Vida Hope
Vida Hope (16 December 1910 – 23 December 1963) was a British stage and film actress,[1] who also directed stage productions.
Life and career[edit]
Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, to theatrical parents, she travelled widely as a child.[2] She was "forbidden to go on the stage", so at age 16, became a typist in an advertising office, going on to write copy.[2] At this time, however, she took every chance she got to take part in amateur dramatics, managing to get the lead roles in plays by Shaw, Ibsen, and Chekhov.[2]
Following the role of the Fairy Wish-Fulfilment in the pantomime The Babes in the Wood at the Unity Theatre, London, she was, in 1939, offered a role by Herbert Farjeon in The Little Revue and worked in his revues for over three years.[2] In 1940, she gave much support to and formed a strong friendship with Dirk Bogarde, in his first West End play, Diversions.[3] During the Second World War, she became a regular singer at the Players' Theatre, where her repertoire included "Casey Jones", "Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me a Bow-wow", "Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron", "The Lady Wasn't Going that Way" and "You May Pet Me as Much as You Please".[4]
She played a prominent role alongside Alec Guinness in the Academy Award-nominated film The Man in the White Suit as Bertha, in 1951.
Hope appeared in a range of roles in a production of Peer Gynt at the New Theatre in London (1944–45),[5] directed the 1953 London production of The Boy Friend (and is also credited as director on the 'original cast' recording of 1954 starring Julie Andrews)[6] and later directed Valmouth at the Lyric, Hammersmith (1958) and a revival of The Boy Friend at the Bristol Hippodrome (1958–59).[7]
She was married to the film editor and director Derek Twist, and appeared in several of his films. She died in a road accident, on 23 December 1963, in Chelmsford, Essex, aged 53.
Partial filmography[edit]
- The 39 Steps (1935) - Usherette[8]
- Champagne Charlie (1944) – Rosie[8]
- English Without Tears (1944)
- The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1946) – Fanny Squeers[8]
- Hue and Cry (1947) – Mrs. Kirby
- The Mark of Cain (1947) – Jennie
- They Made Me a Fugitive (1947) – Mrs Fenshaw[8]
- It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) – Mrs Wallis[8]
- Woman Hater (1948)
- For Them That Trespass (1949) – Olive Mockson[8]
- Paper Orchid (1949) – Jonquil Jones[8]
- The Interrupted Journey (1949) – Miss Marchmont[8]
- Double Confession (1950) – Madam Zilia
- The Woman in Question (1950) – Shirley Jones[8]
- The Man in the White Suit (1951) – Bertha[8]
- Cheer the Brave (1951)
- Green Grow the Rushes (1951) – Polly Bainbridge[8]
- Angels One Five (1952) – W.A.A.F.
- Emergency Call (1952) – Brenda[8]
- The Long Memory (1952) – Alice Gedge[8]
- Women of Twilight (1952) – Jess Smithson[8]
- The Broken Horseshoe (1953) – Jackie Leroy[8]
- Marilyn (1953) - Rosie[8]
- Fast and Loose (1954) – Gladys[8]
- Lease of Life (1954) - Mrs. Sproatley
- Charley Moon (1955) – staging of the musical numbers[8]
- Rx Murder (1958) - Louise
- In the Doghouse (1961) – Mrs Crabtree[8]
References[edit]
- ^ Profile, ftvdb.bfi.org.uk; accessed 4 April 2014.
- ^ a b c d Some of the Company – Vida Hope (autobiographical note). In : Late Joys at The Players' Theatre. T V Boardman & Co Ltd, London, New York, 1943., p83
- ^ Bogarde, Dirk. A Postillion Struck by Lightning. Triad/Panther Books, Frogmore, 1978, p268.
- ^ List of Songs. In: Late Joys at The Players' Theatre. T V Boardman & Co Ltd, London, New York, 1943, p113-115.
- ^ Ibsen, Henrik. Peer Gynt – English version by Norman Ginsbury. Hammond, Hammond & Co Ltd, London, 1946, p7 (cast list for 1944 New London Theatre production).
- ^ RCA Victor LP LOC 1018
- ^ List of appearances for Vida Hope at the Theatricalia site accessed 10 April 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s BFI page of films with Vida Hope accessed 10 April 2015.