Davina Whitehouse

Davina Whitehouse OBE (born Eileen Eliza Smith, 16 December 1912 – 25 December 2002), also known by the stage name Davina Craig before her marriage, was an English-born New Zealand stage, film and television actress acclaimed in both her native United Kingdom as well as Australasia.

Born Eileen Eliza Smith in London on 16 December 1912, Whitehouse was the daughter of David and Florence Smith. Her father died when she was two years old, and she was renamed Davina in his memory. Her mother remarried 10 years later.

In 1941 she married John Henry Archibald Whitehouse, and in 1952 they and their children emigrated to New Zealand. Davina Whitehouse became a naturalised New Zealand citizen in 1977.

Whitehouse was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art aged 15, and graduated in 1929. Using the stage name Davina Craig, her acting roles were initially rare, but in 1932 she was seen by Ivor Novello and he offered her a role in a touring play, I Lived with You, which later was made into the 1933 film of the same name, for which Whitehouse receive critical praise. She was then signed by Twickenham Film Studios, and between 1933 and 1939, Whitehouse appeared in over 40 films, most commonly playing a comic servant, but she also had some larger roles, including in The Private Secretary in 1935.

In New Zealand Whitehouse soon gained work as an actor and director of radio drama, and became the executive producer of radio drama for the NZBC. She also acted at Downstage Theatre following its establishment in 1964.

Whitehouse's television career began in 1972, appearing in the TV play An Awful Silence. In 1977 became co-host of the TV chat show Two on One with Ray Woolf. For eight years, Whitehouse was a regular panellist on the advice show Beauty and the Beast, hosted by Selwyn Toogood. She had acting roles in New Zealand's first TV soap opera, Close to Home, as well as Country GP, the third season of Gloss (1989), Marlin Bay, and a 30-minute monologue in the series Face Value (1995).

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