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Vida Hope

{{Short description|British actress (1910–1963)}}

{{Use British English|date=May 2017}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}

File:Actress_Vida_Hope.jpg (1954)]]

Vida Hope (16 December 1910 – 23 December 1963) was a British stage and film actress,[https://web.archive.org/web/20090117131521/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/165398 Profile], ftvdb.bfi.org.uk; accessed 4 April 2014. who also directed stage productions.

Life and career

Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, to theatrical parents, Hope travelled widely as a child.Some of the Company – Vida Hope (autobiographical note). In : Late Joys at The Players' Theatre. T V Boardman & Co Ltd, London, New York, 1943., p83 She was "forbidden to go on the stage", so at age 16, she became a typist in an advertising office, going on to write copy. She took every opportunity to take part in amateur dramatics, managing to get lead roles in plays by Shaw, Ibsen, and Chekhov.

Following the role of the Fairy Wish-Fulfilment in the pantomime The Babes in the Wood at the Unity Theatre, London, she was, in 1939, offered a role by Herbert Farjeon in The Little Revue and worked in his revues for more than three years. In 1940, she supported and formed a strong friendship with Dirk Bogarde, in his first West End play, Diversions.Bogarde, Dirk. A Postillion Struck by Lightning. Triad/Panther Books, Frogmore, 1978, p268. During the Second World War, she became a regular singer at the Players' Theatre, where her repertoire included "Casey Jones", "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me a Bow-wow", "Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron", "The Lady Wasn't Going that Way" and "You May Pet Me as Much as You Please".List of Songs. In: Late Joys at The Players' Theatre. T V Boardman & Co Ltd, London, New York, 1943, p113-115. In 1942 she appeared alongside Geoffrey Dunn in a melodrama, The Streets of London.[https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/british-actors-geoffrey-dunn-and-vida-hope-as-bloodgood-and-news-photo/131403952?adppopup=true Geoffrey Dunn and Vida Hope arguing during a scene from 'The Streets Of London', on stage in London, 5th December 1942. Picture Post - 1320 - The Streets of London - pub. 1943, photo by Felix Man at gettyimages] accessed 26 July 2024.

Hope played a prominent role alongside Alec Guinness in the Academy Award-nominated film The Man in the White Suit as Bertha, in 1951. She appeared in a range of roles in a production of Peer Gynt at the New Theatre in London (1944–45),Ibsen, Henrik. Peer Gynt – English version by Norman Ginsbury. Hammond, Hammond & Co Ltd, London, 1946, p7 (cast list for 1944 New London Theatre production). she directed the 1953 London production of The Boy Friend (and is also credited as director on the 'original cast' recording of 1954 starring Julie Andrews)RCA Victor LP LOC 1018 and directed Valmouth at the Lyric, Hammersmith (1958) and a revival of The Boy Friend at the Bristol Hippodrome (1958–59).[http://theatricalia.com/person/r58/vida-hope List of appearances for Vida Hope at the Theatricalia site] accessed 10 April 2015.

Hope was married to the film editor and director Derek Twist, and appeared in several of his films. She died in a road accident, on 23 December 1963, in Chelmsford, Essex, aged 53.

Partial filmography

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References

External links

  • {{IMDb name|0394051}}

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Category:1910 births

Category:1963 deaths

Category:Actresses from Liverpool

Category:British stage actresses

Category:British film actresses

Category:British television actresses

Category:20th-century English actresses

Category:Road incident deaths in England

Category:English theatre directors

Category:British women theatre directors