Moira Lister Gachassin-Lafite, Viscountess of

Orthez Orthez (; ; , ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, and region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It lies 40 km NW of Pau on the Southern railway to Bayonne. The town also encompasses the small village of Sai ...

(6 August 192327 October 2007) was a South African-British film, stage and television actress and writer.

Early life

Born in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

to Major James Lister and Margaret (née Hogan), Lister was educated at the Parktown Convent of the Holy Family,

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. She was a theatre student of Anna Romain Hoffman, who with her husband Arthur Hoffman founded The Johannesburg Repertory Theatre.

Career

Lister began her acting career on stage in South Africa and then went on to act in the London theatre at the age of 18. Lister began working in films in 1943, and appeared in a number of films over several decades. The most notable of these being for

Ealing Studios Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in west London, England. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on th ...

, such as '' Another Shore'' (1948), ' (1949), ''

Pool of London The Pool of London is a stretch of the River Thames from London Bridge to below Limehouse. Part of the Tideway of the Thames, the Pool was navigable by tall-masted vessels bringing coastal and later overseas goods—the wharves there were t ...

'' (1951) and '' The Cruel Sea'' (1953). She starred in

Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, director and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits for much of his career. Ustinov received #Awa ...

's long-running 1951 play '' The Love of Four Colonels'' in the West End. She had a regular role in the first series of 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 ...

radio comedy ''

Hancock's Half Hour ''Hancock's Half Hour'' was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy series, broadcast from 1954 to 1961 and written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The radio series starred Tony Hancock, with Sidney James, Bill Kerr and,at various ...

'' in 1954–55, and was also one of the girlfriends in ''A Life of Bliss'' starring George Cole as David Bliss, a perpetual bachelor. She played Felicity Willow in BBC Radio's comedy ''Mr Willow's Wife''. She starred in the

television series ''The Whitehall Worrier'' and ''The Very Merry Widow'' from 1967 to 1968. (Later series of this programme were titled ''The Very Merry Widow — and How!'') Lister also appeared on various other British TV series such as ''

Danger Man ''Danger Man'' (retitled ''Secret Agent'' in the United States for the revived series, and ''Destination Danger'' and ''John Drake'' in other overseas markets) is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again ...

'' and '' The Avengers'' ("The See-Through Man", 1967). In 1980, she made a guest appearance as a film star in the sitcom '' Only When I Laugh''. She was the subject of '' This Is Your Life'' in 1971 when she was surprised by

Eamonn Andrews Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ ...

. Lister was still performing until three years before her death, touring with her one-woman show about

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

. She belonged to the British Catholic Stage Guild.

Personal life

In 1946, Lister went on a date in London with Neville Heath, who murdered two women in London only months later. Heath was convicted after a sensational trial, and he was hanged in October 1946. In 1951, Moira Lister married

Belgo Belgo was a chain of London restaurants specializing in simple Belgian cooking and Belgian beer. There were five Belgo restaurants: Belgo Centraal ( Covent Garden), Belgo Holborn, Belgo Kings Cross, Belgo Nottingham and Belgo Bromley; followin ...

-French aristocrat Jacques Gachassin-Lafite, Viscount of

, son of André Gachassin-Lafite, Viscount of Orthez and of Louise van Dievoet. Jacques was a French

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

of the

Spahi Spahis () were light cavalry, light-cavalry regiments of the French army recruited primarily from the Arab and Berber populations of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The modern French Army retains one regiment of Spahis as an armoured unit, w ...

s, owner of a champagne vineyard and hero of the

Rif War The Rif War (, , ) was an armed conflict fought from 1921 to 1926 between Spain (joined by France in 1924) and the Berber tribes of the mountainous Rif region of northern Morocco. Led by Abd el-Krim, the Riffians at first inflicted several ...

; they had two daughters, Chantal and Christobel. Lister also had two granddaughters, Christina d'Orthez and Marina d'Orthez. Moira Lister died at the age of 84 in 2007. Both she and her husband are interred in the churchyard of St Edward's Catholic Church in Sutton Green, Surrey.

Honours

* Naledi Theatre Award, a lifetime achievement award for her services to the theatre in South Africa. * Best Actress of the Year (1971) * Freedom of the City of London (2000)

Filmography

Film

Television

Publications

* ''The Very Merry Moira'' (1971)

Bibliography

* « Lister, Moira », in : ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005–2008'', Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 696–69

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lister, Moira 1923 births 2007 deaths South African people of British descent British film actresses British radio actresses English Roman Catholics British television actresses French vicomtesses Deaths from cancer in South Africa Actresses from London Actresses from Cape Town South African emigrants to the United Kingdom South African Roman Catholics 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses