Jeanne de Casalis

{{Short description|British actress (1897–1966)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{more citations needed|date=May 2019}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Jeanne de Casalis

| image = Jeanne_de_Casalis.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Picturegoer postcard

| birth_name =

| birth_date = 22 May 1891

| birth_place = Hlotse Heights, Basutoland, currently Leribe, Lesotho

| death_date = 19 August 1966 (age 75)

| death_place = London, United Kingdom

| othername =

| occupation = Actress & comedian

| yearsactive = 1925–1953 (film & TV)

}}

Jeanne de Casalis (22 May 1891 – 19 August 1966) was a Basutoland-born British actress of stage, radio, TV and film.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f454ba7|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180610220152/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f454ba7|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 June 2018|title=Jeanne De Casalis|website=BFI}}

Born in Basutoland as Jeanne Casalis de Pury in 1891, not 1897 as frequently reported (see the Age Fabrication paragraph below), she was educated in France, where her businessman father was the proprietor of one of that country's largest corset retailers, Charneaux.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/jeanne-de-casalis-6696|title=Jeanne De Casalis – Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB|website=www.ibdb.com}} She initiated her career in music first, only later beginning to work onstage in London. She appeared on stage in The Mask of Virtue with Vivien Leigh (1935), and in Agatha Christie's The Hollow (1951).{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2mYAwAAQBAJ&q=the+mask+of+virtue+london+stage+1930-1939&pg=PA441|title=The London Stage 1930-1939: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel|first=J. P.|last=Wearing|date=May 15, 2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9780810893047|via=Google Books}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5g2PBAAAQBAJ&q=the+hollow+london+stage+1950-1959&pg=PA100|title=The London Stage 1950-1959: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel|first=J. P.|last=Wearing|date=September 16, 2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9780810893085|via=Google Books}} On radio, she created the popular comic character 'Mrs. Feather' and also authored Mrs Feather's Diary (1936) based on her monologues.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dobson-miss-jeanne-de-casalis-n04796|title='Miss Jeanne de Casalis', Frank Dobson, 1934|website=Tate}}{{Cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/3faa33ab087145a2b9bfaacdbfba6871|title=A Charity Affair|date=June 18, 1934|issue=559|pages=24|via=BBC Genome}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i0rcDwAAQBAJ&q=mrs+feather%27s+diary+jeanne+de+casalis&pg=PT90|title=Mother of the BBC: Mabel Constanduros and the Development of Popular Entertainment on the BBC, 1925-57|first=Jennifer J.|last=Purcell|date=May 14, 2020|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA|isbn=9781501346538|via=Google Books}} Her best-known films were Cottage to Let (1941) and Jamaica Inn (1939).{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/jeanne-de-casalis-p78785|title=Jeanne de Casalis | Movies and Filmography|website=AllMovie}}

She married English actor Colin Clive, best remembered for Frankenstein (1931), in June 1929, though they were estranged for several years before his death on 25 June 1937 from tuberculosis.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U3C5DwAAQBAJ&q=colin+clive+The+Encyclopedia+of+British+Film%3A+Fourth+edition&pg=RA1-PA2007-IA24|title=The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth edition|first1=Brian|last1=McFarlane|first2=Anthony|last2=Slide|date=May 16, 2016|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=9781526111968|via=Google Books}} Her second husband, whom she married around 1938, was RAF Wing Commander Cowan Douglas Stephenson; they lived at Hunger Hatch near Ashford, Kent.{{Cite web|url=https://entertainment.ha.com/itm/movie-tv-memorabilia/photos/three-photos-of-jeanne-de-casalis-and-her-husband-jeanne-s-husband-was-raf-wing-commander-douglas-stephenson-and-their-total-3-/a/634-23093.s|title=Three Photos of Jeanne De Casalis and Her Husband. Jeanne's husband | Lot #23093|website=Heritage Auctions}} Jeanne de Casalis died on 19 August 1966, aged 69.