Cicely Courtneidge

5/5

Biography

English actress and comedienne

  • Primary profession
  • Actress·soundtrack
  • Country
  • Australia
  • Nationality
  • Australian
  • Gender
  • Female
  • Birth date
  • 01 April 1893
  • Place of birth
  • Sydney
  • Death date
  • 1980-04-26
  • Death age
  • 87
  • Place of death
  • Putney
  • Spouses
  • Jack Hulbert

Music

Movies

TV

Books

Awards

Trivia

She was awarded the CBE in the 1951 Kings New Year Honours List and the DBE (Dame Commander of the the Order of the British Empire) in the 1972 Queens New Year Honours List for her services to drama.

Daughter of actor-manager Robert Courtneidge (????-6 April 1939)

She was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium in Golders Green, London, England.

With her husband Jack Hulbert formed one of the most successful and popular music comedy teams in 1930s Britain. The couple met in 1913 during a joint performance and married three years later. Over the next decade, they appeared in theatres and music halls nationwide, subsequently making the transition to films. After World War II, Cicely embarked on a solo career as a straight actress, often as aunts or grandmothers. One of her best performances was in the drama The L-Shaped Room .

Cicely Courtneidge was the subject of a comedy skit in Season 1, Episode 6 of "Monty Pythons Flying Circus" where a native American in full warrior garb ( Eric Idle ) attends the Dorking Civic Theatre to see her in a stage play. When it is announced Ms. Courtneidge will not appear that evening, a massacre takes place.

Comments