Gretchen Franklin
Encyclopedia
Gretchen Franklin was an English
actress with a career in showbusiness that spanned over eighty years.
She was born in Covent Garden
, west London
, a cousin of the actor Clive Dunn
. She was best known for playing the character of Ethel Skinner
in the long running BBC One
, soap opera
, EastEnders
. She played the role on a regular basis from 1985 until 1988. After this she returned to the show intermittently. These appearances became more brief and widely spaced as time went on. Her final appearance was in 2000.
She entered show business as a teenager, making her début as a pantomime chorus girl in Bournemouth
. In 1929, she took dancing lessons at the Theatre Girls Club in Soho
in London's West End
and she later became a renowned tap dancer and founder member of a quartet known as Four Brilliant Blondes.
She toured in variety with the comedians Syd and Max Harrisonwith and on the Gracie Fields Show
, and performed with another dance group, The Three Girlies, before making a gradual switch to straight dramatic roles.
, the first of a series of highly successful West End revue
s. Staged at the New Ambassadors Theatre
, the revues starred Hermione Gingold
. Franklin and Gingold became firm friends and were reunited in another revue, Slings and Arrows
(Comedy Theatre, 1948).
She also appeared in several straight plays and made one of her early screen appearances in Before I Wake (1954) and later had minor roles in Operation Conspiracy (1957), Flame in the Streets (1961), Help!
(1965) and many others.
Franklin appeared in several productions for the BBC and on stage. One of Franklin's most notable stage roles was playing Mrs Roper in the 1958 play Verdict
by British
mystery writer Agatha Christie
. It was produced by Peter Saunders
and directed by Charles Hickman. It ran for 250 performances.
Franklin was acting on stage in the West End in Spring and Port Wine
in 1965 when she was cast as the first Mrs Alf Garnett in a pilot episode of Til Death Us Do Part
, with Warren Mitchell
. However, she missed the chance to become a permanent part in what was to become a successful series - because she couldn't obtain her release from her stage role (unable to take a regular role in the series, it was Gretchen who recommended her friend Dandy Nichols
for the part in the series). Both Gretchen Franklin and Dandy Nichols have a cameo part in the Beatles film 'Help'.
Later Franklin had regular roles in several television series, including Crossroads, in which she played Myrtle Cavendish; the short-lived soap Castle Haven; the British sitcom, George and Mildred
as Mildred's mother Mrs Tremble, and Rising Damp
as Rigsby's Aunt Maud. She was also a regular supporting figure on television dramas such as Dixon of Dock Green
and Z-Cars
. She had bit parts in series such as Danger Man
, Follyfoot
and Quatermass
(to which she returned for the 1979 finale Quatermass
) but was more often seen in comedy. Franklin also played the cranky, troubled sad mother Mrs Janes in the episode "Five on Billycock Hill" on the 1978 television show, Enid Blyton's Famous Five.
In 1990, Franklin played Daddy's Fiance on Keeping Up Appearances
.
EastEnders
creators Julia Smith
and Tony Holland
spent a long time trawling around pubs and street markets in the East End of London
, soaking up the atmosphere and making mental notes for when they were to actually create the characters for their show. Smith was very taken with an elderly lady, with ill-fitting false teeth and a face "...made up to rival a neon sign...". Clutching a Yorkshire Terrier
dog in one hand and a glass of Guinness
in the other, she was the life and soul of the party; Julia saw that there was much comic mileage to be gained from such a character, and thus Ethel Mae Skinner was born.
Ethel was a firm favourite from day one of the soap. She was a gossip who did not always get her facts right and this was often used to comic effect, as was her use of malapropisms. However, when Julia Smith announced that the character of Ethel was to go into an old people's home, Franklin, in her own words "resigned on the spot". "I didn't want Ethel becoming a sad old dear who the others visited occasionally." She did make return visits to the series, but her bitterness at being, in her words "superannuated" never really left her.
