Diana King (actress)

{{Infobox person

| image = Actress_Diana_King.jpg

| name = Diana King

| caption = in Fawlty Towers (1975)

| birth_name = Diana Jane King

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1918|8|2|df=y}}

| birth_place = Buckinghamshire, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1986|7|31|1918|8|2|df=y}}

| death_place = Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, England

| othername =

| occupation = Actress

| years_active = 1939–1986

| spouse = John Harvey (m. 1940–1982, his death)

}}

Diana King (2 August 1918 – 31 July 1986),{{cite web | url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/diana_king/ | title=Diana King | website=British Comedy Guide }} also known as Diane King, was an English actress who had a career on British television from 1939 to 1986. Born in Buckinghamshire, in August 1918, she attended the Fay Compton School of Drama, and was a prolific theatre performer during and after World War Two.https://www.leonardrossiter.com/risingdamp/BiogsSupp.html {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}

Television roles

King's first television appearance was as a pupil of Tadworth House School in Little Ladyship in 1939.{{Cite web|url=https://theatricalia.com/person/qy6/diana-king|title=Diana King | Theatricalia|website=theatricalia.com}}{{Cite journal|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/6d919bbf2baa44ce8affbb86cdc9f310|title=Little Ladyship|journal=Radio Times|date=5 March 1939|issue=805|pages=16|via=BBC Genome}} She continued to appear on television and in films throughout the 1940s and 1950s. In 1961, she appeared in The Avengers.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/diana-king-p38288/other_appearances|title=Diana King | TV, Documentary and Other Appearances|publisher=AllMovie}}

From the 1960s to the early 1980s, she appeared in The Benny Hill Show, Crossroads, Dixon of Dock Green, Pride and Prejudice, You're Only Young Twice and Z-Cars.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f6036a0|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180729112630/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f6036a0|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 July 2018|title=Diana King|publisher=British Film Institute}}

King was perhaps best known for her many appearances in situation comedies from the 1960s onwards. She had roles in Dad's Army, Father, Dear Father, The Liver Birds, Fawlty Towers (in the episode "The Wedding Party"), George and Mildred, Bless This House, Rising Damp, Come Back Mrs. Noah and Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=9419|title=Diana King|website=aveleyman.com}} She also had semi-regular roles in Are You Being Served? as Mrs Peacock, in Terry and June replacing the late Joan Benham in the role of Melinda Spry, as Norah in Bachelor Father and as George's mother in Marriage Lines.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b068de0|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713131220/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b068de0|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 July 2019|title=Oh, What a Tangled Web (1976)|publisher=British Film Institute}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b77888be9|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713131231/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b77888be9|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 July 2019|title=Terry and June[08/03/83] (1983)|publisher=British Film Institute}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8d7e26ff|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713131209/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8d7e26ff|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 July 2019|title=What's in a Name? (1965)|publisher=British Film Institute}} She appeared in Follow Me from 1978 to 1981, with Francis Matthews as moderator.

Her final television appearance was in Inside Story, which was shown in 1986, the year she died of cancer in Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, two days before her 68th birthday.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IJQACAAAQBAJ&q=inside+story%3A+auld+lang+syne+1986&pg=PA294|title=The Kaleidoscope British Christmas Television Guide 1937–2013|first=Chris|last=Perry|date=3 February 2016|publisher=Lulu.com|via=Google Books|isbn=9781900203609}}

Partial filmography

Year ! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable"\| Notes
class="wikitable sortable"
rowspan=2\|1941	Spellbound	Amy Nugent	(AKA ' Passing Clouds '. Released as ' The Spell of Amy Nugent ', in USA)
Once a Crook	Bessie
1958	A Night To Remember	Unnamed First Class Passenger
1961	Offbeat	Maggie Dawson
1962	Live Now, Pay Later	Potential Buyer
rowspan=2\|1965	Be My Guest	Margaret Martin
Fanatic	Woman Shopper
1967	They Came from Beyond Space	Mrs. Trethowan
1970	Some Will, Some Won't	Mrs. Craik
1976	Schizo	Mrs. Falconer
1976– 1985 \|Are You Being Served? \|Mrs Peacock \|4 Episodes
1977 \|You're Only Young Twice \|Mildred Fanshawe \|ITV Show
rowspan=3\|1980	The Shillingbury Blowers	Mrs. Simpkins	TV movie
The Wildcats of St Trinian's	Miss Mactavish
Pink Floyd – The Wall	Wedding Witness

References

External links

{{IMDb name|id=0454655|name=Diana King}}

Category:1918 births

Category:1986 deaths

Category:English film actresses

Category:English television actresses

Category:Actresses from Buckinghamshire

Category:Deaths from cancer in England

Category:20th-century English actresses