Emily Perry (English actress)
| Emily Perry | |
|---|---|
| Born |
28 June 1907 Torquay, Devon, England |
| Died | 19 February 2008 (aged 100) Twickenham, Greater London, England |
| Years active | 1987–2004 |
Patricia Emily Perry (28 June 1907 – 19 February 2008) was an English actress and dancer. Born in Torquay, Devon, England, she was best known for her recurring role as Madge Allsop, Dame Edna Everage's long-suffering, silent "bridesmaid" from Palmerston North, New Zealand.
According to one obituary, Perry first appeared on stage at the Theatre Royal, Birmingham, at the age of four. Her father, who was an accountant, was reportedly shocked by her desire to become an actor, although he nevertheless paid her tuition fees at dance school and even permitted her to use the family home for her first audition.
Perry subsequently appeared as a singer, dancer and actress in pantomime and music halls. She played the role of Susan in The Desert Song for twelve years, and also toured in The Student Prince and The Belle of New York. During the Second World War, she performed with ENSA. Around 1960, she founded a children's dancing school, The Patricia Perry Academy of Dancing, based in Crystal Palace in South London, which she ran for twenty-five years before deciding to return to acting in 1984. At that time, there was another actress named Patricia Perry, so she adopted her middle name, Emily, as her stage name.
Although the character of Madge Allsop was created by Barry Humphries during the 1960s, she was only mentioned in passing by Dame Edna and did not actually appear on stage until the late 1970s, when she was portrayed by the London-based Australian actress Madeleine Orr. Orr died of cancer in 1979, so when the role of Madge was written into Humphries' 1987 film Les Patterson Saves the World, she was portrayed by another Australian actress, Connie Hobbs. Later that year, when Humphries decided to cast "the definitive Madge" for his new TV series, The Dame Edna Experience, he auditioned many elderly actresses for what would be a recurring role. As he recalled, "All of them tried too hard. Some were whimsical, some camp, but most were far too over the top to resemble an oppressed, inarticulate New Zealand spinster whom life had passed by." Perry herself later recalled: "I did nothing at the audition, and I've done nothing since." Humphries paid tribute to Perry in the second volume of his autobiography, ascribing her with "the rare gift of being able to do nothing in the face of overwhelming provocation".
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