Franklin's character owned a dog, a pug
named Willy
(the writers had intended it to be a Yorkshire terrier but no suitable one could be found) and a lot of rather puerile humour was derived from his name, her famous lines being either: "Where's my Willy?" or, in a double entendre
"Has anyone seen my Willy?"
Franklin's character departed in 1997 when it was revealed that she had left Walford to live in a retirement village. She returned in July 2000, but was killed off from the show on 7 September 2000, at the age of 86 in a controversial euthanasia
storyline. Ethel had learned that she was terminally ill, and asked Dot Cotton (June Brown
) to assist her in taking her own life by an overdose of her morphine
tablets.
Franklin retired from acting on her departure from EastEnders.
Off screen Franklin devoted much of her time to charity and gave away all the royalties she received from EastEnders repeats to her favourite animal charities. “At my age one isn’t buying new fur coats and diamonds,” she said. “If you get that lot of repeat fees four times a year you can afford to be a bit more generous to other people.
In May 2005 it was confirmed that Gretchen would present the Lifetime Soap Achievement Award to former co-star June Brown at the British Soap Awards
but was too ill to attend. It was later given to her other co-star Anna Wing
who played Lou Beale
, who mentioned her in the speech.
Franklin died at her home in Barnes on 11 July 2005, four days after her 94th birthday. Her life and work was honoured at the British Academy Television Awards in 2006. In 2007 it was revealed that she had left a sum of £872,772 in her will. One third went to charity Help The Aged
, while the rest went to friends and relatives, one of whom is her cousin Clive Dunn
, who played Corporal Jones
in TV's Dad's Army
.
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
actress with a career in showbusiness that spanned over eighty years.
She was born in Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, west London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, a cousin of the actor Clive Dunn
Clive Dunn
Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn OBE is a retired English actor, comedian and author, best known for his role as Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army.-Early life:...
. She was best known for playing the character of Ethel Skinner
Ethel Skinner
Ethel May Skinner is a fictional character from the British soap opera EastEnders, played by the late Gretchen Franklin. Ethel Skinner also features in a 1988 EastEnders special, entitled Civvy Street, set on Albert Square during the Second World War, where the character is played by Alison...
in the long running BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
, soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
, EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
. She played the role on a regular basis from 1985 until 1988. After this she returned to the show intermittently. These appearances became more brief and widely spaced as time went on. Her final appearance was in 2000.
Early life
Franklin was born into a theatrical family. Her father had a song-and-dance act, while her grandfather was a well-known music hall entertainer at the turn of the century.She entered show business as a teenager, making her début as a pantomime chorus girl in Bournemouth
Bournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
. In 1929, she took dancing lessons at the Theatre Girls Club in Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
in London's West End
West End of London
The West End of London is an area of central London, containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment . Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross...
and she later became a renowned tap dancer and founder member of a quartet known as Four Brilliant Blondes.
She toured in variety with the comedians Syd and Max Harrisonwith and on the Gracie Fields Show
Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields, DBE , was an English-born, later Italian-based actress, singer and comedienne and star of both cinema and music hall.-Early life:...
, and performed with another dance group, The Three Girlies, before making a gradual switch to straight dramatic roles.
Acting career
Her big breakthrough came during the Second World War when she was cast in Sweet and LowSweet and Low (musical)
Sweet and Low is a musical revue produced by Billy Rose and starring James Barton, Fanny Brice, George Jessel, and Arthur Treacher. It features sketches by David Freedman and songs by various composers and lyricists....
, the first of a series of highly successful West End revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
s. Staged at the New Ambassadors Theatre
New Ambassadors Theatre
The Ambassadors Theatre , is a West End theatre located in West Street, near Cambridge Circus on the Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster...
, the revues starred Hermione Gingold
Hermione Gingold
Hermione Gingold was an English actress known for her sharp-tongued, eccentric persona, an image enhanced by her sharp nose and chin, as well as her deepening voice, a result of vocal nodes which her mother reportedly encouraged her not to remove. She starred on stage, on radio, in films, on...
