Dilys Laye
| Dilys Laye | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Dilys Lay 11 March 1934 Muswell Hill, London, England |
| Died | 13 February 2009 (aged 74) London, England, UK |
| Spouse(s) |
Frank Maher Garfield Morgan (1963 - ?) (Divorced) Alan Downer(1972–1995) |
| Children | Andrew Downer |
Dilys Laye (11 March 1934 – 13 February 2009) was an English actress and screenwriter, best known for comedy roles. She died of cancer aged 74.
Dilys Laye was born (as Dilys Lay) in Muswell Hill, London, the daughter of Edward Lay and his wife Margaret (née Hewitt) Her father was a musician who left the family when she was aged eight to work as a musician in South Africa and never came back. During World War II Laye and her brother were evacuated to Devon, where they were unhappy and endured physical abuse. Laye returned home to a new stepfather and a mother who was keen to transfer her thwarted ambitions to her daughter. After education at St Dominic's Sixth Form College, Middlesex and training at the Aida Foster School, Laye made her stage debut aged 14 as a boy in a play called The Burning Bush at the New Lindsey Theatre and her film debut a year later as a younger version of Jean Kent in Trottie True.
From 1950, Laye appeared in numerous West End revues, including And So to Bed, Intimacy at 8.30, For Amusement Only and High Spirits. In 1954, she played the first Dulcie in The Boy Friend on Broadway alongside Julie Andrews, with whom she shared a Manhattan flat during the run. At this time she dated a young actor called James Garner. In 1957, she began appearing in films more regularly, including one of the schoolgirls in Blue Murder at St. Trinian's and a married vamp trying to seduce Dirk Bogarde in Doctor at Large. In 1959 she played Girl in the park, in the Norman Wisdom film Follow a Star. She also appeared with Ian Carmichael in the West End comedy The Tunnel of Love and was directed by Joan Littlewood in Make Me An Offer.
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