Thelma Ruby, also known as Thelma Ruby-Frye (born 23 March 1925), is a British actress. Born Thelma Wigoder, she grew up in an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses ...

family in

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

. Her mother, Ruby, was an actress; her father, Louis, from Lithuania, was a dentist.

Early life and education

Ruby was born at

Chapel Allerton Chapel Allerton is an inner suburb of north-east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, from the city centre. It sits within the Chapel Allerton ward of Leeds City Council and had a population of 18,206 and 23,536 at the 2001 and 2011 census respe ...

in Leeds. She was educated at

Leeds Girls' High School Leeds Girls' High School (LGHS) was an independent, selective, fee-paying school for girls aged 3–18 founded in 1876 in Headingley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It merged with Leeds Grammar School in 2005 to form The Grammar School at ...

and, after evacuation with her mother to the United States during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, at

Finch College Finch College was an undergraduate women's college in Manhattan, New York City. The Finch School opened as a private secondary school for girls in 1900 and became a liberal arts college in 1952. It closed in 1976. Founding Finch was founded ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

Career

Returning to Britain in 1944, Ruby joined the

Entertainments National Service Association The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Nav ...

and performed to British troops. In 1958 she acted in

Bernard Kops Bernard Kops (born 28 November 1926) is a British dramatist, memoirist, poet and novelist. Early life Born in the East End of London, the son of Dutch-Jewish immigrants, Kops was evacuated from London in 1939, and recounted that experience in e ...

' play, ''The Hamlet of Stepney Green'', at the

Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London.

in London, with

Harold Lang Harold Lang (December 21, 1920 – July 26, 1985) was an American dancer, singer and actor. Life and career Lang began his professional career as a ballet dancer, making his professional debut with the San Francisco Ballet in 1938 and then goi ...

, John Fraser,

John Barrard John Barrard (12 September 1924 – 13 October 2013) was a British character actor who had a career spanning five decades and who perhaps is best known for playing Dooley, Santa's No. 2, in '' Santa Claus: The Movie'' (1985). Barrard's te ...

and George Selway also in the cast. She also had a role in the British film ''

Live Now, Pay Later ''Live Now, Pay Later'' is a 1962 British black-and-white film starring Ian Hendry, June Ritchie and John Gregson. Hendry plays a smooth-talking, conniving door-to-door salesman. Plot Unsavoury door-to-door salesman Albert Argyle's (Ian Hendry) ...

'' in 1962. Her

West End theatre West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.Christopher Innes, "West End" in ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194– ...

roles included performing as Golde in ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 190 ...

'' alongside

Topol Topol may refer to: Missiles * RT-2PM Topol, a Russian intercontinental ballistic missile in service from 1985 * RT-2PM2 Topol-M, a Russian intercontinental ballistic missile in service from 1997 People * Topol (surname) * Chaim Topol, Israel ...

in 1984. In 1996 she appeared in ITV's ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based ...

'' as Lily Dempsey, a friend of

Phyllis Pearce ''Coronation Street'' is a British soap opera created by writer Tony Warren. It was first broadcast on ITV on 9 December 1960. The following is a list of characters that first appeared in 1982, by order of first appearance. Caroline Clegg Caro ...

. From 1980, she and her husband,

Peter Frye Peter Frye (1914-1991; born Peter Friedman) was a Canadian actor, screenwriter and film director. Frye, who was Jewish, was born on March 1, 1914, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Frye, who spoke fluent English, French, German, Hebrew and Spanish, ...

, adapted and performed in the play ''Momma Golda'' about the life of

Golda Meir Golda Meir, ; ar, جولدا مائير, Jūldā Māʾīr., group=nb (born Golda Mabovitch; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was an Israeli politician, teacher, and ''kibbutznikit'' who served as the fourth prime minister of Israel from 1969 to ...

, Israel's first and only woman

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

. In 2018, at the age of 93, she performed extracts from ''Momma Golda'' in a one-woman show at the ''

King's Head Theatre The King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by Dan Crawford, is an off-West End venue in London. It is the second oldest operating pub theatre in the UK. In 2021, Mark Ravenhill became Artistic Director and the theatre focusses on producing LGBT ...

'' in London. In 2017 she played Alice in the ITV sitcom '' Bad Move''.

Personal life

Ruby, who lives in

Wimbledon, London Wimbledon () is a district and town of Southwest London, England, southwest of the centre of London at Charing Cross; it is the main commercial centre of the London Borough of Merton. Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes ...

and is a member of

Wimbledon Synagogue The Wimbledon Synagogue (formally, Wimbledon and District Synagogue), a member of the Movement for Reform Judaism, is a synagogue in the London Borough of Wandsworth at Queensmere Road, Wimbledon Park, on the boundary with the London Borough o ...

, was married to Canadian-born actor Peter Frye from 1970 until his death in 1991. She has a step-daughter from Peter Frye's first marriage.

Publications

* Ruby-Frye, Thelma; Frye, Peter (1997) ''Double or Nothing: Two Lives in the Theatre. The Autobiography of Thelma Ruby and Peter Frye''. Janus Publishing Company, 336 pp.

References

External links

Official website

Thelma Ruby talking in December 2021 about her appearance in the TV series ''Dad's Army''
The Croft & Perry Podcast, 27 December 2021 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruby, Thelma 1925 births Living people 20th-century English actresses 20th-century English Jews 21st-century English actresses 21st-century English Jews Actresses from Leeds British Reform Jews English people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Entertainers from Yorkshire Finch College alumni Jewish English actresses Jewish entertainers People educated at Leeds Girls' High School People from Chapel Allerton People from Wimbledon, London