Googie Withers

Georgette Lizette "Googie" Withers, CBE, AO (12 March 1917 – 15 July 2011) was an English entertainer. She was a dancer and actress, with a lengthy career spanning some nine decades in theatre, film, and television. She was a well-known actress and star of British films during and after World War II.

Googie Withers

CBE AO
Withers in 1947
Born
Georgette Lizette Withers

(1917-03-12)12 March 1917
Karachi, British India
Died15 July 2011(2011-07-15) (aged 94)
Sydney, Australia
EducationItalia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts
Occupation(s)Actress, dancer
Years active1929–2002
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1948; died 2010)​
Children3, including Joanna[1]

She often featured in British productions, primarily in films with actor and producer John McCallum, whom she married and, in the late 1950s, emigrated together to her husband's native Australia, where they became best known in theatre. However, during the 1970s, she played prison governor Faye Boswell in the TV series Within These Walls, and continued to feature in films.[2]

Biography

Withers was born in Karachi, British India (now Pakistan), to Edgar Withers, a captain in the Royal Navy, and Lizette Wilhelmina Katarina, of Dutch, French and German descent.[3][4][5] She was named after her aunt Georgette Ottolina, but was fondly given the name "chota ghugi'" at a young age by her Punjabi ayah (nanny), chota ghugi' being Punjabi for "little dove", which became Anglicised to "Googie". She became used to the nickname and decided to keep it as her stage name.[6] As a child, she showed interest in learning the Urdu language.

After her father left the Royal Navy to manage a foundry in Birmingham, England, Googie was sent to a boarding school near Dover, and a secondary day school in London.[3]

Acting career

Withers began acting at the age of twelve, and was student at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, and at the dance school of Buddy Bradley, where she learnt ballet and tap. She was a dancer in a West End production when she was offered work as a film extra in Michael Powell's The Girl in the Crowd (1935). She arrived on the set to find one of the major players in the production had been dismissed, and she was immediately asked to step into the leading role, beginning a seven year contract with Warner Brothers, after which she worked for Fox British, Ealing Studios and The Rank Organisation.[7]

During the 1930s, Withers was constantly in demand in lead roles in minor films, and supporting roles in more prestigious productions. She was in Windfall (1935) and The Love Test (1935), and she had the lead in All at Sea (1935).

Withers supported in Dark World (1935), King of Hearts (1936), and Accused (1936). Her Last Affaire (1935) was her third film with Powell.

She followed it with She Knew What She Wanted (1936), Crown v. Stevens (1936) (directed by Powell), Crime Over London (1936), Pearls Bring Tears (1937), Action for Slander (1937), and Paradise for Two (1937).

Withers had the lead in You're the Doctor (1938) and was back to support for Kate Plus Ten (1938). Her best-known work of the period was as one of Margaret Lockwood's friends in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938).

She continued in support roles in Paid in Error (1938) and Strange Boarders (1938). She was in a Will Hay film Convict 99 (1938) and supported Jack Buchanan in The Gang's All Here (1939). Then she appeared in crime films Murder in Soho (1939) and Dead Men are Dangerous (1939).

She supported George Formby in Trouble Brewing (1939) and Tommy Trinder in She Couldn't Say No (1939). She was in a Robert Montgomery film Busman's Honeymoon (1939) and was reunited with Buchanan in Bulldog Sees It Through (1940). She was still supporting comics in Back-Room Boy (1942) with Arthur Askey.

Rising fame

Among her successes of the 1940s, and a departure from her previous roles, was the Powell and Pressburger film One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), a topical World War II drama, in which she played a Dutch resistance fighter who helps British airmen return to safety from behind enemy lines.[8]

Powell and Pressburger then used her in a film they produced but did not direct, The Silver Fleet (1943). She played Helen, a significant second lead in the Clive Book-directed 1944 comedy On Approval.

Withers was in They Came to a City (1945), directed by Basil Dearden, and was one of several stars in Dead of Night (1945).

She was given a star part in Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945). It was well received, and Withers was given the title role in The Loves of Joanna Godden (1947), which was a hit. In the cast was actor John McCallum, whom Withers later married. They remained married until McCallum died in 2010.[9]

Withers then starred in It Always Rains on Sunday (1948), which was one of the biggest hits of the year. In 1948, British exhibitors voted her the 8th most popular British star in the country.[10][11]

Three comedies followed: the hugely popular Miranda (1948), with McCallum, and Once Upon a Dream (1949) and Traveller's Joy (1949), both directed by Ralph Thomas. Next, she was third-billed after Hollywood stars Gene Tierney and Richard Widmark in the tense thriller Night and the City (1950).[12]

Withers took 13 months off following the birth of her first child, then returned to star as a doctor in White Corridors (1951), one of the most popular films of the year in Britain.[13][14] She was one of many cameos in The Magic Box (1951) and was in a play Winter Journey.[15]

Withers made three films with her husband, Derby Day (1952), Devil on Horseback (1954), and Port of Escape (1956).

In 1954, she starred with McCallum in the West End play Waiting for Gillian, by Ronald Millar.

