Gazza

I picked up a copy of La Gingold's autobiography How to Grow Old Disgracefully in the Oxfam bookshop. It's a great read and you can hear her distinctive voice throughout the book.

I know she left for America after the war, but she was always coming back to do some project or other. She shared a house for a while with film director Brian Desmond Hurst (Dangerous Moonlight).

I saw her on stage in the 70s in A Little Night Music with Jean Simmons and Joss Ackland. Never forgotten her singing Liaisons. The film version with Liz Taylor was appalling and that song was dropped - how dare they?

Her son was Stephen Joseph of Scarborough/Alan Ayckbourn fame

Anyone got any stories or memories of the great lady?

lovegod

think she was in Gigi too


Did nt she scandalize Hollywood in later life,
shacking up with a toyboy ?

CaptainWaggett

She was married to Michael Joseph the publisher, though not for very long and then to Eric 'Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square' Maschwitz for slightly longer.

Joenoir

BED KNOBS AND GIN BOTTLES
By David del Valle from Films in Review December 2005

The only sour note in the celebrated careers of Angela and Hermoine Baddeley had to be the tunnel-vision of American casting directors, most of whom know little of the history of cinema and even less of theatre. They viewed the Baddeley sisters only as comic domestics on television. Angela received some of her best notices playing Mrs. Bridges for Upstairs/downstairs on the BBC. Yet she had worked with Gielgud and Olivier in many stage productions of Shakespeare. Television gave them both exposure but not the respect they deserved as artists.
Hermoine on the other hand became a household name with American audiences, made serious money, and garnered raves for her work on “Maude” as the boozy Mrs. Naugatuck, yet few here in Hollywood realized what a towering dramatic actress Hermoine had been in her prime. Tennessee Williams recalled in his memoirs the bravura performance Hermione gave as Flora Goforth at Spoleto of his play “The Milk Train doesn’t stop here anymore,” where the great Anna Magnani, having witnessed her performance, insisted on going backstage where she knelt down and kissed the hem of Hermoine’s dress - a tribute from one great actress to another. In her film work she would receive an Oscar nomination for Room aOOM AT THE TOP, losing the award but acquiring the star of the film, Laurence Harvey, as a lover. She once confided to me that her relationship with Harvey was so intense “there was a fire within Larry compelling him to work non-stop, he devoured life as if he knew it might be cut short”
Her time spent in Hollywood kind of set the stage for her image as a loveable domestic with roles in MIDNIGHT LACE for Ross Hunter and the two Disney films that created her image in the eyes of American audiences MARY POPPINS and THE HAPPIEST MILLIONAIRE.
It was Florence Marley who first brought me to Hermione’s house, which at that time was high above Sunset Blvd not far from George Cukor’s busy address. We attended the first of many parties that Hermione would throw over the next eight years I was to know her. At this point in my life I was always looking for personalities to represent. I had recently opened my own Talent agency - Del Valle, Franklin and Levine - which had just taken offices on the thirteenth floor of Century Park East. Securing names like Hermione made it possible to get lesser clients in the door of the major network-casting directors. These were the days of TVQ…all actors were rated on how much exposure they had on Television in a given year, and having a regular from a Norman Lear production was pure gold.
The task of signing Hermione Baddeley as a client was a challenge to say the least! She would always say yes “please take care of things, be my rock” then repeat the same gesture with the next agent that asked to represent her. I remember trying to negotiate her contract for a ‘Love Boat’ appearance only to have the casting agent ask me “Why is Mark Levin submitting her as well?” It seemed Hermione met Mark at Bea Arthur’s house and told him to see what he could do for her. When I confronted her with this all she did was laugh and say “Well darling, lets see who gets the most money out of them.” After a fashion I decided it was far better to be her pal and not try to manage her career. She was highly sought after to do voice over work for commercials, and animated features as well! Hermoine would be in demand till the end of her life, such was her talent.
Hermione always seemed to be at cross purposes with her life at home and what was required of her at the studios. Yet none of life’s realities seemed to matter much to her as most of the challenges to be found in acting were behind her now. Hermione wanted to party and have fun when she was not working. By the time I knew her she had already stopped working on “Maude” and was free lancing on shows like “Little House on the Prairie”, Wonder Woman” and of course “The Love Boat”
Hermione’s only constant companions during the time I knew her were “a summer stock” version of the charismatic young man. Enter Johnny Rebel, who was handy as houseboy and driver when needed. It was only much later that I would learn he was much more than that! The other was a delightfully intoxicated English woman known as “Lady Jane.” This woman was never, and I mean never, sober. However Lady Jane was a good companion for a character like Hermione as she was loyal, howlingly funny, and dear.
I am blessed with so many memories of these two arriving at parties watching Jane slowly gravitate to the kitchen or wherever the bar was set up and remain near the booze until time to say goodnight.
