The Golden Girls! And I don't think Carol Burnett ever graced our screens here either (her show certainly never "crossed the pond"). Jx
A national treasure, indeed. Her father thought she ought to do a typing/secretarial course "in case acting didn't work." But it DID work, didn't it!
ReplyDeleteShe graduated from theatre school during the War and got her first big break in Take It From Here on the radio in 1953 - and her last appearance on our screens was in AbFab: The Movie 63 years later in 2016 (and she was hardly off our screens or airwaves in-between), so I'd say she made a pretty good career out of it! Jx
DeleteI loved he as Gran in Ab Fab, and of course adored her as Nelly in Last of the Summer Wine for the brief 5 or 6 years (compared to the shows long run) she was on.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even "clock" that she was in Last of the Summer Wine, since I haven't watched the show since "Foggy" was in it. As I said in the post, however, "the woman could do anything" (even playing a nun in EastEnders!). Jx
DeleteI had forgotten about here on Eastenders.
DeleteCodfanglers.
Another show I stopped watching decades ago! Apparently that was her last telly role. Jx
DeleteAlways Fabulous! And she looked a bit like my mum.
ReplyDeleteI was watching Ab Fab last night as well!
Sx
She was a bit like everybody's mum, really. Jx
DeleteShe was such a gifted actress. And her role in AbFab was priceless.
ReplyDeleteAgree wholeheartedly! Jx
DeleteFabulous photo
ReplyDelete100 years wow
she was beyond Absolutely Fabulous
She was definitely more than the sum of her parts. Jx
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