The daughter of producer Robert Courtneidge, Australian Cicely Courtneidge
made her professional stage debut in The Arcadians at the Shaftesbury
Theatre. She became a popular figure in British music halls and theatre
before moving into films in Elstree Calling (1930). In 1916 she married
her stage partner, Jack Hulbert and frequently
appeared alongside him in films including The
Ghost Train (1931) and Jack's
the Boy (1932). By the 1940s she had left films but returned for
one of her most memorable roles as an aging lesbian music hall star
in Bryan Forbes’ The
L-Shaped Room (1962). The much-loved actress was awarded a CBE in
1951, and later knighted as a Dame Commander of the British Empire in
1972.
