Betty Astell (23 May 1912 – 26 July 2005), born Betty Julia Hymans, was an English actress, best known for comedy and

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

productions on stage, screen, and radio with her husband,

Cyril Fletcher Cyril Fletcher (25 June 1913 – 2 January 2005) was an English comedian, broadcaster, pantomime impresario, actor, gardener and businessman. His catchphrase was 'Pin back your lugholes'. He was best known for his "Odd Odes", which later fo ...

. She was one of the first performers to appear on television, in experimental broadcasts by 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 ...

in 1932.

Early life

Betty Julia Hymans was born in

Brondesbury Brondesbury (), which includes Brondesbury Park, is an area of Kilburn in the London Boroughs of Brent and Camden, in north London, England. The area is traditionally part of the ancient parish and subsequent municipal borough of Willesden, o ...

Willesden Willesden () is an area of north-west London, situated 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933; it has formed ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, the daughter of Herbert Hyams and Estella Oppenheimer Hyams.

Career

Radio

Astell was a child performer, trained as a dancer. She sang on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

programmes in the 1920s, and met her husband while making recordings for radio in Bristol during

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 ...

. In 1956 and 1957, they played a married couple in a radio comedy, ''Mixed Doubles'', written by

Bob Monkhouse Robert Alan Monkhouse (1 June 1928 – 29 December 2003) was an English comedian, television presenter, writer and actor. He was the host of television game shows including '' The Golden Shot'', '' Celebrity Squares'', '' Family Fortunes'' and ' ...

and

Denis Goodwin Denis Ian Goodwin (19 July 1929 – 26 February 1975) was a radio and television comedy scriptwriter and actor, best known for his writing partnership with Bob Monkhouse, with whom he also compèred the ''Smash Hits'' programme on Radio L ...

Television

In 1931 and 1932, Astell sang and danced in

John Logie Baird John Logie Baird (; 13 August 188814 June 1946) was a Scottish inventor, electrical engineer, and innovator who demonstrated the world's first mechanical Mechanical television, television system on 26 January 1926. He went on to invent the fi ...

's experimental television programming, on the BBC's 30-line shows, making her one of the first people to perform on television. That same year, she played Alice in ''Dick Whittington'', the first televised pantomime. She starred with her husband on an early sketch show for television, ''Kaleidoscope'' (1949), and on his eponymous television series, ''The Cyril Fletcher Show'', on ITV beginning in 1959.

Stage and film

Astell's made her London stage debut in

John Galsworthy John Galsworthy (; 14 August 1867 – 31 January 1933) was an English novelist and playwright. He is best known for his trilogy of novels collectively called '' The Forsyte Saga'', and two later trilogies, ''A Modern Comedy'' and ''End of th ...

's ''Escape'' (1928). She performed in revues through the 1940s, including ''Magic Carpet'' (1943) and ''Keep Going'' (1944). Astell first appeared in film in 1932, in ''A Tight Corner'' with

Frank Pettingell Frank Edmund George Pettingell (1 January 1891 – 17 February 1966) was an English actor. Pettingell was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, and educated at Manchester University. During the First World War he served with the King's Liverpool R ...

. She stayed active in film through the 1930s, appearing in two dozen films. In 1942, the Fletchers were familiar enough to a wide audience to make a wartime

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news, news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a Movie theater, cinema, newsreels were a source of cu ...

clip together, honouring farmers. Her last film role came in 1948, when she returned to the screen in '' A Piece of Cake,'' co-starring with her husband. Astell also wrote and produced pantomimes at the

Ashcroft Theatre The Ashcroft Theatre is a theatre located within the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, South London. The theatre was named after Croydon-born Dame Peggy Ashcroft and is a proscenium theatre with a stepped auditorium. The mural on its fire curtain is by ...

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

, including ''Dick Whittington, Mother Goose, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella'', and ''Aladdin''.

Personal life

Astell was married to entertainer Cyril Fletcher for more than 60 years, from 18 May 1941 until his death on 1 January 2005. They had a daughter, actress/comedian Jill Fletcher, born in 1945. Astell died in a hospital near her home in

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

, aged 93 years, nearly seven months after the death of her husband.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Betty Astell
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

Betty Astell
at

British Comedy Guide British Comedy Guide or BCG (formerly the British Sitcom Guide or BSG) is a Great Britain, British website covering British comedy, British comedies. BCG publishes guides to TV and radio situation comedy, sketch shows, comedy dramas, satire, va ...

A 1971 portrait of Betty Astell
at

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*The Fairfield Collection at the

Museum of Croydon The Museum of Croydon is a museum located within the Croydon Clocktower arts facility in Central Croydon, England. It showcases historical and cultural artefacts relating to the London Borough of Croydon and its people. The museum is owned an ...

include
several flyers for pantomimes
starring Fletcher and Astell. {{DEFAULTSORT:Astell, Betty 1912 births 2005 deaths English film actresses English television actresses Actresses from London Actors from the London Borough of Brent 20th-century English actresses 20th-century English businesspeople People from Kilburn, London