Isabella Charlotte Diana Decker (9 January 1925 – 4 January 2019) was an American-born British actress, singer, and television personality, who was popular from the 1940s to the early 1960s.
Early life
Decker was born to an American father and British mother in
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 ...
, California.
[ GlamourGirlsoftheSilverScreen.com]
Retrieved 17 March 2013 At the age of four, she moved to Britain with her mother.
[
]
Career
Her first film appearance was in 1943, in '' San Demetrio London'', and the following year she appeared in the musical comedy '' Fiddlers Three''. Further film roles followed, including parts in '' The Root of All Evil'' (1947), '' When You Come Home'' (1947), '' Murder at the Windmill'' (1949), '' Saturday Island'' (1949), A Man's Affair (1952), '' It Started in Paradise'' (1952), '' Will Any Gentleman...?'' (1953), and '' Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?'' (1953). She specialised in " dizzy blonde" roles in light comedy films and also played this stereotype in a small part in her most significant film appearance in '' The Barefoot Contessa'' (1954). In 1947, Decker was also one of the first performers to gain fame from a television advertising campaign, playing "Miriam" in a Pepsodent commercial.
In 1953, Decker appeared in the British television comedy series '' Before Your Very Eyes!'', starring Arthur Askey
Arthur Bowden Askey (6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was an English comedian and actor. Askey was known for his short stature (5' 2", 1.58 m) and distinctive horn-rimmed glasses, and his playful humour incorporating improvisation an ...
, and also chaired some editions of the television quiz ''Film Fanfare'' during the 1950s. She continued to act in films, including ''A Yank in Ermine
''A Yank in Ermine'' is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Gordon Parry (film director), Gordon Parry and starring Peter Thompson, Noelle Middleton, Harold Lloyd Jr. and Diana Decker, and featuring Jon Pertwee and Sid James. It was adapted b ...
'' (1955) and '' The Betrayal'' (1957), and featured in several episodes of the television drama series '' The Vise''.[
]
Decker's stage work included playing Billie Dawn in the Dublin ( Gaiety Theatre) production of '' Born Yesterday'' in 1949, and she performed onstage in 1951–52 in William Chappell's ''The Lyric Revue'' at the Globe Theatre
The Globe Theatre was a Theater (structure), theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 at Southwark, close to the south bank of the Thames, by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men. It was ...
in London. In 1957, when 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 ...
revived Ian Messiter's comedy panel game '' One Minute Please!'' (upon which ''Just A Minute
''Just a Minute'' is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game. For more than 50 years, with a few exceptions, it was hosted by Nicholas Parsons. Following Parsons' death in 2020, Sue Perkins became the permanent host, starting with the 87th ser ...
'' was based), Decker appeared as a regular panelist on the ladies' team, playing against Gerard Hoffnung, Eric Sykes
Eric Sykes (4 May 1923 – 4 July 2012) was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading com ...
and Messiter. It was hosted by broadcaster Michael Jackson, and lasted only one series. In 1959, she appeared in the musical ''The Quiz Kid'' at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith
Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
It ...
, London.
Decker had few credits in the 1960s, although she did play a supporting role in Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...
's 1962 film of ''Lolita
''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The protagonist and narrator is a French literature professor who moves to New England and writes under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert. He details his obsession ...
''. Her final film appearance was in 1965: an atypical role in the horror film ''Devils of Darkness
''Devils of Darkness'' is a 1965 British horror film directed by Lance Comfort and starring William Sylvester, Hubert Noël and Carole Gray. It was written by Lyn Fairhurst. It was the last feature film directed by Comfort.
Plot
Count Sini ...
''.
Decker also had a recording career. Her recording of " Poppa Piccolino", a version of the Italian song " Papaveri e papere" by Vittorio Mascheroni, with English words by Robert Musel, reached no.2 on the UK singles chart. However, a string of subsequent singles up to 1956 failed to chart. Decker's recordings were reissued in 2002 on the CD ''The Complete Diana Decker''.
Personal life
Decker married Australian actor and musician Eden Landeryou, aka Eddy Eden in 1948. In 1954 Eden was fined £3, with 10 guineas (£10 10s) costs, after hitting a man who criticised Decker's acting in the play ''Thirteen for Dinner'' and was alleged to have claimed, "she should have been strangled at birth".
In 2002, it was reported that Decker was living quietly in London. She died there in January 2019 at the age of 93.Oscars In Memoriam: Diana Decker
/ref>
Filmography
References
External links
Diana Decker chairing a 1950s edition of ''Film Fanfare''
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Decker, Diana
1925 births
2019 deaths
American emigrants to the United Kingdom
American people of British descent
English women singers
English film actresses