Victoria Hopper

{{Short description|British stage and film actress and singer (1909–2007)}}

{{Use Canadian English|date=October 2012}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Victoria Hopper

| image = Actress_Victoria_Hopper.jpg

| caption = Publicity still

| birth_date ={{Birth date|df=yes|1909|05|24}}

| birth_place = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2007|01|22|1909|05|24}}

| death_place = Romney Marsh, Kent, England, UK

| nationality = British

| occupation = Actress

| known_for = Lorna Doone

}}

Victoria Hopper (24 May 1909 – 22 January 2007) was a Canadian-born British stage and film actress and singer.{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f7cbee4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125074033/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f7cbee4|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 November 2018|title=Victoria Hopper}}

Biography

Victoria Evelyn Hopper was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and brought up in North East England.{{cite web|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/2007/victoria-hopper/|title=Victoria Hopper - Obituaries - The Stage|date=26 April 2007}} She studied acting and singing at the Webber-Douglas School of Singing, and was talent spotted in a school production and cast in the title role in a West End play, Martine in 1933. She was at the peak of her popularity during the 1930s. She was married from August 1934 until 1939 to Basil Dean, a British stage and film writer, director and producer.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/victoria-hopper-434840.html|title=Victoria Hopper| website=Independent.co.uk | date=3 February 2007 }} Dean reportedly grew interested in Hooper due to her resemblance to his former lover, actress Meggie Albanesi (died 1923).{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1544555/Victoria-Hopper.html|title=Victoria Hopper|date=5 March 2007|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}

Dean promoted Hopper's career and cast her as the leading lady in several major films for Associated Talking Pictures in the mid-1930s. However, the films did badly at the box office and her career waned. Two films she was scheduled to appear in, Grace Darling and Come Live with Me, never materialised.Sweet, p. 142

Filmography

Theatre roles

  • Three Sisters (1934) as Mary (Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London) (from 30 April)
  • Cornelius (1935) as Judy Evison (Duchess Theatre, Aldwych, London) (from 8 April)
  • The Melody That Got Lost (1936) as Edith (Embassy Theatre, Swiss Cottage, London) (26 December)
  • Autumn (1937) as Monica Brooke (St. Martin's Theatre, London)
  • Autumn (1938) as Monica Brooke (Touring production, Leeds - 19 May for one week)
  • Drawing Room (1938) as Sylvia (Touring production) (Theatre Royal, Brighton, 19 June for one week)
  • Johnson Over Jordan (1939) as Freda Johnson (Saville Theatre, London)
  • The Dominant Sex (1941) as Angela Shale (Touring production?) (Theatre Royal, Hanley, from 2 March)
  • The Shop on Sly Corner (1945) as Margaret Heiss (St. Martin's Theatre, London)
  • Vanity Fair (1946) as Amelia Sedley (Comedy Theatre, London) (29 October 1946 - 21 December 1946)
  • Once Upon a Crime (1948) (Theatre Royal Birmingham) (Commenced Monday, 21 June)
  • Serious Charge (1955) as Hester Byfield (Garrick Theatre, London) (From 17 February)

Bibliography

  • Sweet, Matthew. Shepperton Babylon: The Lost Worlds of British Cinema, Faber and Faber (16 February 2006); {{ISBN|0571212980}}/{{ISBN|978-0571212989}}

References

{{Reflist}}

Sources

  • [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/victoria-hopper-434840.html Obituary: Victoria Hopper], independent.co.uk; 3 February 2007.