Jessie Matthews, OBE (March 11, 1907 - August 19, 1981) was a popular British actress, dancer, and singer of the 1930s, whose career continued into the post-war period. March 11 is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (71st in Leap year). ... 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... August 19 is the 231st day of the year (232nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... A contemporary dancer rehearsing in a dance studio Dance generally refers to human movement either used as a form of expression or presented in a social, spiritual or performance setting. ... Ercole de Roberti: Concert, c. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

She was born in relative poverty the East End of London, one of 16 children of a fruit and vegetable seller, and first appeared on the stage in 1912; she made her film debut in 1923 in the silent film "The Beloved Vagabond." The term East End is most commonly used to refer to the East End of London. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ... 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...

In 1925, she married actor Henry Lytton, Jr., the first of her three husbands (the second and longest marriage being to actor-director Sonnie Hale; the third to military officer, Lt. Brian Lewis). All of her marriages ended in divorce and all were marred by affairs, miscarriages and stillbirths. She and Hale had one adopted daughter, Catherine Hale, who married to become the Countess Grixoni. Matthews had many failed relationships, including a romance with Prince George, Duke of Kent, and some of her much publicized temperamental behavior and emotional tempestuousness can be traced to the secret but lifelong psychological trauma that resulted from having being raped and impregnated at the age of 16 by a friend of the then Prince of Wales. 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Sonnie Hale (1902-1959) was an English actor and director both in theatre and cinema. ... His Royal Highness The Prince George, Duke of Kent (George Edward Alexander Edmund von Wettin, later Windsor) (20 December 1902 - 25 August 1942) was the fourth son of King George V of the United Kingdom and Queen Mary. ... The Prince of Wales Feathers. This Heraldic badge of the Heir Apparent is derived from the ostrich feathers borne by Edward, the Black Prince. ...

She was acclaimed as the first performer of numerous popular songs of the 1920s and 1930s, including "Room With a View" by Noël Coward and "Let's Do It (Let's Fall In Love)" by Cole Porter. After a string of hit films in the mid-1930s, Matthews developed a following in the USA, where she was dubbed "The Dancing Divinity". Her British studio was reluctant to let go of its biggest name, which resulted in offers for her to work in Hollywood being repeatedly, and on her part reluctantly, rejected. Noël Coward Sir Noel Peirce Coward (spelling his forename Noël with the diaeresis was an affectation of later life, and Peirce is the correct spelling) (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. ...

Matthews' initial fame reached its height with her lead role the 1932 stage production of Ever Green, a musical by Rodgers and Hart, at its time the most expensive musical ever mounted on a London stage. In the 1934 cinematic version (retitled "Evergreen"), the newly composed song Over My Shoulder became Jessie's personal 'theme song', later giving its title to her autobiography and to a 21st century musical stage show of her life story. An autographed photo of Richard Rodgers Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was one of the great composers of musical theater, best known for his song writing partnerships with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. He wrote more than 900 published songs, and forty Broadway musicals. ... Lorenz (Larry) Hart (May 2, 1895 - November 22, 1943) was the lyricist half of the famed Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. ...

Her distinctive warbling voice and round cheeks made her a familiar and much-loved personality to British theatre and film audiences at the beginning of World War II, but her popularity waned in the 1940s after a string of only moderately successful films (now being directed by soon to be ex-husband Hale) and as fashions changed her accent was often parodied for being affectedly posh. This article is becoming very long. ... The origin of the word posh is obscure and unclear. ...

After a few false starts as a straight actress she played Tom Thumb's mother in the 1958 children's film, and during the 1960s found new fame when she took over the leading role in the BBC's long-running radio serial, Mrs Dale's Diary (aka The Dales). Tom Thumb hitches a ride on a butterfly Tom Thumb is the name of a traditional hero in English folklore who was no bigger than his fathers thumb. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, invariably known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest public broadcasting corporation in the world. ... Mrs Dales Diary was the first significant BBC radio serial drama, first broadcast on the Home Service on 5 January 1948. ...

Theatre and Variety Shows remained the mainstay of Matthews' work through the 1950s and 1960s, with successful tours of Australia and South Africa interspersed with periods of less glamourous but welcome work in provincial theatre and pantomimes. In 1964 she played the lead role in the original run of the groudbreaking play The Killing of Sister George. Serge Sudeikins poster for the Bat Theatre (1922). ... A variety show is a show with a variety of acts, often including music and comedy skits, especially on television. ... Pantomime may refer to two different types of performing arts. ... The Killing of Sister George is a 1964 play by Frank Marcus. ...

She was awarded a well-deserved OBE in 1970 and continued to make cabaret and occasional film and television appearances through the decade including one-off guest roles in the popular British TV series Angels (TV series) and a [1] highly regarded episode] of the ITV mystery anthology Tales of the Unexpected. British television broadcasting has a range of different broadcasters, broadcasting multiple channels over a variety of distribution media. ... Angels on the cover of Radio Times magazine. ... ITV (Independent Television) is the name given to the original network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide competition to the BBC. In England, Wales and southern Scotland, the channel has been rebranded to ITV1 by ITV plc, the owners of the... Tales Of The Unexpected is a British television series that originally aired between 1979 and 1988, made by Anglia Television for ITV. The series was an anthology of various different tales, initially based on short stories by author Roald Dahl that were sometimes sinister, sometimes wryly humourous and usually had...

Matthews was the focus of a British episode of This Is Your Life in the 1950s, and a posthumous biography from the BBC's Timewatch series in the mid 1980s. This Is Your Life was a television show hosted by Ralph Edwards, first broadcast in the United States from 1952 to 1961 on NBC. It originated as a radio show airing from 1948 to 1952. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation, invariably known as the BBC (and also informally known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest public broadcasting corporation in the world. ... Timewatch is a long running television series produced by the BBC. It presents a broad range of historical investigations focusing forgotten events or forgotten aspects of major events. ...

She had suffered from ill-health throughout her life and eventually died of cancer at the age of 74 in Britain, but not before, in the final year of her life, staging an acclaimed series of cabaret shows in New York which won her a coveted New York Theatre Critics award. Cancer is a class of diseases or disorders characterized by uncontrolled division of cells and the ability of these cells to invade other tissues, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue through invasion or by implantation into distant sites by metastasis. ...

Filmography

• The Beloved Vagabond (1923)
• Straws in the Wind (1924)
• Out of the Blue (1931)
• The Midshipmaid (1932)
• There Goes the Bride (1932)
• Friday the 13th (1933)
• The Good Companions (1933)
• The Man from Totonto (1933)
• Strauss's Great Waltz (aka Waltzes from Vienna) (1933)
• Friday the 13th (1934)
• Evergreen (1934)
• First a Girl (1935)
• It's Love Again (1936)
• Gangway (1937)
• Head Over Heels in Love/Head Over Heels (1937)
• Climbing High (1938)
• Sailing Along' (1938)
• Forever and a Day (1943)
• Candles At Nine (1944)
• tom thumb (1958)
• The Hound of the Baskervilles (1977)

Bibliography

Over My Shoulder, by Jessie Matthews and Muriel Burgess Publisher: WH Allen (16 Sep 1974) ISBN 0-491-01572-0

Jessie Matthews - A Biography, by Micheal Thornton Publisher: Hart-Davis (7 Oct 1974) ISBN 0-246-10801-0

External links

• Jessie Matthews at the Internet Movie Database
• Her entry in the Radio Hall of Fame