. Franklin and Gingold became firm friends and were reunited in another revue, Slings and Arrows
Slings and Arrows
Slings and Arrows is a Canadian TV series set at the fictional New Burbage Festival, a Shakespearean festival similar to the real-world Stratford Festival...
(Comedy Theatre, 1948).
She also appeared in several straight plays and made one of her early screen appearances in Before I Wake (1954) and later had minor roles in Operation Conspiracy (1957), Flame in the Streets (1961), Help!
Help! (film)
Help! is a 1965 film directed by Richard Lester, starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—and featuring Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti, John Bluthal, Roy Kinnear and Patrick Cargill. Help! was the second feature film made by the Beatles and is a...
(1965) and many others.
Franklin appeared in several productions for the BBC and on stage. One of Franklin's most notable stage roles was playing Mrs Roper in the 1958 play Verdict
Verdict (play)
Verdict is a 1958 play by British mystery writer Agatha Christie. It is unusual for Agatha Christie plays in more than one way: for example, it is an original play, not based on a story or novel; and though there is a murder in the story, it is a melodrama more than a typical 'whodunnit' mystery as...
by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
mystery writer Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
. It was produced by Peter Saunders
Peter Saunders (theatre)
Sir Peter Saunders was an English theatre impresario, notable for his production of the long-running Agatha Christie murder mystery, The Mousetrap....
and directed by Charles Hickman. It ran for 250 performances.
Franklin was acting on stage in the West End in Spring and Port Wine
Spring and Port Wine
Spring and Port Wine is a stage play by Bill Naughton which was turned into a film .It began life under the title My Flesh, My Blood as a BBC Radio play, broadcast on 17 August 1957 in the Saturday Night Theatre strand...
in 1965 when she was cast as the first Mrs Alf Garnett in a pilot episode of Til Death Us Do Part
Til Death Us Do Part
Till Death Us Do Part is a British television sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1965 to 1968, 1970, and from 1972 to 1975. First airing as a Comedy Playhouse pilot, the show aired in seven series until 1975. Six years later, ITV continued the sitcom, calling it Till Death......
, with Warren Mitchell
Warren Mitchell
Warren Mitchell is an English actor who rose to initial prominence in the role of bigoted cockney Alf Garnett in the BBC television sitcom Till Death Us Do Part , and its sequels Till Death... and In Sickness and in Health , all of which were written by Johnny Speight...
. However, she missed the chance to become a permanent part in what was to become a successful series - because she couldn't obtain her release from her stage role (unable to take a regular role in the series, it was Gretchen who recommended her friend Dandy Nichols
Dandy Nichols
-References:* Dandy Nichols at screenonline.* Dandy Nichols at The Museum of Broadcast Communications.-External links:...
for the part in the series). Both Gretchen Franklin and Dandy Nichols have a cameo part in the Beatles film 'Help'.
Later Franklin had regular roles in several television series, including Crossroads, in which she played Myrtle Cavendish; the short-lived soap Castle Haven; the British sitcom, George and Mildred
George and Mildred
George and Mildred is a British sitcom produced by Thames Television that aired from 1976 to 1979. It was a spin-off from Man About the House and starred Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce as an ill-matched married couple, George and Mildred Roper...
as Mildred's mother Mrs Tremble, and Rising Damp
Rising Damp
Rising Damp is a television sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV, first broadcast from 1974 to 1978. It was adapted for television by Eric Chappell from his well-received 1971 stage play, The Banana Box The series was the highest-ranking ITV sitcom on the 100 Best Sitcoms poll run in...
as Rigsby's Aunt Maud. She was also a regular supporting figure on television dramas such as Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...
and Z-Cars
Z-Cars
Z-Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby in the outskirts of Liverpool in Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.-Origins:The series was developed by...
. She had bit parts in series such as Danger Man
Danger Man
Danger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
, Follyfoot
Follyfoot
Follyfoot was a children's television series co-produced by the majority-partner British television company Yorkshire Television and the independent West German company TV Munich...
and Quatermass
Quatermass
Quatermass may best be known as the surname of the title character of a British science fiction franchise of several television serials and films, and a radio production...
