Avis Bunnage
Encyclopedia
Avis Bunnage was a British actress of film, stage and television.
She attended Manley Park Municipal School and Chorlton Central School in Manchester
. She worked as a secretary and a nursery teacher before deciding to become an actress. She gained stage experience in rep and made her first professional appearance at Chorlton Rep Theatre in Manchester in 1947. Most notably, she appeared as Veronica, the wife of Rigsby, in Rising Damp
, for one episode. Bunnage was a member of Joan Littlewood
's Theatre Workshop
company at the Theatre Royal Stratford East
. There she created the role of Helen, the mother in A Taste of Honey
, her first West End role when the play transferred to Wyndham's Theatre, and also a role in Oh, What a Lovely War!
at Stratford East, which also transferred to Wyndham's Theatre. When Avis was on holiday from this production for two weeks, her role was taken over by Danny La Rue
. Among her other roles for Theatre Workshop were Mrs. Lovitt in Christopher Bond
's play Sweeny Todd (the basis for the Sondheim
musical), and the title role in a play about the music hall legend Marie Lloyd
. In the early years of Coronation Street
she played Lucile Hewitt's auntie. She was in the musical Billy
at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, playing the mother of 'Billy Liar
'. She played Golda in Fiddler on the Roof
, opposite Alfie Bass
, at Her Majesty's Theatre
in London.
Married to Derek Orchard, she died in Thorpe Bay
, Southend-on-Sea
, Essex
, aged 67.
She attended Manley Park Municipal School and Chorlton Central School in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. She worked as a secretary and a nursery teacher before deciding to become an actress. She gained stage experience in rep and made her first professional appearance at Chorlton Rep Theatre in Manchester in 1947. Most notably, she appeared as Veronica, the wife of Rigsby, in Rising Damp
Rising Damp
Rising Damp is a television sitcom produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV, first broadcast from 1974 to 1978. It was adapted for television by Eric Chappell from his well-received 1971 stage play, The Banana Box The series was the highest-ranking ITV sitcom on the 100 Best Sitcoms poll run in...
, for one episode. Bunnage was a member of Joan Littlewood
Joan Littlewood
Joan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...
's Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop
Theatre Workshop is a theatre group noted for their director, Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company...
company at the Theatre Royal Stratford East
Theatre Royal Stratford East
The Theatre Royal Stratford East is a theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. Since 1953, it has been the home of the Theatre Workshop company.-History:...
. There she created the role of Helen, the mother in A Taste of Honey
A Taste of Honey
A Taste of Honey is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 18. It was initially intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalize British theatre and to address social issues that she felt were not being presented...
, her first West End role when the play transferred to Wyndham's Theatre, and also a role in Oh, What a Lovely War!
Oh, What a Lovely War!
Oh, What a Lovely War! is an epic musical originated by Charles Chilton as a radio play, The Long Long Trail in December 1961, and transferred to stage by Gerry Raffles in partnership with Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop in 1963...
at Stratford East, which also transferred to Wyndham's Theatre. When Avis was on holiday from this production for two weeks, her role was taken over by Danny La Rue
Danny La Rue
Danny La Rue, OBE was an Irish-born British entertainer known for his singing and drag impersonations.-Early life:...
. Among her other roles for Theatre Workshop were Mrs. Lovitt in Christopher Bond
Christopher Bond
Christopher Godfrey Bond is a British playwright whose 1973retelling of the Victorian tale Sweeney Todd formed the basis of Stephen Sondheim's musical of the same name, with book by Hugh Wheeler...
's play Sweeny Todd (the basis for the Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
musical), and the title role in a play about the music hall legend Marie Lloyd
Marie Lloyd
Matilda Alice Victoria Wood was an English music hall singer, best known as Marie Lloyd. Her ability to add lewdness to the most innocent of lyrics led to frequent clashes with the guardians of morality...
. In the early years of Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
she played Lucile Hewitt's auntie. She was in the musical Billy
Billy (musical)
Billy is a musical based on the novel and play Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall. The book was written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, the music is by John Barry, and the lyrics are by Don Black.-Production:...
at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, playing the mother of 'Billy Liar
Billy Liar
Billy Liar is a 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse, which was later adapted into a play, a film, a musical and a TV series. The work has inspired and featured in a number of popular songs....
