And June Whitfield Cassette

For half a century, June Whitfield has provided the female voices for a galaxy of famous comedians: hence the odd title of her enjoyable autobiography. She had the blessing of an ideal start: her adored parents--both am-dram fanatics--gave her every encouragement to develop the comic gifts which have kept her happily and gainfully employed ever since she left Rada in 1944. The BBC has been her main employer: for them she played Eth opposite Jimmy Edwards in The Glums, and regularly starred in Take It From Here and The News Huddlines (Roy Hudd christened her The Comic's Tart). More recently she played Miss Marple in the Agatha Christie dramatisations and figured prominently in the TV smash-hit Absolutely Fabulous. The owner of an OBE, she has twice been the subject of This Is Your Life, but such accolades have never seduced her away from the greasepaint: playing in both pantos and straight theatre--taking key roles like Mrs Malaprop in Sheridan's The Rivals--has always remained her metier. Julian Clary is one of her favourite co-stars: "Now there's a challenge!" he once told her, when explaining that her job, as the wife of the Governor of the Bank of England, was to seduce Clary's camp jailer. Listening to her tales, one senses that the warmth of her personality must bring out the best in everyone she works with; she positively radiates affection. "There's one more panto in you", the chief electrician at Wimbledon Theatre told sprightly septuagenarian recently. She reports this diffidently, but hopes he is right. --Betty TadmanRead More