COMEDIENNE Beatrice Lillie (Lady Peel), the darling of Broadway and
star of the London stage, died yesterday, aged 94, at her home in
Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.
Beatrice, whose films included Thoroughly Modern Millie, was a royal
favourite and was dubbed ''the funniest lady in the world.'' But she had
more than her fair share of tragedy.
Her husband, Sir Robert Peel, died in 1934 and a few years later her
only son was listed as missing in the Second World War.
She was known in the film world as a prankster and in 1951 she ordered
a live alligator from Harrods and sent it to literary legend Noel Coward
with the message: ''So what else is new?''
Her talents stretched to acting and singing and she clowned her way
through the songs of the 1920s, including Poor Litle Rich Girl, in which
she warned debutantes not to ''drop a stitch too soon.''
A memorial service is planned and Mr John Huck, a close friend for
more than forty years, said he hopes to turn her house into an
international college of comedy and musical theatre.
Born in Toronto, she was the second daughter of a volatile Irish
schoolmaster. At the age of eight she was put out of the church choir
for pulling depressing faces at the congregation during hymns. At 15,
accompanied by her mother and sister, she embarked for Britain with the
aim of becoming a child soprano.
In her autobiography, Every Other Inch a Lady, published in 1973, she
said she spent her early years at auditions, singing ''Oh For the Wings
of a Dove and other songs that mother taught me''.
She pioneered a genre, still used today, with her show An Evening with
Beatrice Lillie, which took a staggering $750,000 on Broadway before an
eight-month run in London's West End.
Her royal fans included the Queen Mother and the late Lord
Mountbatten.
She always remained cool and one critic said of her: ''It is part of
her secret that she is impervious to the follies of the world outside.
''If a staircase collapsed at her feet she would survey the debris
with interest not dismay. After a light shrug and a piercing little
smile, she would go on with whatever she was doing.''
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