'. She played Golda in Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem...
, opposite Alfie Bass
Alfie Bass
Alfred Bass was an English actor. He was born in Bethnal Green, London, the youngest in a Jewish family with ten children; their parents had fled persecution in Russia...
, at Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...
in London.
Married to Derek Orchard, she died in Thorpe Bay
Thorpe Bay
Thorpe Bay is an affluent area within the Borough of Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England, situated on the Thames Estuary.Thorpe Bay is situated within the Southend ward of Thorpe. It is around 4 miles to the east of Southend. Originally the area was called Thorpe, but was renamed Thorpe Bay after its...
, Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, aged 67.
Partial filmography
- Saturday Night and Sunday MorningSaturday Night and Sunday Morning (film)Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is a 1960 British film. It is an adaptation of the 1958 novel of the same name by Alan Sillitoe. Sillitoe wrote the screenplay adaptation and the film was directed by Karel Reisz.-Synopsis:...
(1960) - The Loneliness of the Long Distance RunnerThe Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner"The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" is a short story by Alan Sillitoe which was set in Irvine Beach, and published in 1959 as part of a short story collection of the same name. The work focuses on Colin, a poor Nottingham teenager from a dismal home in a blue-collar area, who has bleak...
(1962) - The L-Shaped RoomThe L-Shaped RoomThe L-Shaped Room is a 1962 British drama film, directed by Bryan Forbes, which tells the story of a young French woman, unmarried and pregnant, who moves into a London boarding house, befriending a young man in the building...
(1962) - Sparrows Can't Sing (1963)
- What a Crazy WorldWhat a Crazy WorldWhat a Crazy World was a stageplay and film written by Alan Klein and directed by Michael Carreras. The film was released in 1963.- Cast :Joe BrownSusan MaughanMarty WildeHarry H CorbettAvis BunnageGrazina FrameMichael GoodmanMichael Landis...
(1963) - Tom JonesTom Jones (film)Tom Jones is a 1963 British adventure comedy film, an adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling , starring Albert Finney as the titular hero. It was one of the most critically acclaimed and popular comedies of its time, winning four Academy Awards...
(1963) - Rotten to the Core (1965)
- A Study in TerrorA Study in TerrorA Study in Terror is a 1965 British thriller film directed by James Hill and starring John Neville as Sherlock Holmes and Donald Houston as Dr. Watson...
(1965)
- The Wrong BoxThe Wrong BoxThe Wrong Box is a British comedy film made by Salamander Film Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It was produced and directed by Bryan Forbes from a screenplay by Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove, based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne.The cast includes a...
(1966) - The WhisperersThe WhisperersThe Whisperers is a 1967 British drama film directed by Bryan Forbes. It is based on the 1961 novel by Robert Nicolson.- Plot :The Whisperers tells the story of an impoverished old woman living alone in a seedy apartment who enjoys a rich fantasy life as an heiress...
(1967) - Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely DaughterMrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter (film)Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter is a 1968 British comedy film starring Peter Noone. The film showcases the British rock band, Herman's Hermits.-Cast:*Peter Noone – Herman Tulley*Keith Hopwood – Keith*Derek Leckenby – Derek*Karl Green – Karl...
(1968) - GandhiGandhi (film)Gandhi is a 1982 biographical film based on the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century. The film was directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. They both...
(1982) - ForbiddenForbidden (1984 film)Forbidden is a 1984 drama film directed by Anthony Page and starring Jacqueline Bisset, Jürgen Prochnow and Irene Worth. The plot is loosely based on a true story originally told in the non-fiction book The Last Jews In Berlin by Leonard Gross about a countess who hides her Jewish boyfriend in her...
(1984) - No SurrenderNo Surrender (film)No Surrender is a 1985 comedy film starring Michael Angelis and Ray McAnally.The film is black comedy about the Northern Ireland conflict, set in Liverpool on New Year's Eve. The plot focuses on the Irish Catholic and Protestant communities in the city, and the action is seen through the eyes of...
(1985) - The KraysThe Krays (film)The Krays is a 1990 film based on the lives and crimes of the British gangsters Ronald and Reginald Kray, twins who are often referred to as The Krays...
(1990)