Avril Angers(1918-2005)
- Actress
Avril Angers was one of Britain's finest comedy actresses. Once dubbed
Britain's answer to Lucille Ball she was a great exponent of revue,
musicals, cabaret and TV and film comedy. Born in Liverpool, Angers'
long and successful career in show-business began in variety. Her
father was the comedian Harry Angers and her mother was Lillian Errol,
a member of the original Fol-de-Rols concert party. She was 14 when she
made her debut at a concert party in Brighton and the same age when she
played Cinderella with Wee Georgie Wood
and Clarkson Rose at Birmingham. She
followed in her mother's footsteps and became a Fol-de-Rol. During the
Second World War she was one of the hardest working members of ENSA,
touring the remotest parts of West Africa. She was awarded the Africa
Star for her work and during the forties and fifties was rarely off the
London stage or the cinema screen. As an actress she played a variety
of roles from Billie Fawn in Born Yesterday to Marigold in the classic
film Une bombe pas comme les autres (1956), opposite
Alistair Sim. Her success in acting led her
to becoming one of the first women to have a television series with a
proper storyline, Dear Dotty, in 1954. She also partnered TV comedians
such as Arthur Askey,
Dick Emery and a young
Bob Monkhouse. One of the first stand-up
comediennes she regularly appeared in cabaret. She won critical
appraise for her role as Liz Piper in
Roy Boulting's film
Chaque chose en son temps (1966) and was cast
opposite Richard Burton and
Rex Harrison in the off-beat gay
comedy L'Escalier (1969). In 1964 she
stole the notices in the hit London production of Little Me, in which
she appeared with Bruce Forsyth, and she
headlined in numerous West End comedies and thrillers. Her last public
appearance was in October 2005 when she was a guest of honour at the
Max Wall Society in London. Her close friend, the variety artiste and
strong woman Joan Rhodes, said: "Avril was
one of the funniest and most gifted people in show-business. She was
very unassuming and comediennes such as
Victoria Wood adored working with
her."