Christmas time with Hermione could be considered the cocktail hour version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ (remember Hermione played Bob Cratchets wife in what I consider the best film version with grand old Alistair Sim as Scrooge). Christmas Day was always spent at the Cock and Bull bar and grill on Sunset Blvd. A favorite watering hole for both veterans of Hollywood not to mention the British film colony, the drinks were generous and the lighting as cave-like as possible. One could spot John Carradine in conversation with Murray Matheson or see Natalie Shafer ordering more roast beef with Eve Arden. The grill section of the bar always prepared a Christmas buffet unsurpassed for brunch. Hermione would carry a large handbag which she would fill with roast beef and turkey legs for her six or seven pugs she had waiting for her at home. Sometimes we would arrive back at the house and before she could put the bag down they were off and running with it. I often wondered if the bag itself, having held so much food over the years, would be considered the first doggie bag??
Once, during one of my little parties, Lady Jane asked me to make Champagne punch, so I prepared a large punch bowel using her recipe. When they arrived, Lady Jane kept refilling one glass after another, finally telling Hermione to come into the kitchen as she could act as a waiter no longer! A few minutes later I saw the two of them sitting by the punch bowl with two large milk shake straws draining the contents with schoolgirl abandon. Oh for a photograph of that!!
The best parties were the ones that Hermione organized personally to celebrate a friend’s birthday or someone getting a job. On these occasions she would cater the party and spend ample time up in her bedroom preparing her grand entrance after the guests arrived. Hermione would come down the stairs with a feather boa around her neck and a large smoking cigar lit at full flame as she puffed her way down to her waiting guests. I remember meeting author Robert Nathan, whose work I admired, with his wife, the actress Anna Lee, a grand dame in her own right. The legendary Stan Lee was a regular at her soirées and after a few drinks would take me out on the veranda which overlooked Los Angeles would begin his speech to me about producing…”Remember David if you want to be a producer start telling yourself that you are a producer; it is that simple…” Stan always thought being an agent was not my cup of tea and he was right on the money with that observation.
The divine Martha Raye came to many of these parties. What a remarkable talent she was, and so down to earth. One could see why Chaplin admired her work in comedy so much.
Martha loved to play off Hermione when they would get near a piano. They usually got Gavin Macleod’s wife Patti to play while they took turns doing their favorite music hall ballads and randy tunes. Hermoine was a favorite with Sir Noel Coward as well; he wrote several songs for her revues over the years. That evening she sang two of them ‘I’m the wife of an acrobat’ and ‘Poor little rich girl.’ The room burst into applause. This encouragement led to Hermione reviving her Music Hall act as a revue entitled “Why not Tonight?” She worked very hard on this revue, the result being a tour de force for a woman of her advancing years. The material was a bit dated for the Los Angeles crowd yet her humor and drive overwhelmed any real criticism beyond her choice of material. Hermione is credited with being the first to sing about a sex change in a revue. The song entitled ‘I changed my sex a week ago’ is still a giggle and a wink for Hermione and her legion of gay admirers who were there on opening night to support this legend in English revue. She sang some of her old favorites like ‘Missing the bus’ and ‘Winter in Torquay,’ signing off with ‘Old Girls.’ ‘Why Not Tonight’ ran only for a handful of performances, as it was a trial run for a tour if she thought the show as well as its star would be able to pull off a long city-by-city tour. I have forgotten the exact reasons she chose not to tour - perhaps the expense, as well as being out of circulation for voice-over work, which was paying the bills at the moment, made her say no. It would be one of her last live appearances on stage.
Martha Raye would sometimes organize a visit to Laguna Beach for an impromptu songfest at a club called “The Little Shrimp” where the two old-timers would pull out all the stops for a limited audience of admirers. My favorite experience with the two of them was not in Laguna Beach but right in West Hollywood at a tacky, dark leather bar on Santa Monica Blvd called The Eagle. It seems the bartender there kept an autographed picture of Martha over the cash register, so one night Hermione called me and said “Darling, we are all going to meet Maggie over at this club to see why they don’t have my picture up there as well.” By the time we all converged on the “Club” it was wall to wall men, yet never underestimate the power of celebrity. Both ladies walked in and owned the place as drinks were on the house and Maggie got introduced to ‘Poppers,’ a recreational form of amyl nitrate. From that night onward there was always a vial in Maggie Raye’s purse for a night out. After about an hour in the place a very rough looking guy with a beer gut and leather cap and pants walked up to Hermione and Maggie and said “I want to meet you both.” He looked at Maggie and said “I watch you and Chaplin on tape back in Munich at our little film club.” Maggie asked if he was in the business and he replied “Well yes, I direct films. My name is Rainer Fassbinder.” The name meant little to them but I was stunned, until the bartender explained that Fassbinder liked the club so much that they gave him the back room to act as a sort of office whenever he was in Los Angeles. At that moment I knew this is as good as it gets.
There would be more good times with Hermione and Lady Jane including a trip or two down to Newport Beach. I was in New York when I heard that Hermione had suffered a series of strokes at home and was taken to hospital where she was kept alive until her daughter could fly in from London to take charge. That was the end of an era in my life, for no matter how many stars or personalities I would come to know in this business, there would always be just one Hermione Baddeley.

