Bea Lillie (May 29, 1894 – January 20, 1989) was a comic actress. She was born Beatrice Gladys Lillie in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Following her marriage in 1920 to Sir Robert Peel, she was known in private life as Lady Peel. May 29 is the 149th day of the year (150th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Official languages English Government - Lieutenant-Governor James K. Bartleman - Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament - House seats 106 - Senate seats 24 Confederation July 1, 1867 (1st) Area Ranked 4th...

Early career

She began performing in Toronto and other Ontario towns as part of a family trio with her mother and older sister, Muriel. Eventually, her mother took the two girls to London, England where she made her West End debut in 1914. London — containing the City of London — is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England and a major world city. With over seven million inhabitants (Londoners) in Greater London area, it is amongst the most densely populated areas in Western Europe. ... West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre in London, or sometimes more specifically for shows staged in the large theatres of Londons Theatreland. Along with New Yorks Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in...

She was noted primarily for her stage work in revues and light comedies, frequently paired with Gertrude Lawrence, Bert Lahr and Jack Haley. Beatrice Lillie, as she would be known professionally, took advantage of her gift for witty satire that made her a stage success for more than 50 years. Gertrude Lawrence (June 4, 1898 - September 6, 1952) was an actress and musical performer popular in the 1930s and 1940s, appearing on stage in London and on Broadway, and in several films. ... Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion. ... Jack Haley August 10, 1898-June 6, 1979, was an American film actor best known for his portrayal of The Tin Man (and farmworker Hickory) in The Wizard of Oz, which role he got only because actor Buddy Ebsen had a near-fatal reaction from ingesting the aluminum dust makeup...

In her revues, she utilized sketches, songs, and parody that in her 1924 New York debut won her lavish praise from the New York Times. In some of her best known "bits," she would solemnly parody the flowery performing style of earlier decades, mining such songs as There are Fairies at the Bottom of our Garden and Mother Told Me So for every double entendre, while other numbers (Get Yourself a Geisha and Snoops the Lawyer, for example) showcased her exquisite sense of the absurd. Her performing in such comedy routines as "Two Dozen Double Damask Dinner Napkins," (in which an increasingly flummoxed matron attempts to purchase said napkins) earned her the frequently used sobriquet of "Funniest Woman in the World". 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar). ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

Photo by Yousuf Karsh, 1948

In 1926 she returned to New York city to perform. While there, she starred in her first film, Exit Smiling, opposite fellow Canadian Jack Pickford, the scandal-scarred younger brother of Mary Pickford. From then until the approach of World War II, Lillie repeatedly crisscrossed the Atlantic to perform on both continents. (She made very few films; her 1944 film "On Approval", also starring Clive Brook, who wrote the adapted screenplay, produced and directed, is an excellent example of Miss Lillie in her prime. It's currently available on DVD.) Image File history File links Download high resolution version (480x612, 62 KB) Beatrice Lillie by Yousuf Karsh, March 18, 1948 Credit: Yousuf Karsh / Library and Archives Canada / PA-165928 Source: http://www. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (480x612, 62 KB) Beatrice Lillie by Yousuf Karsh, March 18, 1948 Credit: Yousuf Karsh / Library and Archives Canada / PA-165928 Source: http://www. ... Yousuf Karsh - Self portrait Yousuf Karsh, CC (December 23, 1908 – July 13, 2002) was a Canadian photographer of Armenian birth, and one of the most famous and accomplished portrait photographers of all time. ... John Charles Smith (August 18, 1896 - January 3, 1933) was a Canadian-born American actor. ... Mary Pickford (April 8, 1893 – May 29, 1979) was an Oscar-winning Canadian motion picture star and co-founder of United Artists in 1919. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Clive Brook (1 June 1887 - 17 November 1974) was a British actor. ...

Lillie is associated particularly with the works of Noel Coward, though Cole Porter is among those who also wrote songs for her. She made few appearances on film, appearing in a cameo role as a revivalist in Around the World in Eighty Days and as "Mrs. Meers" (a white slaver) in Thoroughly Modern Millie. She won a Tony Award in 1953 for her revue An Evening With Beatrice Lillie and made her final stage appearance in High Spirits, the musical version of Coward's Blithe Spirit. Noel Coward Sir Noel Peirce Coward (December 16, 1899 – March 26, 1973) was an English actor, playwright, and composer of popular music. ... Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter from Indiana. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Around the World in Eighty Days is a 1956 movie based on the novel of the same name by Jules Verne. ... This article is about the 1967 film. ... What is popularly called the Tony Award (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theater, including musical theater, primarily honoring productions on Broadway in New York. ... High Spirits is a Broadway musical with book, music, and lyrics by Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray, based on the play Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward. ... Blithe Spirit (1941) is a comic play written by Noel Coward. ...

