Chili Bouchier: Difference between revisions
Line 27: | Line 27: | ||
Bouchier combined her film career with a great deal of stage work in the UK. From 1950, onwards most of her appearances were on stage in dramas, comedies and revues, where she continued to work until well into her eighties. |
Bouchier combined her film career with a great deal of stage work in the UK. From 1950, onwards most of her appearances were on stage in dramas, comedies and revues, where she continued to work until well into her eighties. |
||
She married the 23 year-old actor [[Peter De Greef]] in 1946 at [[Kensington]] in London.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/mediaui-viewer/tree/21530315/person/20436396791/media/b7b4140d-49b1-4ffe-af3e-49bf8b3c33f6?_phsrc=Hxx305&_phstart=successSource Edward Denaston Marriage Certificate of William De Greeff and Dorothy Irene Milton (1946): Ancestry.com {{subscription}}]</ref |
She married the 23 year-old actor [[Peter De Greef]] in 1946 at [[Kensington]] in London.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/mediaui-viewer/tree/21530315/person/20436396791/media/b7b4140d-49b1-4ffe-af3e-49bf8b3c33f6?_phsrc=Hxx305&_phstart=successSource Edward Denaston Marriage Certificate of William De Greeff and Dorothy Irene Milton (1946): Ancestry.com {{subscription}}]</ref> |
||
==Later years== |
==Later years== |
Revision as of 11:41, 20 September 2020
Chili Bouchier | |
---|---|
![]() Publicity image from Who's Who on the Screen, 1938 | |
Born | Dorothy Irene Boucher 12 September 1909 |
Died | 9 September 1999 | (aged 89)
Other names | Dorothy Bouchier |
Years active | 1927–1960 |
Dorothy Irene "Chili" Bouchier (12 September 1909 – 9 September 1999[2]) was an English film actress who achieved success during the silent film era, and went on to many screen appearances with the advent of sound films, before progressing to theatre later in her career.
Career
She made her first appearance as a child dancer at a charity performance. She became a typist on leaving school and later a model at Harrod's. Her first appearance was as a bathing belle in Shooting Stars. Bouchier won a contest run by the Daily Mail in 1927 to become a film star. In 1928, she appeared in a short film made in the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process, Ain't She Sweet, with Dick Henderson. She was known as Britain's "It girl", and the answer to Clara Bow in Hollywood, who was famous for the tag.[3]
She achieved success in the 1930s with the films Carnival (1931), directed by Herbert Wilcox and Gypsy (1937). The latter was made by the British arm of Warner Brothers at Teddington Studios, but, like a number of her films, is considered to be lost. She also played the supporting role of Cleopatra in The Ghost Goes West, starring Robert Donat. During this period, she was brought over to Warner Brothers in Hollywood but broke her contract after being kept hanging around. This caused her to be blackballed and unable to make another film. Hollywood film producer and business magnate Howard Hughes proposed to her, but Bouchier's great love was the bandleader Teddy Joyce, whom she was engaged to before his premature death.[4]
Despite this setback, she continued to appear in British films until 1960, albeit often in supporting roles in B-movies. Amongst her later films were Murder in Reverse (1945), a successful thriller starring William Hartnell, and Old Mother Riley's New Venture (1949), part of the successful series of Old Mother Riley comedy films.
Bouchier combined her film career with a great deal of stage work in the UK. From 1950, onwards most of her appearances were on stage in dramas, comedies and revues, where she continued to work until well into her eighties.
