Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to The TV Shelter.

We are sorry to say that as of the 8th April 2014, The TV Shelter will no longer be open to new posts, threads or members. Like that famous Monty Python sketch, this forum has joined the choir invisible.

However this will continue to remain as an archive so that visitors can mindlessly plunder through old threads to look at PIFs, TV listings and other miscellanea that made this place truly unique.

And if you still can't get your fix of TV nostalgia visit Facebook's TV Heaven or even TV Ark, the website that spawned the original forums.

And finally a long standing has made a successor to the TV Shelter, which to a few is reminiscent of when an ITV franchise would change to another. The forum is called The TV Lounge and should keep the spirit running that it's predecessors carried.

We hope you enjoy your visit.




Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Dilys Laye, former Carry On & EastEnders star dies
Topic Started: Feb 22 2009, 01:13 AM (3,139 Views)
Mark
Member Avatar
Lounger
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
From The Times
February 20, 2009
Dilys Laye: actress known for comic roles in the Carry On
films
Photo here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5768247.ece
Laye with Kenneth Williams in a scene from Carry on Spying
(1964). She never tired of relating Carry On anecdotes

Dilys Laye was one of Britain's most experienced comedy
actresses, best known for her appearances in the Carry On
films. But she was equally adept in straight roles, notably
with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and she was a seasoned
musical star, having appeared in the original Broadway
production of Sandy Wilson's The Boy Friend, opposite Julie
Andrews.

Although she made only four Carry On films - Carry on
Cruising (1962), Spying (1964), Doctor (1967) and Camping
(1969), the series made her an international star and she
never tired of talking with fans about the films. In Carry
on Doctor, she played the diminutive hospital patient Mavis
Winkle, the unlikely love interest of towering 6ft 6in
Bernard Bresslaw and two years later she was reunited with
him, again playing his girlfriend, this time as permanently
car-sick Anthea Meeks. Laye clearly enjoyed working on the
series, despite the low pay and often grotty locations -
Carry on Camping was filmed in the middle of winter in a
snowy field. She said of her years at Pinewood Studios: "The
Carry On team were an elite. It was like being at school and
we belonged there." She remained great friends with all the
cast, notably Sid James who taught her to play poker on the
set of Carry on Camping.

Born Dilys Lay (she added an "e" when she became an actress)
in London in 1934, she was the daughter of Edward Lay and
his wife Margaret (née Hewitt). Educated at St Dominic's
Convent, Harrow-on-the-Hill, northwest London, she trained
for the stage at the Aida Foster School and made her first
appearance as a child in 1948 as Moritz in The Burning Bush
at the New Lindsey Theatre. The following year she appeared
in Trottie True in Brian Desmond Hurst's music-hall film
starring Jean Kent.

Her gift for comedy was noticed during the early 1950s when
she began appearing in a series of then hugely popular
intimate West End revues, including High Spirits, For
Amusement Only and Intimacy at 8.30 in which she starred
alongside such performers as Ian Carmichael and Cyril
Ritchard.

She made her Broadway debut in 1954 as Dulcie in The Boy
Friend after which she returned to Britain to play in both
West End and provincial theatre comedies and musicals.

In 1957 she played Mrs Herbert in the film Doctor at Large,
opposite Dirk Bogarde and James Roberston Justice. In the
1960s she had established herself as a leading comedy
actress on television, appearing regularly in series such as
the BBC's Comedy Playhouse. In 1967 she had a small role in
Charlie Chaplin's romantic comedy film A Countess from Hong
Kong.

For much of her career the theatre remained her first love
and she showed her versatility as an actress when she joined
the RSC in the 1970s playing roles such as Maria in Twelfth
Night and the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet. She frequently
played leading roles in musical comedy and in recent years
had topped the bill in touring productions of Sweeney Todd,
The Pirates of Penzance, Fiddler on the Roof and 42nd
Street. Trevor Nunn cast her as Mrs Pearce in the 2007 Drury
Lane revival of My Fair Lady.

She also won critical acclaim for roles such as Mrs Bransom
in Terry Hands's production of Night Must Fall (Theatr
Clwyd), Mrs Medlock in the RSC production of The Secret
Garden, and Charlotta in The Cherry Orchard (Salisbury
Playhouse). At the Haymarket Theatre, Leicester, she
recently played the Queen and Coral Browne in Alan Bennett's
Guy Burgess-inspired drama Single Spies. In 1981 she wrote
and appeared in the ITV sitcom Chintz, which also starred
Michele Dotrice.

Laye almost never stopped working and had been seen on
television in recent years in Midsomer Murders, Holby City
and EastEnders, in which she played Maxine Palmer.

She numbered among her hobbies driving, crochet and
knitting.

