Vida Hope

Vida Hope (16 December 1910 – 23 December 1963) was a British stage and film actress,^[1] who also directed stage productions.

Vida Hope in Lease of Life (1954)

Life and career

Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, to theatrical parents, Hope travelled widely as a child.^[2] 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.^[2] She took every opportunity to take part in amateur dramatics, managing to get lead roles in plays by Shaw, Ibsen, and Chekhov.^[2]

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.^[2] In 1940, she supported and formed a strong friendship with Dirk Bogarde, in his first West End play, Diversions.^[3] 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".^[4] In 1942 she appeared alongside Geoffrey Dunn in a melodrama, The Streets of London.^[5]

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),^[6] 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)^[7] and directed Valmouth at the Lyric, Hammersmith (1958) and a revival of The Boy Friend at the Bristol Hippodrome (1958–59).^[8]

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

• The 39 Steps (1935) - Usherette^[9]
• Champagne Charlie (1944) – Rosie^[9]
• English Without Tears (1944)
• The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1946) – Fanny Squeers^[9]
• Hue and Cry (1947) – Mrs. Kirby
• The Mark of Cain (1947) – Jennie
• They Made Me a Fugitive (1947) – Mrs Fenshaw^[9]
• It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) – Mrs Wallis^[9]
• Woman Hater (1948)
• For Them That Trespass (1949) – Olive Mockson^[9]
• Paper Orchid (1949) – Jonquil Jones^[9]
• The Interrupted Journey (1949) – Miss Marchmont^[9]
• Double Confession (1950) – Madam Zilia
• The Woman in Question (1950) – Shirley Jones^[9]
• The Man in the White Suit (1951) – Bertha^[9]
• Cheer the Brave (1951)
• Green Grow the Rushes (1951) – Polly Bainbridge^[9]
• Angels One Five (1952) – W.A.A.F.
• Emergency Call (1952) – Brenda^[9]
• The Long Memory (1952) – Alice Gedge^[9]
• Women of Twilight (1952) – Jess Smithson^[9]
• The Broken Horseshoe (1953) – Jackie Leroy^[9]
• Marilyn (1953) - Rosie^[9]
• Fast and Loose (1954) – Gladys^[9]
• Lease of Life (1954) - Mrs. Sproatley
• Charley Moon (1955) – staging of the musical numbers^[9]
• Rx Murder (1958) - Louise
• In the Doghouse (1961) – Mrs Crabtree^[9]