She married the 23 year-old actor Peter De Greef in 1946 at Kensington in London.[5]
Later years
In 1996, Bouchier published her autobiography, Shooting Star, and received some media attention: she was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 series Desert Island Discs in January,[4] and was the subject of This Is Your Life in February, when she was surprised by Michael Aspel at a book signing session at Harrods. Featured guests were Patricia Roc, Sian Phillips, Peggy Mount, Avril Angers, Lionel Blair, Mary Millar, Dorothy Tutin, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Leslie Ash and Petula Clark.[3]
Death
Bouchier died three days short of her ninetieth birthday in her ground floor flat in Marylebone, London after having fallen and hit her head on a radiator. She had no children, and it was reported that towards the end of her life that she was alcoholic, drinking three litres of whiskey a week.[6][7]
Selected filmography
- Mumsie (1927)
- A Woman in Pawn (1927) - Elaine
- Shooting Stars (1927) - Winnie - Bathing Beauty
- Dawn (1928) - Minor Role (uncredited)
- Maria Marten (1928) - Minor Role (uncredited)
- Palais de danse (1928) - No. 2
- Chick (1928) - Minnie Jarvis
- You Know What Sailors Are (1928) - The Spanish Captain's Daughter
- The Silver King (1929) - Olive Skinner
- Downstream (1929) - Lena
- City of Play (1929) - Ariel
- Warned Off (1930) - Florrie Greville
- Kissing Cup's Race (1930) - Gabrielle
- Enter the Queen (1930, Short) - Marjorie Manners
- Call of the Sea (1930) - Poquita
- Brown Sugar (1931) - Ninon de Veaux
- Carnival (1931) - Simonetta Steno
- The Blue Danube (1932) - Yutka
- Ebb Tide (1932) - Cassie
- The King's Cup (1933) - Betty Conway
- Summer Lightning (1933) - Sue Brown
- Purse Strings (1933) - Mary Willmore
- It's a Cop (1934) - Babette
- To Be a Lady (1934) - Diana Whitcombe
- The Office Wife (1934, Short) - Linda
- Death Drives Through (1935) - Kay Lord
- Royal Cavalcade (1935) - Landgirl
- The Mad Hatters (1935) - Vicki
- Honours Easy (1935) - Kate
- Lucky Days (1935) - Patsy Cartwright
- Get Off My Foot (1935) - Marie
- Mr. Cohen Takes a Walk (1935) - Julia Levine
- The Ghost Goes West (1935) - Cleopatra
- Faithful (1936) - Pamela Carson
- Where's Sally? (1936) - Sonia
- Southern Roses (1936) - Estrella Estrello
- Gypsy (1937) - Hassina
- Mayfair Melody (1937) - Carmen
- The Minstrel Boy (1937) - Dee Dawn
- Change for a Sovereign (1937) - Countess Rita
- The Singing Cop (1938) - Kit Fitzwillow
- The Dark Stairway (1938) - Betty Trimmer
- Mr. Satan (1938) - Jacqueline Manet
- The Return of Carol Deane (1938) - Anne Dempster
- Everything Happens to Me (1938) - Sally Green
- The Mind of Mr. Reeder (1939) - Elsa Weford
- My Wife's Family (1941) - Rosa Latour
- Facing the Music (1941) - Anna Braun
- Murder in Reverse (1945) - Doris Masterick
- The Laughing Lady (1946) - Louise
- Mrs. Fitzherbert (1947) - Norris
- The Case of Charles Peace (1949) - Katherine Dyson
- Old Mother Riley's New Venture (1949) - Cora
- Blueprint for Danger (1952) - Babs
- The Counterfeit Plan (1957) - Gerta - Housekeeper
- The Boy and the Bridge (1959) - Publican's Wife
- Dead Lucky (1960) - Mrs. Winston (final film role)
References
- ^ Ronald Bergan. "Chili Bouchier". the Guardian.
- ^ "Chili Bouchier". BFI. Archived from the original on 2009-01-14.
- ^ a b "Chili Bouchier". www.bigredbook.info. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
- ^ a b "BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Chili Bouchier". BBC. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
- ^ Edward Denaston Marriage Certificate of William De Greeff and Dorothy Irene Milton (1946): Ancestry.com (subscription required)
- ^ "BBC News - UK - British screen siren dies".
- ^ "Chili Bouchier".
External links
- Chili Bouchier at IMDb
- The archives of Chili Bouchier are held at The Women's Library at the Library of the London School of Economics, ref 7CHB
- Obituary in The Independent
- Chili Bouchier's appearance on This Is Your Life