Gracie Fields

Dame Gracie Fields DBE
Fields on Capri (Allan Warren, 1973)
Born	Grace Stansfield (1898-01-09)9 January 1898 Rochdale, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom
Died	27 September 1979(1979-09-27) (aged 81) La Canzone Del Mare, Capri, Italy
Nationality	British
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	1924–1978
Spouse(s)	Archie Pitt 1923–1939 Monty Banks 1940–1950 (his death) Boris Alperovici 1952–1979 (her death)

Dame Gracie Fields, DBE (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 1898 – 27 September 1979) was an English actress, singer and comedian and star of both cinema and music hall. She spent the later part of her life on the isle of Capri, Italy. Fields was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for "services to entertainment" in 1938, and in 1979, seven months before her death, she was invested a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II.

Fields was born Grace Stansfield, over a fish and chip shop owned by her grandmother, Sarah Bamford, in Molesworth Street, Rochdale, Greater Manchester. She made her first stage appearance as a child in 1905, joining children's repertory theatre groups such as 'Haley's Garden of Girls' and the 'Nine Dainty Dots'. Her two sisters, Edith and Betty and brother, Tommy, all went on to appear on stage, but Gracie was the most successful. Her professional debut in variety took place at the Rochdale Hippodrome theatre in 1910 and she soon gave up her job in the local cotton mill, where she was a half-timer, spending half a week in the mill and the other half at school.

Fields met the comedian and impresario Archie Pitt and they began working together. Pitt gave Fields champagne on her 18th birthday, and wrote in an autograph book to her that he would make her a star. Pitt began to manage her career and they began a relationship; they married in 1923 at Clapham Registry Office. Their first revue was called Yes I Think So in 1915 and the two continued to tour Britain together until 1924. That year they appeared in the revue Mr Tower of London, with other shows By Request, It's A Bargain and The Show's The Thing, during the following years.

Pitt was the brother of Bert Aza, founder of the Aza agency, which was responsible for many entertainers of the day including the actor and comedian Stanley Holloway, who was introduced to Aza by Fields. Fields and Holloway first worked together on her film Sing As We Go in 1934 and the two remained close friends for the rest of their lives.