Betty Huntley-Wright
Encyclopedia
Betty Huntley-Wright was a British actress and vocalist. Daughter of the comic actor Huntley Wright
, she had a long career on stage, chiefly in comedy and pantomime
, and in film, radio and television. Later she also ran an antiques business in London.
, London, one of three children of the comic actor Huntley Wright
and his wife, the actress Mary Fraser. She was educated at Hampstead
High School and studied for the stage under Julian Kimbell (singing), Anton Dolin
and the Cone School (dancing). She made her first appearance on the stage at the Regent Theatre, Kings Cross, London
, in 1928, as Chris Haversham in The Eye of Siva, and her first appearance in the West End
, at His Majesty's Theatre
in July 1929, as Freda in Nöel Coward
's operetta
Bitter Sweet
.
, in which her father had made a great success in 1923. In the mid-1930s she extended the range of her career, playing an English and French season in Paris in 1935, and building up a repertoire of principal boy roles in pantomime
s, including Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk
(1934) and Aladdin in Aladdin
(1939). From 1939 to 1942 she was a member of the BBC
Repertory Company, formed to broadcast drama from studios away from London and wartime
bombing. In 1942 she toured in Baby Mine and appeared again as Aladdin. Two years later, she was touring with the Carl Rosa Opera Company
as Olympia, the doll, in The Tales of Hoffman.
Huntley-Wright's post-war engagements continued to feature annual pantomimes and comedies in London and on tour. In 1957 she took over the part of Madame Dubonnet in the long-running musical, The Boy Friend
.
In films, Huntley-Wright's career started in 1933 with Naughty Cinderella and Little Miss Nobody. At the end of the war, she made further films, including Meet Sexton Blake
(1945), The First Gentleman
(1948) Just Joe
(1960), Carry On Loving
(1970; part of the Carry On series), and many television appearances in a wide range of roles from Alice Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor
to roles in Steptoe and Son
, Softly, Softly
, Fawlty Towers
and All Gas and Gaiters
.
and Chelsea
.
She died of heart disease in Camden
, London, in 1993, aged 81.
Huntley Wright
Huntley Wright was an English stage and film actor, comedian, dancer and singer, best known for creating roles in many important Edwardian musical comedies....
, she had a long career on stage, chiefly in comedy and pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
, and in film, radio and television. Later she also ran an antiques business in London.
Early years
Huntley-Wright was born Betty Jessie Wright in HampsteadHampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, London, one of three children of the comic actor Huntley Wright
Huntley Wright
Huntley Wright was an English stage and film actor, comedian, dancer and singer, best known for creating roles in many important Edwardian musical comedies....
and his wife, the actress Mary Fraser. She was educated at Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
High School and studied for the stage under Julian Kimbell (singing), Anton Dolin
Anton Dolin
Sir Anton Dolin was an English ballet dancer and choreographer.Dolin was born in Slinfold in Sussex as Sydney Francis Patrick Chippendall Healey-Kay but was generally known as Patrick Kay. He joined Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1921, was a principal there from 1924, and was a principal...
and the Cone School (dancing). She made her first appearance on the stage at the Regent Theatre, Kings Cross, London
Kings Cross, London
King's Cross is an area of London partly in the London Borough of Camden and partly in the London Borough of Islington. It is an inner-city district located 2.5 miles north of Charing Cross. The area formerly had a reputation for being a red light district and run-down. However, rapid regeneration...
, in 1928, as Chris Haversham in The Eye of Siva, and her first appearance in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, at His 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 July 1929, as Freda in Nöel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
's operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
Bitter Sweet
Bitter Sweet
Bitter Sweet is an operetta in three acts written by Noël Coward and first produced in 1929 at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. It ran for a very successful 967 performances....
.
Acting career
In the early 1930s, Huntley-Wright performed in comedies and operetta in London and on tour. In 1933 she played Madeleine in a revival of Madame PompadourMadame Pompadour (operetta)
Madame Pompadour is an operetta in three acts, composed by Leo Fall with a libretto by Rudolf Schanzer and Ernst Friedrich Wilhelm Welisch. Conducted by the composer, It opened at the Berliner Theater in Berlin on September 9, 1922 and then at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna on March 2,...
, in which her father had made a great success in 1923. In the mid-1930s she extended the range of her career, playing an English and French season in Paris in 1935, and building up a repertoire of principal boy roles in pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
s, including Jack in Jack and the Beanstalk
Jack and the Beanstalk
Jack and the Beanstalk is a folktale said by English historian Francis Palgrave to be an oral legend that arrived in England with the Vikings. The tale is closely associated with the tale of Jack the Giant-killer. It is known under a number of versions...
