Googie Withers
| Googie Withers | |
|---|---|
Withers in 1947
|
|
| Born |
Georgette Lizette Withers 12 March 1917 Karachi, British India |
| Died | 15 July 2011 (aged 94) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1935–2002 |
| Spouse(s) |
John McCallum (m. 1948–2010, his death) |
| Children | Joanna, Nicholas, Amanda |
Georgette Lizette "Googie" Withers CBE, AO (12 March 1917 – 15 July 2011) was a British entertainer who had a lengthy career in theatre, film, and television. She was a longtime resident of Australia with her husband, the actor John McCallum, with whom she often appeared. She was a well-known actress during the war and post-war years.
Withers was born in Karachi, in British India (now in Pakistan) to Edgar Withers, a captain in the Royal Navy, and a Dutch-German mother, Zitette. She acquired the name "Googie" (Little Pigeon) at a young age from her ayah (nanny). As a child, she learned Urdu. Her father left the Royal Navy to manage a foundry in Birmingham, England, and Googie was sent to a boarding school near Dover. She began acting at the age of twelve. A student at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, she was a dancer in a West End production when she was offered work as a film extra in Michael Powell's The Girl in the Crowd (1935). She arrived on the set to find one of the major players in the production had been dismissed, and she was immediately asked to step into the role in her place.
During the 1930s, Withers was constantly in demand in lead roles in minor films and supporting roles in more prestigious productions. Her best known work of the period was as one of Margaret Lockwood's friends in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938). Among her successes of the 1940s, and a departure from her previous roles, was the Powell and Pressburger film One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), a topical World War II drama in which she played a Dutch resistance fighter who helps British airmen return to safety from behind enemy lines. She played Helen, a significant second lead in the Clive Book directed 1944 comedy On Approval. She played the devious Helen Nosseross in Night and the City (1950), a British film noir directed by Jules Dassin.
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