Andrée Melly

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Andrée Melly
Melly in The Brides of Dracula
Born(1932-09-15)15 September 1932
Liverpool, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom
Died31 January 2020(2020-01-31) (aged 87)
OccupationActress
Years active1952–1974
SpouseOscar Quitak
RelativesGeorge Melly (Brother)

Andrée Melly (15 September 1932 – 31 January 2020) was an English actress.

Career[edit]

Born in Liverpool, Lancashire, she performed at the Old Vic in Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice and T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral in her early twenties and worked with Peter Finch and Robert Donat at the theatre.[1] In 1958, she appeared with the Jamaican actor Lloyd Reckord in the Ted Willis play Hot Summer Night, a production which was later adapted for the Armchair Theatre series in 1959[2] and in which she was a participant in the earliest known interracial kiss on television. She continued to appear on British television until 1991.[3] Her other stage work includes the original West End production of the farce Boeing-Boeing at the Apollo Theatre in 1962 with David Tomlinson and as Alice "Childie" McNaught in The Killing of Sister George at St Martin's in 1966.[4][5]

Melly appeared in British films, including the comedy The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954) and the Hammer Horror film The Brides of Dracula (1960).[6] Her role in the latter film was as Gina, a woman who is bitten by Baron Meinster, a vampire, turning her into another undead character.[4]

She reported in an interview with the writer Oscar Martinez in the magazine Little Shoppe of Horrors that she had played the role of Dracula's bride because she wanted to explore varied characters. She had previously played, on BBC television, Joan of Arc, and Jo March in Little Women, and the first white woman who played opposite a black man in a romantic drama in the West End, Hot Summer Night. She also played a lesbian lead in The Killing of Sister George also in the West End, in keeping with unusual roles.

During the filming of The Brides of Dracula, she invited her brother George, who was writing the cartoon strip Flook (drawn by Trog) in The Daily Mail, to come to the film set to capture the filming of her climbing out of a coffin dressed as a vampire. George satirised his visit in his comic strip by having the character Flook visit a horror film studio that was employing his sister, who was playing a witch. The episode subsequently reappeared as a chapter on "My Little Sister" in George's fictional autobiography, I, Flook (1962), in which Andrée's character, Lucretia, is described as having "long ratty hair and not too clean", and "baleful malevolence" in her eyes.[7]

When Oscar Martinez interviewed Melly and her husband, the actor Oscar Quitak, he called the interview, The Vampire Woman and the Hunchback because Quitak had played a hunchback in another Hammer horror film, The Revenge of Frankenstein.[8]

Melly played Tony Hancock's girlfriend in two series of the Hancock's Half Hour (1955–56) radio series replacing Moira Lister.[4][9] From 1967 to 1976, she was a regular panellist in the BBC radio comedy Just a Minute.[4] Along with Sheila Hancock, she was one of the most regular female contestants, appearing in fifty-four episodes between 1967 and 1976.[10] In 1972, she chaired an episode.[11] She was the first panellist to win points for talking for the prescribed 60 seconds without hesitation, repetition or deviation.[1] She also appeared in several episodes of The Benny Hill Show.[1]

Personal life[edit]

One of her two brothers, George Melly, was a jazz singer.[9] She latterly lived in Ibiza with her husband Oscar Quitak.[6] The marriage produced two children.

With the death of Bill Kerr in 2014, Melly was the last surviving regular cast member of Hancock's Half Hour. Melly died on 31 January 2020 at the age of 87.[12] Her husband survived her.