Australia

Withers first toured Australia in the stage play Simon and Laura. After McCallum was offered the position of running J.C. Williamson theatres, they moved to Australia in 1959. Withers starred in a number of stage plays, including Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea, Desire of the Moth, The First 400 Years (with Keith Michell), The Circle,[16] A. R. Gurney's The Cocktail Hour, Time and the Conways, The Importance of Being Earnest, Beekman Place (1965), for which she also designed the set.[17] The Kingfisher, Stardust, Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard and Wilde's An Ideal Husband for the Melbourne Theatre Company; both productions toured Australia. They appeared together in the UK in The School for Scandal at the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End, and on the subsequent British Council tour of Europe in 1983–84, and in W. Somerset Maugham's The Circle at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

Withers starred on Broadway with Michael Redgrave in The Complaisant Lover, and in London with Alec Guinness in Exit the King.

Later career

Withers returned to films with the lead in Nickel Queen (1971), directed by McCallum.

She was in The Cherry Orchard (1974) on Australian TV.

In 1974, she appeared as Faye Boswell, the original governor of a women's prison, in the television series Within These Walls. Because Within These Walls had been a moderate success in Australia, she was approached by producers to play the role of the Governor in the Australian version titled Prisoner, but she declined and the role was given to Patsy King.

Withers starred in the BBC adaptation of Hotel du Lac (1986), which was followed a year later by another BBC production, Northanger Abbey.

In 1989, she appeared at Brighton in England in The Cocktail Hour alongside her husband John and her daughter, Joanna. In the previous year, the play had been a success in New York, starring Nancy Marchand. In 1990, she appeared in ITV's adaptation of Ending Up. Her last screen performance was as the Australian novelist Katharine Susannah Prichard in the film Shine (1996), for which she and the other cast members were nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award for "Outstanding performance by a cast".

In 2002, aged 85, Withers, with Vanessa Redgrave, appeared in London's West End, in Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan.

In October 2007, aged 90 and 89 respectively, Withers and McCallum appeared in an extended interview with Peter Thompson on ABC TV's Talking Heads programme.[6]

Death

Withers died on 15 July 2011 at her Sydney home, aged 94. Her husband, actor, television producer and studio executive John McCallum predeceased her on 3 February 2010.[18][19]

Honours

Withers was appointed an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for services to drama, in the 1980 Australia Day Honours List.[20] In the 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours List (UK), she was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Withers was a JC Williamson Award recipient for lifetime achievement in 1999.[21] In 1992 Googie Withers and John McCallum were founding patrons and active supporters of the Tait Memorial Trust in London. A Charity established by Isla Baring OAM, the daughter of Sir Frank Tait of J. C. Williamson's to support young Australian performing artists in the UK.[22]

She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1971, when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews whilst thinking she was going to be interviewed by her close friend Godfrey Winn. Although she knew Andrews, when he appeared as she entered the set, she asked him why he was no longer working as a presenter and was instead working as a floor manager.[23]

Selected filmography

References
  1. "Googie Withers". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 16 July 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
  2. "Googie Withers, 94, a Veteran British Actress, Dies". The New York Times. Associated Press. 18 July 2011.
  3. McFarlane, Brian (19 July 2011). "Assured leading lady of the screen took no nonsense". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  4. "Willem Noëls van Wageningen - Tarihi kayıtlar ve aile ağaçları - MyHeritage". Archived from the original on 20 March 2020.
  5. Murphy, Damien (18 July 2011). "Best British bad girl with a 'haughty sexuality'". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  6. Thompson, Peter (8 October 2007). "Googie Withers & John McCallum". Talking Heads. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 7 September 2011. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
  7. "Googie Withers interviewed by Bill Stephens (sound recording)".
  8. Arthur, Nigel. "...One of Our Aircraft is Missing (1942)". BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
  9. "John McCallum". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 3 February 2010. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
  10. 'BRITTEN'S "RAPE OF LUCRETIA": NEW YORK DIVIDED', The Manchester Guardian (1901-1959) [Manchester (UK)] 31 December 1948: 8.
  11. "THE STARRY WAY". The Courier-mail. No. 3782. Queensland, Australia. 8 January 1949. p. 2. Retrieved 16 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. "GOOGIE WITHERS IS RAVING..." The Mail. Vol. 39, no. 1, 949. Adelaide. 8 October 1949. p. 5 (Sunday Magazine). Retrieved 16 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. "EMPHASIS ON GLAMOR AT ROYAL FILM SHOW". The Mirror. Vol. 27, no. 1487. Western Australia. 18 November 1950. p. 15. Retrieved 16 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. "Vivien Leigh Actress of the Year". Townsville Daily Bulletin. Vol. LXXI. Queensland, Australia. 29 December 1951. p. 1. Retrieved 16 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. "Googie Withers—EX-DUMB". Truth. No. 2750. Brisbane. 7 December 1952. p. 21. Retrieved 16 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  16. "A day in the life of Googie[?] Withers and John McCallum". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 50, no. 21. 10 November 1982. p. 20. Retrieved 16 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. "Googie Withers arrives". The Canberra Times. Vol. 40, no. 11, 330. 4 December 1965. p. 3. Retrieved 16 September 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  18. "Actor Googie Withers dies at 94". Herald Sun. 17 July 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2011.
  19. Barker, Dennis (16 July 2011). "Googie Withers obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  20. It's an Honour: AO (hon) Archived 12 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine (she appears in the database as "Georgette Lizette McCallum")
  21. "JC Williamson Award recipients". Helpmann Awards. Live Performance Australia. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  22. "Tait Memorial Trust". Archived from the original on 24 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  23. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Googie Withers This Is Your Life". YouTube.
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