Start every day with a smile and get it over with.

lovegod

from mem of reading her biog I think she
was in lots of "reviews " in the 40s and probably
late 30s ?

From what I can work out these stage shows were light
entertainment and "sketches " often with comment
or satire on events and personages of the day.

And of course, back then everyone seemed to have
a catch phrase.
EG Tommy Trinder...........You Lucky People !!!

Was'nt Hermione's........"Shall I do you now sir ??"

a more modern eg is John Inman.........."Im free ! "

CaptainWaggett

Wasn't 'Can I do you now, Sir?' Mrs Mopp from ITMA?

Gazza

One of Hermione's favourites was:

Laurence Olivier was tour de force
Donald Wolfit was forced to tour

julian_craster

<< She shared a house for a while with film director Brian Desmond Hurst (Dangerous Moonlight).>>

Purely platonic......Brian Desmond Hurst was famously gay.....see the book 'The Empress of Ireland'. ( a great read.....)

donna

will have to read up about the woman , but doesnt she look like a drag queen.

Mysteryfan

I live in Chicago Illinois and was at the Dearborn station where the Santa Fe Railroad (Railway) departed Chicago for Los Angeles, because I am a rail buff or enthusiast (yes I have been to Mecca, York for all steam lovers. ) Well the Santa fe handled many of the Hollywood and international stars who prefer rail travel to airplanes. I was leaving the station when I spied a taxi drive up and how got out but Hermoine Gingold. She walked her little white poddle around the curb. I left thinking i had seen someone I used to watch on the Jack Parr tv show.