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That’s Entertainment as Thelma looks back on her career

Thursday 16 January 2014

WEB Thelma Ruby smiley

West End actress Thelma Ruby (OG39) left her audience wanting more when she reminisced about the good old days at Leeds Girls’ High School and shared memories of her colourful career with members of the Old Girls’ Club.

The 88-year-old actress, who was guest speaker at the London branch October meeting, opened the afternoon by sharing a short film that her nephew had created for her last birthday. The film was first shown at a screening in Soho and followed Thelma down memory lane as she re-visited theatres she had performed in. It was also filled with clips from her youth and reminiscences from her family and friends.

Thelma, who recently revived her one-woman show That’s Entertainment at London’s Garrick Club, has enjoyed a career spanning more than 60 years. In that time she has performed alongside some of the greats of the acting world including Orson Welles and Dame Judi Dench, referring to the latter as “absolutely lovely” and counting her as an old friend.

The Chapel Allerton-born actress was a pupil at Leeds Girls’ High School for nine years before being evacuated to America with her mother at the start of the Second World War in 1939.

Recounting her days at LGHS fondly, she admitted that she had appeared in only one of the school’s productions – playing Danny, the wounded soldier, in J M Barrie’s A Kiss for Cinderella.

However, her performance was obviously a memorable one as she recalled that on her first visit to the London branch of the OGC, she was recognised by an OG.

She said: “A lady walked up to me and said ‘I remember you in A Kiss for Cinderella’. Well, I couldn’t believe it. I was so amazed that somebody remembered my performance from so long ago.”

To add to the surprise, another OG at the meeting had also appeared in the same play!

Thelma was caught by the acting bug when she attended New York’s Finch College and, from then on, she threw herself into performing.

From her early days entertaining troops in British hospitals as part of her national service, to her one-woman show today, Thelma’s credits are impressive.

She has appeared alongside Topol in the stage version of Fiddler on the Roof, in which she played his wife Golde four times. She has also appeared in Cabaret with Judi Dench, played Lily Dempsey on Coronation Street, and toured the world for eight years in the play Momma Golda to name but a few.

It was whilst she was preparing to play the title role of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in Momma Golda that Thelma met the legendary stateswoman.

She said: “I remember she opened the door and made tea herself, even though she was 80 years old at the time. She asked me to do her a favour. She said: ‘Thelma, I saw this play in New York, with Anne Bancroft playing me. She stooped and I do not stoop!’ So I promised her I would stand straight when I played her.”

Thelma also spoke about her life with her late husband, the stage director Peter Frye, with whom she co-wrote their autobiography Double or Nothing: Two Lives in the Theatre.

 

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