Esma Cannon
Encyclopedia
Esma Ellen Charlotte Cannon (27 December 1905 – 18 October 1972) was a diminutive Australian-born character actress, who moved to England
in the early 1930s.
(1936); she was first credited in The Last Adventurers
(1937), and she appeared in 64 films over the next 26 years. She had small parts in three early Powell and Pressburger
films: The Spy in Black
(1939), Contraband (1940) and A Canterbury Tale
(1944), Holiday Camp (1947) and, towards the end of her career, appeared in Inn for Trouble
(1960), Doctor in Love
(1960), Raising the Wind
(1961), What a Carve Up!
(1961), Over the Odds
(1961), We Joined the Navy
(1962), On the Beat
(1962), Nurse on Wheels
(1963) and Hide and Seek (1964).
In Holiday Camp she gave a fine dramatic performance of a pathetic and sad spinster who is lured to her death and is the murder victim, quite different from her usual comedy roles.
She is perhaps best remembered for her role as Edie Hornett opposite Peggy Mount in the comedy Sailor Beware!
(1956). She played Brother Lil in the British television comedy series The Rag Trade
(1961–1963), and also appeared in four Carry On films: Carry On Constable
(1960), Carry On Regardless
(1961), Carry On Cruising
(1962) and Carry On Cabby
(1963).
.
Cannon died in 1972. She was 66.
Her elusiveness was such that her former colleagues and friends discovered she'd died only after a "Where are they Now?" feature in films and filming a number of years after her passing.
, especially the bar scene with Dilys Laye
where both their characters get drunk.
She was played by the actress Marcia Warren
in the 2011 TV play Hattie
, a drama based on the career of Hattie Jacques
. The play featured a number of scenes with the two actresses on the set of Carry on Cabby.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in the early 1930s.
Career
Her film début was an uncredited part in The Man Behind the MaskThe Man Behind the Mask
The Man Behind the Mask is a 1936 British mystery film directed by Michael Powell and starring Hugh Williams, Jane Baxter, Ronald Ward, Maurice Schwartz, George Merritt, Henry Oscar and Peter Gawthorne...
(1936); she was first credited in The Last Adventurers
The Last Adventurers
The Last Adventurers is a 1937 British drama film directed by Roy Kellino and starring Niall MacGinnis, Roy Emerton, Linden Travers and Peter Gawthorne.-Cast:* Niall MacGinnis - Jeremy Bowker* Roy Emerton - John Arkell* Linden Travers - Ann Arkell...
(1937), and she appeared in 64 films over the next 26 years. She had small parts in three early Powell and Pressburger
Powell and Pressburger
The British film-making partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, also known as The Archers, made a series of influential films in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1981 they were recognized for their contributions to British cinema with the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, the most prestigious...
films: The Spy in Black
The Spy in Black
The Spy in Black is a 1939 British film, and the first collaboration between the British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. They were brought together by Alexander Korda to make the World War I spy thriller by Joseph Storer Clouston into a film...
(1939), Contraband (1940) and A Canterbury Tale
A Canterbury Tale
A Canterbury Tale is a 1944 British film by the film-making team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It stars Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, Dennis Price and Sgt. John Sweet; Esmond Knight provided narration and played several small roles. For the postwar American release, Raymond Massey narrated...
(1944), Holiday Camp (1947) and, towards the end of her career, appeared in Inn for Trouble
Inn for Trouble
Inn for Trouble is a 1960 British comedy film - a movie spin-off of the 1950s sitcom 'The Larkins' - starring Peggy Mount, David Kossoff and Leslie Phillips....
(1960), Doctor in Love
Doctor in Love
Doctor in Love is a 1960 British comedy film — part of the Doctor in the House series, starring James Robertson Justice as Sir Lancelot Spratt and Michael Craig as Dr Richard Hare...
(1960), Raising the Wind
Raising the Wind (1961 film)
Raising the Wind is a 1961 British comedy film written by Bruce Montgomery and directed by Gerald Thomas. It starred James Robertson Justice, Leslie Phillips, Kenneth Williams, Liz Fraser, Eric Barker and Sid James...
(1961), What a Carve Up!
