English comedian and actress (1918?2005)
Avril Angers
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Born
| Florence Avril Angers
(
1918-04-18
)
18 April 1918
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Died
| 9 November 2005
(2005-11-09)
(aged 87)
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Occupation(s)
| Actress, dancer
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Florence Avril Angers
(18 April 1918 – 9 November 2005) was an English
stand-up comedian
and actress.
[1]
In 2005
The Daily Telegraph
described her as "one of the most zestful, charming and reliable character comediennes in the postwar London theatre".
[2]
Life
[
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]
Angers was born in
Liverpool
,
Lancashire
in 1918. Her father, Harry Angers, was a
music hall
comedian who also appeared in films in the 1930s and 1940s. She was a dancer with the
Tiller Girls
before joining
ENSA
during the
Second World War
. She never married or had children. Angers lived in
Covent Garden
,
London
, where she died from pneumonia, aged 87.
[3]
Career
[
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]
She made her
West End theatre
debut at the
Palace Theatre
in a 1944 revue titled
Keep Going
.
[4]
One of the early stand-up comediennes, she was capable of playing a
straight man
role as a foil to established male comics such as
Frankie Howerd
and
Arthur Askey
.
Along with
Terry-Thomas
, she was one of the original cast of British television's first ever comedy series
How Do You View?
in 1949.
[1]
In 1961, she played
Norah Dawson
in
Coronation Street
, who was
Arnold Tanner
's new fiancee ('Madame Toffee Shop' as
Elsie Tanner
called her).
After five years' service with ENSA, she returned to civilian life and took on many and various roles in television (including
Dad's Army
,
All Creatures Great and Small
,
Are You Being Served?
and
Odd Man Out
), as well as in film and theatre.
[5]
[6]
These included playing
Miss Marple
in
Agatha Christie
's
Murder at the Vicarage
at the
Savoy Theatre
in 1976 in the
West End
.
[2]
[5]
One of her best remembered roles was that of
Hayley Mills
's shrewish mother in the film version of
Bill Naughton
's play
The Family Way
(1966).
[1]
A still from the film featuring Angers features as the cover of
The Smiths
' single "
I Started Something I Couldn't Finish
" (1987).
Vocal work
[
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]
In 1958, she,
Roger Livesey
,
Terry-Thomas
,
Rita Webb
,
Judith Furse
, and
Miles Malleson
, recorded 'Indian Summer of an Uncle', and 'Jeeves Takes Charge' for the
Caedmon Audio
record label, (Caedmon Audio TC-1137). It was released in stereo in 1964.
Partial filmography
[
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]