(1934) and Aladdin in Aladdin
Aladdin
Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
(1939). From 1939 to 1942 she was a member of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Repertory Company, formed to broadcast drama from studios away from London and wartime
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
bombing. In 1942 she toured in Baby Mine and appeared again as Aladdin. Two years later, she was touring with the Carl Rosa Opera Company
Carl Rosa Opera Company
The Carl Rosa Opera Company was founded in 1873 by Carl August Nicholas Rosa, a German-born musical impresario, to present opera in English in London and the British provinces. The company survived Rosa's death in 1889, and continued to present opera in English on tour until 1960, when it was...
as Olympia, the doll, in The Tales of Hoffman.
Huntley-Wright's post-war engagements continued to feature annual pantomimes and comedies in London and on tour. In 1957 she took over the part of Madame Dubonnet in the long-running musical, The Boy Friend
The Boy Friend
The Boy Friend is a musical by Sandy Wilson. The musical's original 1954 London production ran for 2,078 performances, making it briefly the third-longest running musical in West End or Broadway history until it was surpassed by Salad Days...
.
In films, Huntley-Wright's career started in 1933 with Naughty Cinderella and Little Miss Nobody. At the end of the war, she made further films, including Meet Sexton Blake
Meet Sexton Blake
Meet Sexton Blake is a 1945 British drama film directed by John Harlow and starring David Farrar, Manning Whiley, Dennis Arundell and John Varley.-Cast:* David Farrar - Sexton Blake* Manning Whiley - Raoul Sudd* Dennis Arundell - Johann Sudd...
(1945), The First Gentleman
The First Gentleman
The First Gentleman is a 1948 British historical drama film directed by Alberto Cavalcanti and starring Jean-Pierre Aumont, Joan Hopkins and Cecil Parker. It portrays the relationships and marriage of George, Prince Regent and his tense dealings with other members of his family such as Princess...
(1948) Just Joe
Just Joe
For the professional wrestler who used the name "Just Joe", see Joe Hitchen.Just Joe is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Leslie Randall, Joan Reynolds, Michael Shepley and Anna May Wong.-Cast:* Leslie Randall - Joe...
(1960), Carry On Loving
Carry On Loving
Carry On Loving is the twentieth Carry On film, and was released in 1970. It features series regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques, Terry Scott and Bernard Bresslaw alongside newcomers Richard O'Callaghan and Jacki Piper . Carry On Loving featured...
(1970; part of the Carry On series), and many television appearances in a wide range of roles from Alice Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy by William Shakespeare, first published in 1602, though believed to have been written prior to 1597. It features the fat knight Sir John Falstaff, and is Shakespeare's only play to deal exclusively with contemporary Elizabethan era English middle class life...
to roles in Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son
Steptoe and Son is a British sitcom written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson about two rag and bone men living in Oil Drum Lane, a fictional street in Shepherd's Bush, London. Four series were broadcast by the BBC from 1962 to 1965, followed by a second run from 1970 to 1974. Its theme tune, "Old...
, Softly, Softly
Softly, Softly
Softly, Softly may refer to:* Softly, Softly , a 1966–1969 British police drama series** Softly, Softly: Taskforce, a 1969–1976 revamped version of the series* "Softly, Softly" , a popular song...
, Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...
and All Gas and Gaiters
All Gas and Gaiters
All Gas and Gaiters was a British television ecclesiastical sitcom which aired on BBC1 from 1966 to 1971. It was written by Pauline Devaney and Edwin Apps, a husband-and-wife team who used the pseudonym of "John Wraith" when writing the pilot...
.
Personal life
Huntley-Wright was twice married and twice divorced. Her first husband was Claude McConnel. Her second was John Arnatt. Together with her daughter, the actress Bridget McConnel, Huntley-Wright developed her interest in antique thimbles into a business, forming a collectors club, the Thimble Society of London, in 1981. They also ran a small antiques business in London, trading at various times in the West End, Portobello RoadPortobello Road
Portobello Road is a street in the Notting Hill district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London, England. It runs almost the length of Notting Hill from south to north, roughly parallel with Ladbroke Grove. On Saturdays it is home to Portobello Road Market, one of London's...
and Chelsea
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
.
She died of heart disease in Camden
London Borough of Camden
In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough were already developed and had a total population of 96,795. This continued to rise swiftly throughout the 19th century, as the district became built up; reaching 270,197 in the middle of the century...
, London, in 1993, aged 81.