What a Carve Up! (film)
What a Carve Up! is a 1961 British comedy horror film directed by Pat Jackson. It was released in the United States in 1962 as No Place Like Homicide...
(1961), Over the Odds
Over the Odds
Over the Odds is a 1961 British comedy film directed by Michael Forlong and starring Marjorie Rhodes, Glenn Melvyn, Cyril Smith, Esma Cannon and Thora Hird and Wilfrid Lawson. A bookmaker struggles to cope with his two mother-in-laws...
(1961), We Joined the Navy
We Joined the Navy
We Joined the Navy is a 1962 British CinemaScope comedy film based on the novel of the same name by John Winton, directed by Wendy Toye and starring Kenneth More, Lloyd Nolan, Joan O'Brien, Derek Fowlds, Graham Crowden, Esma Cannon and John Le Mesurier....
(1962), On the Beat
On the Beat (1962 film)
On the Beat is a 1962 British comedy film starring Norman Wisdom, and directed by Robert Asher.-Plot:Norman Pitkin works at Scotland Yard as a car cleaner but dreams of becoming a policeman like his late father....
(1962), Nurse on Wheels
Nurse on Wheels
Nurse on Wheels is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Gerald Thomas, and starring Juliet Mills, Ronald Lewis, and Joan Sims.Nurse on Wheels shares its cast and production team with the Carry On films, but the film is not an official member of the Carry On series.-Cast:* Juliet Mills as Joanna...
(1963) and Hide and Seek (1964).
In Holiday Camp she gave a fine dramatic performance of a pathetic and sad spinster who is lured to her death and is the murder victim, quite different from her usual comedy roles.
She is perhaps best remembered for her role as Edie Hornett opposite Peggy Mount in the comedy Sailor Beware!
Sailor Beware! (1956 film)
Sailor Beware! is a 1956 British comedy film directed by Gordon Parry.-Cast:* Peggy Mount ... Emma Hornett* Shirley Eaton ... Shirley Hornett* Ronald Lewis ... Albert Tufnell* Cyril Smith ... Henry Hornett* Esma Cannon ... Edie Hornett...
(1956). She played Brother Lil in the British television comedy series The Rag Trade
The Rag Trade
The Rag Trade was a British television sitcom broadcast by the BBC between 1961 and 1963 and by LWT between 1977 and 1978.The scripts were by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney, who later wrote Wild, Wild Women, a period variation of The Rag Trade....
(1961–1963), and also appeared in four Carry On films: Carry On Constable
Carry On Constable
Carry On Constable is the fourth Carry On film. It was released in 1960. Of the regular team, it featured Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims and Hattie Jacques. Sid James makes his debut in the series here, while early regulars Leslie Phillips, Eric Barker and Shirley...
(1960), Carry On Regardless
Carry On Regardless
Carry on Regardless was the fifth in the series of Carry On films to be made. It was released in 1961. By now a fairly regular team was established with Sid James, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims and Kenneth Williams all having appeared in previous entries. Hattie Jacques - who was...
(1961), Carry On Cruising
Carry On Cruising
Carry On Cruising is the sixth Carry On film and was released in 1962. It was the first in the Carry On series to be filmed in colour and was based on an original story by Eric Barker. P&O - Orient Lines were thanked in the credits. Regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Kenneth Connor appear in...
(1962) and Carry On Cabby
Carry On Cabby
Carry On Cabby is the seventh Carry On film. Released in 1963, it was the first one written by series mainstay Talbot Rothwell from a story by Sid Green and Dick Hills...
(1963).
Retirement and death
Cannon, whose first name sometimes appears incorrectly as "Esme", retired in 1963. Her last film role was Carry On CabbyCarry On Cabby
Carry On Cabby is the seventh Carry On film. Released in 1963, it was the first one written by series mainstay Talbot Rothwell from a story by Sid Green and Dick Hills...
.
Cannon died in 1972. She was 66.
Her elusiveness was such that her former colleagues and friends discovered she'd died only after a "Where are they Now?" feature in films and filming a number of years after her passing.
Legacy
Without her appearances in the four Carry On... films in the 1960s, her career would have probably been forgotten today. Arguably her most famous performance was as the lonely but happy spinster in Carry on CruisingCarry On Cruising
Carry On Cruising is the sixth Carry On film and was released in 1962. It was the first in the Carry On series to be filmed in colour and was based on an original story by Eric Barker. P&O - Orient Lines were thanked in the credits. Regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Kenneth Connor appear in...