(to which she returned for the 1979 finale Quatermass
Quatermass (TV serial)
Quatermass is a British television science fiction serial produced by Euston Films for Thames Television and broadcast on the ITV network in October and November 1979. Like its three predecessors, Quatermass was written by Nigel Kneale...
) but was more often seen in comedy. Franklin also played the cranky, troubled sad mother Mrs Janes in the episode "Five on Billycock Hill" on the 1978 television show, Enid Blyton's Famous Five.
In 1990, Franklin played Daddy's Fiance on Keeping Up Appearances
Keeping Up Appearances
Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. Centred on the life of eccentric, social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket , the sitcom portrays a social hierarchy-ruled British society...
.
EastEnders
However, it was her role as Ethel Skinner in EastEnders that made Franklin a household name, bringing her fame at the age of 73.EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
creators Julia Smith
Julia Smith
Julia Smith was an English television director and producer.- Early career :London-born Smith became involved in television production when she directed the series Suspense in 1962...
and Tony Holland
Tony Holland
Anthony John "Tony" Holland was an English television screenwriter best known as a writer and co-creator of the BBC soap opera EastEnders.-Early career:...
spent a long time trawling around pubs and street markets in the East End of London
East End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
, soaking up the atmosphere and making mental notes for when they were to actually create the characters for their show. Smith was very taken with an elderly lady, with ill-fitting false teeth and a face "...made up to rival a neon sign...". Clutching a Yorkshire Terrier
Yorkshire Terrier
The Yorkshire Terrier is a small dog breed of terrier type, developed in the 19th century in the county of Yorkshire, England to catch rats in clothing mills. The defining features of the breed are its size, to , and its silky blue and tan coat...
dog in one hand and a glass of Guinness
Guinness
Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is directly descended from the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost...
in the other, she was the life and soul of the party; Julia saw that there was much comic mileage to be gained from such a character, and thus Ethel Mae Skinner was born.
Ethel was a firm favourite from day one of the soap. She was a gossip who did not always get her facts right and this was often used to comic effect, as was her use of malapropisms. However, when Julia Smith announced that the character of Ethel was to go into an old people's home, Franklin, in her own words "resigned on the spot". "I didn't want Ethel becoming a sad old dear who the others visited occasionally." She did make return visits to the series, but her bitterness at being, in her words "superannuated" never really left her.
Franklin's character owned a dog, a pug
Pug
The pug is a "toy" breed of dog with a wrinkly, short-muzzled face, and curled tail. The breed has a fine, glossy coat that comes in a variety of colors, and a compact square body with well-developed muscle. They have been described as multum in parvo , referring to the pug's personality and...
named Willy
Willy (EastEnders)
Willy is a fictional dog from the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Willy was a Pug, who appeared in the first episode of the programme and remained in the show until 1992.-Storylines:...
(the writers had intended it to be a Yorkshire terrier but no suitable one could be found) and a lot of rather puerile humour was derived from his name, her famous lines being either: "Where's my Willy?" or, in a double entendre
Double entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
"Has anyone seen my Willy?"
Franklin's character departed in 1997 when it was revealed that she had left Walford to live in a retirement village. She returned in July 2000, but was killed off from the show on 7 September 2000, at the age of 86 in a controversial euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
storyline. Ethel had learned that she was terminally ill, and asked Dot Cotton (June Brown
June Brown
June Muriel Brown, MBE is a British actress, best known for her role as the busy-body, chain-smoking gossip Dot Cotton in the long-running British soap opera EastEnders and for making other high profile television appearances on shows such as Doctor Who, Coronation Street, Minder, The Bill and...
) to assist her in taking her own life by an overdose of her morphine
Morphine
Morphine is a potent opiate analgesic medication and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. It was first isolated in 1804 by Friedrich Sertürner, first distributed by same in 1817, and first commercially sold by Merck in 1827, which at the time was a single small chemists' shop. It was more...
tablets.
Franklin retired from acting on her departure from EastEnders.
