| Avril Angers | |
|---|---|
| Born | Avril Florence Angers 18 April 1918 Liverpool, England |
| Died | 9 November 2005 (aged 87) London, England |
Avril Florence Angers (18 April 1918 – 9 November 2005) was an English stand up comedienne and actress.
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Angers was born in Liverpool. She danced with the Tiller Girls before joining ENSA during the Second World War, becoming a Forces' sweetheart. She never married or had children. Angers lived in Covent Garden, London and died in London from pneumonia, aged 87.[1]
Angers made her West End theatre debut at the Palace Theatre in a 1944 revue titled Keep Going.[2]
Angers was one of the first stand up comediennes, and was equally capable of playing a straight man role as a foil to established (male) comics including Frankie Howerd and Arthur Askey. As her career developed, her accomplished facility for a very wide variety of acting roles became evident.
After five years' service with ENSA, Angers moved back into civilian life and took on many and various roles in television (including Dad's Army, All Creatures Great and Small, Are You Being Served?, and Coronation Street), as well as in film and theatre.
A film still showing Angers in the 1966 film The Family Way (starring Hayley Mills) appeared on the sleeve of The Smiths single "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish".[3] and in 1988 Morrissey expressed his admiration for Angers in an interview with Simon Reynolds, who admitted to never having heard of her.