, especially the bar scene with Dilys Laye
Dilys Laye
Dilys Laye was an English actress and screenwriter, best known for comedy roles. She died of cancer aged 74.- Early life :...
where both their characters get drunk.
She was played by the actress Marcia Warren
Marcia Warren
Marcia Warren is an English stage, film and television actress. On stage, she appeared in Blithe Spirit as Madame Arcati, and The Sea at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket.-Partial filmography:...
in the 2011 TV play Hattie
Hattie (television film)
Hattie is a television film on the life of the British comic actress Hattie Jacques, played by Ruth Jones, her marriage to John Le Mesurier and her affair with their lodger John Schofield...
, a drama based on the career of Hattie Jacques
Hattie Jacques
Josephine Edwina Jaques was an English comedy actress, known as Hattie Jacques.Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour...
. The play featured a number of scenes with the two actresses on the set of Carry on Cabby.
Selected filmography
- The Last AdventurersThe Last AdventurersThe Last Adventurers is a 1937 British drama film directed by Roy Kellino and starring Niall MacGinnis, Roy Emerton, Linden Travers and Peter Gawthorne.-Cast:* Niall MacGinnis - Jeremy Bowker* Roy Emerton - John Arkell* Linden Travers - Ann Arkell...
(1937) - The Five Pound ManThe Five Pound ManThe Five Pound Man is a 1937 British comedy crime film directed by Albert Parker and starring Judy Gunn, Edwin Styles, Frank Allenby and Charles Bannister.-Cast:* Judy Gunn - Margaret Fenton* Edwin Styles - Richard Fordyce* Frank Allenby - Claud Fenton...
(1937) - Poison PenPoison Pen (film)Poison Pen is a 1939 British psychological drama, directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Flora Robson, Reginald Tate and Ann Todd. The film is an adaptation of a novel by Welsh author Richard Llewellyn...
(1939) - It's in the BagIt's in the Bag (1944 film)It's in the Bag is a 1944 British comedy film directed by Herbert Mason and starring Elsie Waters, Doris Waters and Ernest Butcher. Gert and Dasie try to recover a valuable lost dress...
(1944) - The Way AheadThe Way AheadThe Way Ahead is a British Second World War drama released in 1944. It stars David Niven and Stanley Holloway and follows a group of civilians who are conscripted into the British Army to fight in North Africa. In the U.S., an edited version was released as The Immortal Battalion.The film was...
(1944) - English Without TearsEnglish Without TearsEnglish Without Tears is a 1944 British Comedy film directed by Harold French and starring Michael Wilding, Penelope Dudley-Ward and Lilli Palmer. The niece of a British aristocrat falls in love with the butler.-Cast:* Michael Wilding ... Tom Gilbey...
(1944) - A Canterbury TaleA Canterbury TaleA Canterbury Tale is a 1944 British film by the film-making team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It stars Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, Dennis Price and Sgt. John Sweet; Esmond Knight provided narration and played several small roles. For the postwar American release, Raymond Massey narrated...
(1944) - Don't Take It to HeartDon't Take It to HeartDon't Take It to Heart is a 1944 British comedy film directed by Jeffrey Dell and starring Richard Greene, Alfred Drayton, Moore Marriott and Patricia Medina...
(1944) - Fanny by GaslightFanny by Gaslight (film)Fanny by Gaslight was a 1944 British drama film, produced by Gainsborough Pictures, set in the 1870s and adapted from a novel by Michael Sadleir . It was one of its famous period-set "Gainsborough melodramas"...
(1944) - The Years BetweenThe Years Between (film)The Years Between is a 1946 British film starring Michael Redgrave, Valerie Hobson and Flora Robson in an adaptation of The Years Between by Daphne du Maurier...
(1946) - Holiday Camp (1947)
- JassyJassy (film)Jassy was a 1947 British film melodrama, based on a novel by Norah Lofts. It was a Gainsborough melodrama, the only one to be made in technicolour.-Plot:...
