Trivia

With her husband Jack Hulbert formed one of the most successful and popular music comedy teams in 1930's Britain. The couple met in 1913 during a joint performance and married three years later. Over the next decade, they appeared in theatres and music halls nationwide, subsequently making the transition to films. After World War II, Cicely embarked on a solo career as a straight actress, often as aunts or grandmothers. One of her best performances was in the drama The L-Shaped Room (1962).

She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1951 King's New Year Honours List and the DBE (Dame Commander of the the Order of the British Empire) in the 1972 Queen's New Year Honours List for her services to drama.

Daughter of actor-manager Robert Courtneidge (29 June 1859-6 April 1939).

She was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium in Golders Green, London, England.

A memorial service was held for her at St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden on 12th June 1980.

Cicely Courtneidge was the subject of a comedy skit in Season 1, Episode 6 of Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969) where a native American in full warrior garb Eric Idle attends the Dorking Civic Theatre to see her in a stage play. When it is announced Ms. Courtneidge will not appear that evening, a massacre takes place.

The daughter of the producer and playwright Robert Courtneidge, she was appearing in his productions in the West End by the age of 16, and was quickly promoted from minor to major roles in his Edwardian musical comedies.

While appearing in her last West End run in 1971, she celebrated 70 years on the stage. Afterwards, she continued to work for a further five years before retiring.

During the Second World War, Courtneidge entertained the armed forces and raised funds for the troops.

Courtneidge was educated in England and, for two teenage years, in Switzerland. On returning from the latter, aged 15, she embarked on an acting career, with the approval and encouragement of her parents.

She had a long run in Under the Counter, a comedy in which she received glowing notices. Notable among her other successes was Courtneidge's performance in Ivor Novello's musical Gay's the Word in 1951-52.

Her first starring role was Eileen Cavanagh in the long-running Edwardian musical comedy The Arcadians, which she took over from Phyllis Dare in 1910. In the piece that followed, The Mousmé (1911), which also featured a book co-written by her father, she was cast in one of the two leading female roles alongside Florence Smithson.

In 1962, she gave what she considered her finest film performance, in a role wholly unlike her usual parts; in The L-Shaped Room she played an elderly lesbian, living in a drab London flat with her cat, recalling her career as an actress and forlornly trying to keep in touch with former friends. The Times described her performance as a triumph.

Her London West End debut was at the Apollo Theatre in the comic opera Tom Jones (1907), which had a libretto co-written by her father.

In 1931 Courtneidge and Hulbert suffered a serious setback when they discovered that their financial manager had been speculating with their money, suffering heavy losses and putting their business into liquidation. Hulbert accepted responsibility for all the business's debts and undertook to repay every creditor. To achieve this, he and Courtneidge temporarily went their separate professional ways, reasoning that they could earn more as individual stars than as a double act.

In 1901, at the age of eight, Courtneidge made her stage debut as the fairy Peaseblossom in her father's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Prince's Theatre, Manchester.

After the outbreak of the First World War, her father had a series of failures and temporarily withdrew from production. No other producers offered the young Courtneidge leading roles in musical comedies, and she turned instead to the music hall, learning her craft as a comedian.

In 1916 she married the actor and dancer Jack Hulbert, with whom she formed a professional as well as a matrimonial partnership that lasted until his death 62 years later. They acted together on stage and screen, initially in a series of revues, with Hulbert frequently producing as well as performing.

A boom in the film industry enabled both to earn large sums; Courtneidge appeared in 11 British films and one Hollywood film in the 1930s. She was amused to find that in eight weeks in a film studio she could earn more than she could in a year in the theatre. She and Hulbert managed to work together on several films, including The Ghost Train (1931) and Jack's the Boy (1932).

One of her last appearances was in a royal gala performance at the Chichester Festival Theatre in June 1977, celebrating the Queen's Silver Jubilee. The performance was called God Save the Queen! and had an all-star cast, including Ingrid Bergman, Wendy Hiller, Flora Robson and Diana Rigg.