Filmography[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1952 So Little Time Paulette Film
The Poppenkast Katryn Television film
1953 A Loan from Lorenzo Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England Television film
1954 The Maid of Domrémy Jeanne d'Arc Television film
The Belles of St. Trinian's Lucretia Film
1955 Cornelia Cornelia Taft Television film
Theatre Royal Alycia Lawrence Episode: "The Orderly"
1956 Act of Violence Lenora Television film
The Secret Tent Ruth Martyn Film
ITV Television Playhouse Georgie Harlow Episode: "Woman in a Dressing Gown"
The Gambler Mlle. Blanche de Cominges Television film
Plaintiff in a Pretty Hat Jennifer Wren Television film
1957 Assignment Foreign Legion Denise Episode: "As We Forgive"
The Passionate Stranger Marla Film
Hour of Mystery Sally Joss Episode: "No Charge for the Proof"
1958 Saturday Playhouse Hilda Crompton Episode: "My Flesh, My Blood"
Little Women Jo March 6 episodes
Nowhere to Go Rosa - Cocktail waitress Film
1958–1959 Armchair Theatre Louise Beauchamp / Kathie Palmer 2 episodes: "Night of the Ding-Dong" (1958) and "Hot Summer Night" (1959)
1959 People of the Night Vera Television film
Dangerous Ice Miss Sennet Television film
The Men from Room 13 Caroline 2 episodes: "The Man Who Sold Romances: Parts 1 & 2"
1960 Beyond the Curtain Linda Film
The Brides of Dracula Gina Film
BBC Sunday-Night Play Mary Preston Episode: "Twentieth Century Theatre: Musical Chairs"
The Big Day Nina Wentworth Film
Maigret Ernestine Episode: "The Burglar's Wife"
1961 A Life of Bliss April Summers 3 episodes
You Can't Win Ella Episode: "To Wait Collection"
1962 Boeing-Boeing Jacqueline Television film
Tales of Mystery Ilse Episode: "Ancient Sorceries"
Zero One Tina Stavros Episode: "The Marriage Broker"
1963 The Human Jungle Gloria Episode: "Run with the Devil"
1963–1964 ITV Play of the Week Melanie / Mary Boyce 2 episodes: "The Quails" (1963) and "A Case of Character" (1964)
1964 The Horror of It All Natalia Marley Film
Boy with a Flute Caroline Laser Short film
1965 The Wednesday Play Alicia Episode: "The Navigators"
1967 Thirty-Minute Theatre The Wife Episode: "Teeth"
1968 The Sex Game Alison Watkins Episode: "Return Match"
1969 ITV Playhouse Leslie Amlett Episode: "Uncle Jonathan"
1970 The Doctors Lena Freeman 10 episodes
ITV Sunday Night Theatre Joanna Episode: "The Insider"
1973 Spy Trap Susan Episode: "Salvage"
1974 The Best of Benny Hill Interviewer ('The Grass Is Greener') Television film
1981 Tiny Revolutions Agnesa Kalina Television film
1984 The Fasting Girl Caroline Television film
1988 Turn on to T-Bag Queen Madeleine Episode: "The Two Musketeers"
1990 T-Bag and the Pearls of Wisdom Osiris Episode: "Tut Tut"

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Andrée Melly obituary". The Times. London. 4 March 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2020. (subscription required)
  2. ^ Oliver Wake "Hot Summer Night (1959)", BFI screenonline
  3. ^ "Andrée Melly". BFI. Archived from the original on 8 January 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d "Andrée Melly, actress whose many roles included a vampire's victim in a Hammer horror film – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 9 March 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  5. ^ "Andree Melly: Theatricalia". theatricalia.com.
  6. ^ a b Cotter, Robert Michael “Bobb” (10 January 2014). The Women of Hammer Horror: A Biographical Dictionary and Filmography. McFarland. ISBN 9781476602011 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ Melly, George (1962). I, Flook: an autobiography. London: Macmillan. pp. 19–30.
  8. ^ Oscar, Martinez (1990). "The Vampire Woman and the Hunchback". Little Shoppe of Horrors Magazine, Published by Richard Klemensen (10/11).
  9. ^ a b Stevens, Christopher (2010). Born Brilliant: The Life Of Kenneth Williams. John Murray. p. 81. ISBN 978-1-84854-195-5.
  10. ^ "Andrée Melly – National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk.
  11. ^ "Just A Minute radio season 6 1971–1972". just-a-minute.info.
  12. ^ Telegraph Deaths Announcements: QUITAK

External links[edit]

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