(1947) - Here Come the HuggettsHere Come the HuggettsHere Come the Huggetts is a 1948 British film, the first of the Huggetts Trilogy about a working class English family. All three films were directed by Ken Annakin and released by Gainsborough Pictures....
(1948) - The Huggetts AbroadThe Huggetts AbroadThe Huggetts Abroad is a 1949 British film starring Jack Warner, Kathleen Harrison, Petula Clark and Susan Shaw. It was the final film of the Huggetts Trilogy. After Joe Huggett loses his job, the family decide to emigrate to South Africa travelling via a land route which takes them across Africa....
(1949) - Double ConfessionDouble ConfessionDouble Confession is a 1950 British crime film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Derek Farr, Joan Hopkins, Peter Lorre and William Hartnell....
(1950) - The Steel KeyThe Steel KeyThe Steel Key is a 1953 British thriller film directed by Robert S. Baker and starring Terence Morgan, Joan Rice and Raymond Lovell.-Cast:* Terence Morgan - Johnny O'Flynn* Joan Rice - Doreen Wilson* Raymond Lovell - Inspector Forsythe...
(1953) - The Sleeping TigerThe Sleeping TigerThe Sleeping Tiger is a 1954 film noir starring Dirk Bogarde and Alexis Smith. It was Joseph Losey's first British feature, which he directed under the pseudonym of Victor Hanbury due to being blacklisted in the McCarthy Era.- Plot :...
(1954) - Out of the CloudsOut of the CloudsOut of the Clouds is a 1955 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden, and starring Anthony Steel, Sid James and James Robertson Justice. An Ealing Studios film, it follows the lives of the passengers and crew on a day at an airport that was filmed in Heathrow Airport.-Description:The film was...
(1955) - Sailor Beware!Sailor Beware! (1956 film)Sailor Beware! is a 1956 British comedy film directed by Gordon Parry.-Cast:* Peggy Mount ... Emma Hornett* Shirley Eaton ... Shirley Hornett* Ronald Lewis ... Albert Tufnell* Cyril Smith ... Henry Hornett* Esma Cannon ... Edie Hornett...
(1956) - No KiddingNo Kidding (film)No Kidding is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Gerald Thomas featuring Leslie Phillips, Geraldine McEwan and Irene Handl, Noel Purcell and Julia Lockwood. The film is adapted from Verily Andersons novel Beware of Children.-Plot:...
(1960) - Inn for TroubleInn for TroubleInn for Trouble is a 1960 British comedy film - a movie spin-off of the 1950s sitcom 'The Larkins' - starring Peggy Mount, David Kossoff and Leslie Phillips....
(1960) - Carry On ConstableCarry On ConstableCarry On Constable is the fourth Carry On film. It was released in 1960. Of the regular team, it featured Kenneth Connor, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims and Hattie Jacques. Sid James makes his debut in the series here, while early regulars Leslie Phillips, Eric Barker and Shirley...
(1960) - Raising the WindRaising the Wind (1961 film)Raising the Wind is a 1961 British comedy film written by Bruce Montgomery and directed by Gerald Thomas. It starred James Robertson Justice, Leslie Phillips, Kenneth Williams, Liz Fraser, Eric Barker and Sid James...
(1961) - Carry On RegardlessCarry On RegardlessCarry on Regardless was the fifth in the series of Carry On films to be made. It was released in 1961. By now a fairly regular team was established with Sid James, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims and Kenneth Williams all having appeared in previous entries. Hattie Jacques - who was...
(1961) - The Fast LadyThe Fast LadyThe Fast Lady is a 1962 British comedy film, directed by Ken Annakin. The screenplay was written by Henry Blyth and Jack Davies, based on a story by Keble Howard.It marked the film debut of Julie Christie.-Plot:...
(1962) - Carry On CruisingCarry On CruisingCarry On Cruising is the sixth Carry On film and was released in 1962. It was the first in the Carry On series to be filmed in colour and was based on an original story by Eric Barker. P&O - Orient Lines were thanked in the credits. Regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Kenneth Connor appear in...
(1962) - Carry On CabbyCarry On CabbyCarry On Cabby is the seventh Carry On film. Released in 1963, it was the first one written by series mainstay Talbot Rothwell from a story by Sid Green and Dick Hills...
(1963)