Barbara Bebe Lyon (September 9, 1931 – July 10, 1995) was a singer of popular music and an actress. Although she was born in the United States, her career was mostly based in the United Kingdom.

Life and career

She was born in the

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

district of Los Angeles. Her parents,

Ben Lyon Ben Lyon (February 6, 1901 – March 22, 1979) was an American film actor and a studio executive at 20th Century-Fox who later acted in British radio, films and TV. Early life and career Lyon was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Alvine W ...

and

Bebe Daniels Phyllis Virginia "Bebe" () Daniels (January 14, 1901 – March 16, 1971) was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer, and producer. She began her career in Hollywood during the silent film era as a child actress, became a star in musicals s ...

, were both Hollywood actors, beginning in

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

s with careers extending into the 1930s. In the early part of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Ben Lyon joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, and though the family returned later to the United States, they made Britain their adopted home. From 1950 to 1961 they had a radio programme on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, '' Life With The Lyons.'' Ben, Bebe, Barbara, and Barbara's brother Richard all played themselves on this show (perhaps inspired by the success in the US of ''

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' is an American television sitcom that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from October 3, 1952, to April 23, 1966, and starred the real-life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was b ...

,'' also featuring a real-life family), bringing the family before the British public. In the 1950s, both Barbara and Richard began their own independent careers; Richard recorded one single, but primarily found his career to be as an actor, both in the UK and the US. With Barbara, the situation was reversed: she did some acting, but found more popularity as a singer, with two hits in the UK Singles Chart. However, after those two hits she was unable to chart, and went into acting, both in the UK and U.S. Lyon sang in her own TV series, ''Dreamtime With Barbara'' (1956). She married Russell Turner, the show's producer, at St. James' Church in London the following year. The couple divorced, and she married accountant Colin Birkett in 1968. They had one son, and later divorced.

Death

Lyon died on July 10, 1995, of a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

at the age of 63.

Discography

*"Stowaway" (1955) - Columbia - UK #12 *"Letter to a Soldier" (1956) - Columbia - UK #27

References

External links

*
Biography/discography (only shows 45rpm singles)
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyon, Barbara 1931 births 1995 deaths American expatriates in the United Kingdom American people of Scottish descent American people of Colombian descent American people of Jewish descent Musicians from Hollywood, Los Angeles Traditional pop music singers American television actresses 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American singers Actresses from Los Angeles Singers from Los Angeles 20th-century American women singers