Judy Campbell

Early life

Campbell was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire on 31 May 1916, daughter of John Arthur Gamble and his wife Mary (née Fulton), and educated at St Michael's Convent, East Grinstead, Sussex. Both her parents were on the stage; her father was also the author of several plays under his professional name of J.A. Campbell.

Career

Campbell made her stage debut in 1935 as a "Guest" in The Last of Mrs. Cheyney at the Theatre Royal, Grantham, and entered films in 1940 in the London-based thriller Saloon Bar. In 2002 she lent her patrician presence to a television remake of The Forsyte Saga.

In 1941 she had a role in the stage musical Lady Behave. While touring with Coward from September 1942 to March 1943, she created the roles of Joanna in Present Laughter and Ethel in the stage production of This Happy Breed, and played Elvira in Blithe Spirit.

She also appeared with him in twice-weekly troop concerts. In 1943 at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, she performed in Present Laughter and This Happy Breed on alternate nights under the umbrella title of Play Parade, before playing Elvira in the West End presentation of Blithe Spirit at the Duchess Theatre in 1943. During one performance on tour, she was surprised to feel Coward stroking her shoulder in an affectionate way that was not called-for in the script, and she began to wonder "Have I succeeded where so many women have failed?" In fact, he was just trying to keep his hands warm in an unheated theatre during fuel rationing.

In 1981 she appeared in Andrew Birkin's BAFTA winning and Academy Award nominated short film, Sredni Vashtar, playing the fearsome Aunt Augusta. It was her last major film role, although she appeared regularly on British television throughout the remainder of her career.

In December 2002, at the end of a 67-year career as a boulevard actress and chanteuse, she gave her farewell London performances at the King's Head Theatre with Where Are the Songs We Sung?, a nostalgic garland of songs, memories and scenes from plays, accompanied by Stefan Bednarczyk at the piano, a programme they finally reprised at the Jermyn Street Theatre.

The evening recalled her Grantham childhood, the 1950s with Sandy Wilson, by way of the Liverpool rep with Robert Helpmann, wintry tours and troop concerts with Noël Coward and cheering up West End punters during the Blitz on London, including her unique renderings of "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square", the Eric Maschwitz standard that made her a star in the New Faces revue at the Comedy Theatre in 1940.

Judy finally recorded "Nightingale" (and Coward's "If Love Were All") in September 2003, as part of a cabaret performance with Sheridan Morley and Michael Law at Pizza on the Park.

Campbell had previously appeared as guest star with Morley and Law for several Jermyn Street cabaret performances as well as with Law's Piccadilly Dance Orchestra, most memorably for a Coward centenary concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1999, where she regaled the audience with often hilarious anecdotes about her work with Coward during the 1940s (and sang "her" Nightingale song).

Legacy

After her death in 2004 her name was commemorated on the actresses' dressing-room door at the Jermyn Street Theatre.

Personal life

She was married to Lieutenant-Commander David Birkin, , until his death in 1991. The couple had three children.

Death

Judy Campbell died in London on 6 June 2004, aged 88.

Theatre

Plays by Judy Campbell:

Films

Television and TV films