Phyllis Dixey (born 10 February 1914, Merton, Surrey — died 2 June 1964, Epsom, Surrey) was a British singer, dancer and impresario. Her earlier career was as a singer in variety shows in Britain. During World War II, she joined ENSA and entertained the British forces. She sang, recited and posed in naked tableaux for them, which were very popular.
In 1942 she formed her own company of girls and rented the Whitehall Theatre in London to put on a review called The Whitehall Follies. This was the first striptease show put on in the West End of London, but not the first show to have nude studies as the Windmill reviews were already in existence. She stayed at the Whitehall for the next five years producing the Peek-a-boo reviews. Her performance was at the time considered artistic and she thought that it was an art form, although the mostly male audience doubtless had other thoughts. She was known as the "Queen of Striptease".
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She appeared in two films Love up the Pole in 1936 and Dual Alibi in 1946. In 2009, a play about Dixey was staged at the Pomegranate Theatre in Chesterfield called Barely Phyllis. Her life was portrayed in the 1978 British TV-movie The One and Only Phyllis Dixey, in which she was played by Lesley-Anne Down. It was written by Philip Purser.
By 1947 the tastes of the London audience had changed, and Phyllis Dixey was forced to return to the provinces. She was not able to adapt to the direction that the public required. leaving the stage, in the late 1950s, bankrupt.
She died in 1964, aged 50, in Epsom, Surrey.
In 2005 Dixey's grave in Epsom and Ewell Cemetery was restored by the British Music Hall Society.