Her husband, Alan Downer, died in 1995. She is survived by
her son, the theatrical agent Andrew Downer.

Dilys Laye, actress, was born on March 11, 1934. She died of
cancer on February 13, 2009, aged 74
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TVHeaven
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Picasso61
Picasso1964
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
This is sad news - I'm a fan of the Carry On films and although she only appeared in Cruising (1962), Spying (1964), Doctor (1967) and Camping (1969) Dilys Laye was one of my favourite of the gang. I liked her in all four of these roles particularly as the girlfriend of Bernard Bresslaw in the latter two! Talk about little and large!
She has also appeared in a Norman Wisdom film - On The Beat (1962) where she's playing a lost American tourist & I've also seen her in a Ted Ray film called Please Turn Over (1959).
On television she also appeared in one of Granada's Village Hall dramas from 1974 by Jack Rosenthal - There'll Almost Always Be An England.
RIP Dilys. :(
Edited by Picasso61, Feb 23 2009, 04:50 PM.
Gerry Anderson MBE 1929-2012 - RIP
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
hotshot78
Member Avatar
Excellent Lounger
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
It's sad to hear that another Carry-on star has passed away.

RIP Dilys Laye
Get the Goons with the Fruit! From the 1979 film Roller Boogie
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Picasso61
Picasso1964
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
This is sad news about Dilys Laye hotshot because of the regulars/semi regulars only Jim Dale, Barbara Windsor, Liz Fraser, Bernard Cribbins, June Whitfield and Leslie Phillips are still with us. I watch a Carry On film now and I look out for the actors who are still alive. It's depressing. :(
Edited by Picasso61, Feb 23 2009, 10:31 PM.
Gerry Anderson MBE 1929-2012 - RIP
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Mister.Trimble
Member Avatar
In HTV land since 1995
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
A great shame to hear about this. Dilys was indeed a very versatile actress, and she will be sadly missed. One of my favourite exchanges is in "Carry On Cruising" with the late Kenneth Connor, where she played Florence Castle and he played Dr. Arthur Binn....

Doctor Binn : Would you like to poop up on the pop deck with me?
Florence : Doctor, do me a favour, operate somewhere else!

R.I.P. Dilys. :(
This is HTV, broadcasting to Wales and the West from transmitters of the Independent Broadcasting Authority
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
hotshot78
Member Avatar
Excellent Lounger
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Picasso61
Feb 23 2009, 10:19 PM
I watch a Carry On film now and I look out for the actors who are still alive. It's depressing. :(
I think the Carry-on actors & actresses would like us Carry-on fans, just to laugh that the films, so Picasso61 the next time you see a Carry-on film don't be down, just enjoy the great laughs. :yes: :yes: :yes: & laugh out loud.
Get the Goons with the Fruit! From the 1979 film Roller Boogie
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Picasso61
Picasso1964
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
hotshot78
Feb 23 2009, 10:36 PM
Picasso61
Feb 23 2009, 10:19 PM
I watch a Carry On film now and I look out for the actors who are still alive. It's depressing. :(
I think the Carry-on actors & actresses would like us Carry-on fans, just to laugh that the films, so Picasso61 the next time you see a Carry-on film don't be down, just enjoy the great laughs. :yes: :yes: :yes: & laugh out loud.
I still have a good belly laugh at most of the Carry Ons, hotshot but it is depressing to see when reading through the opening credits of each film how many of these fine actors are no longer with us. I'll be watching Carry On Camping again in the next day or two as a tribute to Dilys Laye. :yes:
Edited by Picasso61, Feb 23 2009, 11:09 PM.
Gerry Anderson MBE 1929-2012 - RIP
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Picasso61
Picasso1964
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Picasso61
Feb 22 2009, 01:39 AM
This is sad news - I'm a fan of the Carry On films and although she only appeared in Cruising (1962), Spying (1964), Doctor (1967) and Camping (1969) Dilys Laye was one of my favourite of the gang. I liked her in all four of these roles particularly as the girlfriend of Bernard Bresslaw in the latter two! Talk about little and large!
She has also appeared in a Norman Wisdom film - On The Beat (1962) where she's playing a lost American tourist & I've also seen her in a Ted Ray film called Please Turn Over (1959).
On television she also appeared in one of Granada's Village Hall dramas from 1974 by Jack Rosenthal - There'll Almost Always Be An England.
RIP Dilys. :(
She also played Reg Varney's wife in the soon to be released Network DVD of ATV's Down The 'Gate in which Varney played a Billingsgate fish porter.
Gerry Anderson MBE 1929-2012 - RIP
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
DealsFor.me - The best sales, coupons, and discounts for you
« Previous Topic · General Chat · Next Topic »
Add Reply