Personal life and death
Franklin was married to JohnCaswell Garthfrom 1934until his death from cancer in 1953 at the age of 50. Franklin, who was 42 at the time, never re-married.Off screen Franklin devoted much of her time to charity and gave away all the royalties she received from EastEnders repeats to her favourite animal charities. “At my age one isn’t buying new fur coats and diamonds,” she said. “If you get that lot of repeat fees four times a year you can afford to be a bit more generous to other people.
In May 2005 it was confirmed that Gretchen would present the Lifetime Soap Achievement Award to former co-star June Brown at the British Soap Awards
British Soap Awards
The British Soap Awards is an annual awards ceremony to honour the best of British soap operas.The first event took place in 1999 and takes place in May each year. Although it is an ITV production, the events were held at the BBC Television Centre, in London until 2010. The 2011 awards relocated to...
but was too ill to attend. It was later given to her other co-star Anna Wing
Anna Wing
Anna Eva Lydia Catherine Wing, MBE is an English actress. She has had a long career in television and theatre.-Personal life:...
who played Lou Beale
Lou Beale
Louise Ada "Lou" Beale is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Anna Wing. The character is played by Karen Meagher in the 1988 EastEnders special, Civvy Street, set during the Second World War....
, who mentioned her in the speech.
Franklin died at her home in Barnes on 11 July 2005, four days after her 94th birthday. Her life and work was honoured at the British Academy Television Awards in 2006. In 2007 it was revealed that she had left a sum of £872,772 in her will. One third went to charity Help The Aged
Help the Aged
Help the Aged was a United Kingdom based, international charity, founded in 1961 by Cecil Jackson-Cole, to free disadvantaged older people from poverty, isolation and neglect. It merged with Age Concern in 2009 to form Age UK.-Organisation and campaigns:...
, while the rest went to friends and relatives, one of whom is her cousin Clive Dunn
Clive Dunn
Clive Robert Benjamin Dunn OBE is a retired English actor, comedian and author, best known for his role as Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army.-Early life:...
, who played Corporal Jones
Lance-Corporal Jack Jones
Lance Corporal Jack Jones is a fictional Home Guard platoon lance-corporal, veteran of the British Empire and butcher portrayed by Clive Dunn in the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army...
in TV's Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
.
Trivia
- In Fall song "Telephone Thing", Mark E Smith repeatedly asks "How dare you assume I would want to parlez-vous with you? You Gretchen Franklin nosey matron type." In an interview for the NME Mark E Smith revealed that he had thought he had made the name up and that it wasn't a reference to this Gretchen Franklin http://www.visi.com/fall/gigography/90jan25.html
- Gretchen was less than pleased to find out that Willy the pug was being chauffeur driven to Elstree Studios where EastEndersEastEndersEastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
is made, yet she had to struggle in on the bus.
- Gretchen was a Tiller GirlTiller GirlsThe Tiller Girls were among the most popular dance troupes of the 1900s, first formed by John Tiller in Manchester, England, in 1890. Whilst on visits to the theatre, Tiller had noticed the overall effect of a chorus of dancers was often spoiled by lack of discipline. Tiller found that by linking...
at The London PalladiumLondon PalladiumThe London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...
. They were famous for their high-kicks, and, when Pat Wicks married Frank ButcherFrank ButcherFrancis Aloysius "Frank" Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by the late Mike Reid. Frank made his first appearance on-screen as a guest character in 1987 but, due to a positive viewer reception, he was reintroduced in 1988 as a regular. Reid took a long...
in EastEndersEastEndersEastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
she provided the high-kicks at the wedding reception - she was 78 at the time. Similarly, she appeared opposite Eartha KittEartha KittEartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...
in an episode of the British espionage series The ProtectorsThe ProtectorsThe Protectors is a British television series, an action thriller created by Gerry Anderson. It is Anderson's second TV series using live actors as opposed to electronic marionettes, and also his second to be firmly set in the present day...
, (episode title A Pocket Full of Posies) in which she performed a memorable song and dance routine.