Evelyn Laye OBE (10 July 1900 – 17 February 1996) was a
British actress and singer who had a career that nearly spanned 80
years. Between the two world wars Evelyn was London’s most successful star of
stage musicals and operettas.
Born Elsie Evelyn Lay in Bloomsbury, London, England,
Laye made her first stage appearance in August 1915 at the Theatre Royal,
Brighton as Nang-Ping in Mr. Wu, and her first London appearance at the East
Ham Palace on 24 April, 1916, in the revue Honi Soit, in which she subsequently
toured. She appeared in a minor role at The Gaiety Theatre in The Beauty Spot
(1917), but the following year she achieved stardom in Going Up!, one of the
first aviation musicals.
In 1920 she was Bessie Brent in a revival of the first
Gaiety musical-comedy, The Shop Girl. Among her successes during the 1920s were
Madame Pompadour (1923), The Dollar Princess and Lilac Time. She made her
Broadway debut
in 1929 in Noel Coward's Bitter Sweet and became a favourite both sides of the Atlantic.
in 1929 in Noel Coward's Bitter Sweet and became a favourite both sides of the Atlantic.
In 1925 Laye fell in love with and married the light
comedian Sonnie Hale, much against the wishes of her parents, who refused to
attend her wedding or to give her a reception afterwards. Since she had never
before been separated from them, her deep distress soon led to a
reconciliation, but it may well have been the strain that this must have
imposed on the marriage that led Hale to abandon her in 1928 for another
emerging talent, Jessie Matthews. The break-up led to the greatest mistake of
her career.
Imported to Hollywood by producer Samuel Goldwyn in 1930,
Evelyn Laye immediately laid an egg. It wasn't her fault, though; she was
extremely pretty and competently sang "Along the Road of Dreams" but
One Heavenly Night's libretto was totally manufactured and leading man John
Boles stiff as a board. As a consequence of the operetta failure, Goldwyn
refused to ever cast Laye, Boles, Lilyan Tashman, and even comedian Leon Errol
in any future ventures. There would be several subsequent Hollywood films and
she was back on Broadway in Sweet Aloes (1936) and Between the Devil but she
was never as successful in America as in London's West End.
On the outbreak of war, she immediately volunteered to
sing for the troops, and, on the formation of Ensa, she was put in command of
all entertainments for the Navy. She also did her last Cochran show, Lights Up, at the Savoy, as
well as three musicals, all of which were adversely affected by the wartime
bombing.
When the war finished, she made a success, even if it was not a smash hit, of the Yvonne Printemps roles in Oscar Straus's Three Waltzes (Prince's 1945), and, for the next nine years, developed her acting skills, largely in a series of touring versions of West End successes.
When the war finished, she made a success, even if it was not a smash hit, of the Yvonne Printemps roles in Oscar Straus's Three Waltzes (Prince's 1945), and, for the next nine years, developed her acting skills, largely in a series of touring versions of West End successes.
She acted several times opposite her second husband, the
actor Frank Lawton, including in the 1956 sitcom My Husband and I. Her other
stage successes included Silver Wedding (1957) with Lawton, and The Amorous
Prawn (1959) and Phil the Fluter (1969).
Awarded an OBE in 1973, Laye continued acting well into
her nineties. One of her last appearances was in Sondheim's A Little Night
Music in 1979.It was reported after Laye's death that Queen Elizabeth, the
Queen Mother had planned to try to get her knighted (created a DBE) even though
Laye was already in her 90s.
Her acting career ranks as one of the longest in British
theatre. During a tribute in 1992 at the London Palladium the actor Sir John
Mills described her as "the fairest prima donna this side of heaven".
She died in London from respiratory failure at the age of
95.
(info various sources, mainly Wikipedia)
1 comment:
For “Evelyn Laye – Gaitey Girl” go here:
http://www3.zippyshare.com/v/M3mjP9Qo/file.html
1. New Moon: Lover Come Back To Me
2. New Moon: One Kiss
3. New Moon: Wanting You
4. Madame Pompadour: Love Me Now
5. Blue Eyes: Do I Do Wrong?
6. Princess Charming: Near And Yet So Far
7. Princess Charming: Brave Hearts
8. Princess Charming: Love Is A Song
9. Princess Charming: The Princess's Awakening
10. The NIght Is Young: The NIght Is Young
11. The NIght Is Young: When I Grow Too Old To Dream
12. Paganini: My Nicolo
13. Paganini: Love Never Comes Too Late
14. Paganini: Nobody Could Love You More
15. Paganini: Love, Live Forever (And Rule My Heart)
16. Bitter Sweet: I'll See You Again
17. Bitter Sweet: Zigeuner
18. Lights Up: You've Done Something To My Heart
19. Lights Up: Let The People Sing
20. Lights Up: Only A Glass Of Champange
21. Three Waltzes: Forever
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