After seeing An Evening with Beatrice Lillie, British critic Ronald Barker wrote, "Other generations may have their Mistinguett and their Marie Lloyd. We have our Beatrice Lillie and seldom have we seen such a display of perfect talent." In 1954 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre. Mistinguett (April 5, 1875 - January 5, 1956 from Enghien-les-Bains, Val-dOise, ÃŽle-de-France, France) was a French actress and singer, with birth name of Jeanne Bourgeois. ... Matilda Alice Victoria Wood (February 12, 1870 - October 7, 1922), was a British music-hall singer . ... The Sarah Siddons Society is an American non-profit organization founded in 1952 by prominent Chicago theatre patrons with the goal of promoting excellence in the theatre. ... See also: Chicago theatre, the theatre movement in the city of Chicago The Chicago Theatre is a famous theater landmark in the city of Chicago, Illinois located at 175 North State Street. ...

An amusing, but perhaps apocryphal story has it that a somewhat intoxicated Beatrice Lillie, upon returning to her hotel one evening, regally instructed the desk clerk to hand her "Lady Keel's Pee."

Relationships and marriages

She married, on January 20, 1920, at the church of St. Paul, Drayton Bassett, Fazeley, near Tamworth in Staffordshire to Sir Robert Peel, 5th Baronet. She eventually separated from her husband (but never divorced him) until he died in 1934. Their only child, Sir Robert Peel, 6th Baronet, was killed in action aboard the HMS Tenedos in Colombo Harbour, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), in 1942. January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Fazeley is a small town on the outskirts of Tamworth, Staffordshire, although it is part of Lichfield District. ... Tamworth town centre Tamworth is a historic town and local government district in Staffordshire, UK, located 27 km (17 miles) northeast of Birmingham and 198 km (123 miles) northwest of London. ... Staffordshire (abbreviated Staffs) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. ... Year 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In 1948, she met the singer/actor, John Philip Huck, a gentleman roughly 28 years her junior who became her friend and companion. Huck has been accused by biographers and friends of Lillie's as a no-talent, obsessive control freak who used Lillie as his ticket as a brush with fame. Though apparently devoted to her, Huck isolated her from her friends and family in her later years and exerted almost total control over her life and financial affairs. Although it has been alleged that she was involved in a romantic relationship with actress Tallulah Bankhead [1], it was never confirmed. 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 - December 12, 1968) was an American actress, talk-show host and bon vivant. ...

Retirement

She retired from the stage due to Alzheimer's disease and died on January 20, 1989, which was also the date of her wedding anniversary, at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, at the age of 94. John Philip Huck died of a heart attack 31 hours later, and is interred next to her in a cemetery near Peel Fold in England. January 20 is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Henley-on-Thames from by the playground near the Rail Station River Thames, the five arched bridge and Leander Club (to the far left) Henley-on-Thames is a town on the north side of the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from... Oxfordshire (abbreviated Oxon, from the Latinised form Oxonia) is a county in the South East of England, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Unified  -  by Athelstan 967 AD  Area  -  Total 130,395 km²  50,346 sq mi  Population  -  2007 estimate...

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Beatrice Lillie has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6404 Hollywood Blvd. A band plays on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. ...

Tony Awards:

• 1953 : Special Award — An Evening With Beatrice Lillie (winner)
• 1958 : Best Leading Actress in a Musical — Ziegfeld Follies of 1957 (nominee)
• 1964 : Best Leading Actress in a Musical — High Spirits (nominee)

The Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical is awarded to the actress who was voted as the best actress in a musical, whether a new production or a revival. ... The Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical is awarded to the actress who was voted as the best actress in a musical, whether a new production or a revival. ... High Spirits is a Broadway musical with book, music, and lyrics by Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray, based on the play Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward. ...

External links

• Beatrice Lillie at the Internet Broadway Database
• Fan video for the song I Hate Spring

Internet Broadway Database The Internet Broadway Database (IBDb) is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. ...

References

• Lillie, Beatrice, with John Philip Huck and James Brough, Every Other Inch a Lady (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1972) A chatty but none-too-informative autobiography