- Gwen Nelson
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- Need a grumpy looking actress? Ring for Gwen Nelson.
Nobody had heard of her, but she would do what was required,
and very well too. Is she the most unlikely unsung heroine of
them all?
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- Gwen Nelson should never have been in musicals. She looked
much too strict, and seemed to skip middle-age, moving directly
to old - she was one of those actresses whom it is impossible
to imagine when young. She didn't look like an actress, but like
a severe landlady brooding over her property in East Finchley,
a role she almost certainly played at some time or another -
hers looked the sort of face that didn't approve of members of
the opposite sex in lodgers' rooms. She would have scoffed at
the idea of being any sort of leading lady, and she seldom ventured
towards the top of a bill. On stage or film, the face was often
disagreeable, but there was sometimes a heart of gold found pumping
below. She was a remarkable but quiet talent, and in musicals
- perhaps her most surprising field of activity - she was a notable
presence, in consistent and good work. She is now all but forgotten,
but she appeared in a memorable, if brief, assortment of British
musicals
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Gwen Nelson singing with Joan Plowright
in Roots (1959)
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- She was born in London on 30 June 1901, and originally intended
to be a singer. Her first West End musical was in the minor roles
of Miss Mervin and A Gypsy in Tough at the Top, the A P Herbert
- Vivian Ellis operetta directed by Wendy Toye at the Adelphi
Theatre in July 1949. Despite its beefy leading man (George Tozzi)
and a foreign leading actress who couldn't speak English (Maria
D'Attili), and Ellis' enchanting 'period' score, Tough at the
Top didn't run. At the end of the year Nelson was found playing
Mother Codling in the first London production of Eleanor Farjeon's
magical childrens' play The Silver Curlew at the Arts Theatre,
with its music by Clifton Parker.
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- If The Silver Curlew didn't really count as a musical, there
was no doubt about And So To Bed, another Vivian Ellis confection,
this time made from the story of Samuel Pepys. The show was too
modest and courteous to be an outstanding hit, but - with Nelson
filling out the supporting cast as a contralto Mistress Pierce
- it enjoyed a reasonable run at the New Theatre in 1951. The
heart of gold was exposed in two sentimental British musicals
of 1955, neither of which found much favour with the public.
The better of the two parts was Joan in Philip Guard and Donald
Swann's rustic charmer, Wild Thyme, at the Duke of York's Theatre
in a sweltering July. The part was confined to the third act,
but she did at least get to sing a pleasant jogging duet with
her stage husband of the show, Archie Harradine - 'The Beetle
and the Butterfly'. It had very little to do with the plot, but
passed three minutes nicely enough, and showed that Nelson could
be trusted with a song. In A Girl Called Jo, an adaptation by
Peter Myers' and his writing team of the Louisa M Alcott novels,
Nelson played the maid Hannah at the Piccadilly Theatre. It opened
in time for Christmas, but uncharitable critics didn't recommend
it, and audiences failed to turn up.
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- There were good roles ahead, but nothing ran. She played
Aunt Paula in Oh, My Papa at the Garrick Theatre in July 1957.
The opening night was booed, and the magnificent cast - Peter
O'Toole and Rachel Roberts at its head - could not save it from
an early demise. In 1963 she was Nurse in Virtue in Danger, almost
certainly her finest musical. Thankfully, the show was recorded,
revealing Nelson's brilliant comedy in 'Nurse, Nurse, Nurse',
in which she coaxes the doubtful Pasty Byrne, and most memorably
in the splendid number 'O Take This Ancient Mansion' (a particularly
brilliant lyric from Paul Dehn). Virtue in Danger, with its lovely
score by James Bernard, didn't enjoy anything like the popularity
of its Mermaid predecessor, Lock Up Your Daughters, when it transferred
to the Strand Theatre. When, many years ago, I appeared with
Nelson in a music hall programme, I enthused about the show,
wanting her to tell me all. She seemed obsessed by the fact that
another member of the company, Richard Wordsworth, had smoked
a smelly pipe.
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- Her final role in musicals was a plum that few had the opportunity
to enjoy: Mrs Malaprop. All in Love was an American stab at The
Rivals, produced at the hidden May Fair Theatre in 1964. Nelson
was in a good company that included Peter Gilmore, Peter Pratt
and Ronnie Barker, but nobody seemed to know about the show,
and it closed after only 22 performances. The show, and its score,
seem to have vanished for ever.
- Without ever becoming a name known to the public, Nelson
also pursued a successful career as a character actress, notably
with the Royal Shakespeare Company and at the Royal Court, where
she played in One Way Pendulum and as Mrs Bryant opposite Joan
Plowright in Arnold Wesker's ground-breaking Roots. In films,
she often turned up at the studios for only one scene, perhaps
as a stern but frolicsome old mother (see 84 Charing Cross Road)
or in the street as a nosy housewife (see The Entertainer). One
always felt better for seeing her. Gwen Nelson died on 15 October
1990.
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- Discography
- Original cast recording of Virtue in Danger
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RETURN TO UNSUNG HEROINES
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