# Andrée Melly

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

## Early life

Melly was born on 15 December 1932 in Liverpool, Lancashire to Edith and Francis Melly. She made her stage début aged nine at the Little Theatre, Southport. After leaving Belvedere School, she attended the Swiss finishing school Mon Fertile, after which she acted in repertory theatre.

## Career

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. 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 and in which she was a participant in the earliest known interracial kiss on television. She continued to appear on British television until 1991. 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.
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). 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.
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 older brother George Melly, 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.
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.
Melly played Tony Hancock's girlfriend in two series of the Hancock's Half Hour (1955–1956) radio series replacing Moira Lister. With the death of Bill Kerr in 2014, Melly was the last surviving regular cast member of Hancock's Half Hour. From 1967 to 1976, she was a regular panellist in the BBC radio comedy Just a Minute. Along with Sheila Hancock, she was one of the most regular female contestants, appearing in fifty-four episodes between 1967 and 1976. In 1972, she chaired an episode. She was the first panellist to win points for talking for the prescribed 60 seconds without hesitation, repetition or deviation. She also appeared in several episodes of The Benny Hill Show.

## Personal life

One of her two brothers, George Melly, was a jazz singer. She latterly lived in Ibiza with her husband. The marriage produced two children.
Melly died on 31 January 2020 at the age of 87. Her husband survived her.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1952 | So Little Time | Paulette | Film |
| 1954 | The Belles of St. Trinian's | Lucretia | Film |
| 1956 | The Secret Tent | Ruth Martyn | Film |
| 1957 | The Passionate Stranger (aka A Novel Affair) | Marla | Film |
| 1958 | Nowhere to Go | Rosa, cocktail waitress | Film |
| 1960 | Beyond the Curtain | Linda | Film |
| 1960 | The Brides of Dracula | Gina | Film |
| 1960 | The Big Day | Nina Wentworth | Film |
| 1964 | The Horror of It All | Natalia Marley | Film |
| 1964 | Boy with a Flute | Caroline Laser | Short film |

## Television appearances

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1952 | 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 |
| 1955 | Cornelia | Cornelia Taft | Television film |
| 1955 | Theatre Royal (aka Lilli Palmer Theatre) | Alycia Lawrence | Episode: "The Orderly" |
| 1956 | Act of Violence | Lenora | Television film |
| 1956 | ITV Television Playhouse | Georgie Harlow | Episode: "Woman in a Dressing Gown" |
| 1956 | The Gambler | Mlle. Blanche de Cominges | Television film |
| 1956 | Plaintiff in a Pretty Hat | Jennifer Wren | Television film |
| 1957 | Assignment Foreign Legion | Denise | Television series. Episode: "As We Forgive" |
| 1957 | Hour of Mystery | Sally Joss | Episode: "No Charge for the Proof" |
| 1958 | Saturday Playhouse | Hilda Crompton | Episode: "My Flesh, My Blood" |
| 1958 | Little Women | Jo March | Television series. 6 episodes |
| 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 |
| 1959 | Dangerous Ice | Miss Sennet | Television film |
| 1959 | The Men from Room 13 | Caroline | Television series. 2 episodes: "The Man Who Sold Romances: Parts 1 & 2" |
| 1960 | BBC Sunday-Night Play | Mary Preston | Episode: "Twentieth Century Theatre: Musical Chairs" |
| 1960 | Maigret | Ernestine | Television series.Episode: "The Burglar's Wife" |
| 1961 | A Life of Bliss | April Summers | Television series. 3 episodes |
| 1961 | You Can't Win | Ella | Television series. Episode: "To Wait Collection" |
| 1962 | Boeing-Boeing | Jacqueline | Television film |
| 1962 | Tales of Mystery | Ilse | Television series. Episode: "Ancient Sorceries" |
| 1962 | Zero One | Tina Stavros | Television series. Episode: "The Marriage Broker" |
| 1962 | Let's Imagine | self | Television series. Episode: "Being a Leading Lady" |
| 1963 | The Human Jungle | Gloria | Television series. 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) |
| 1965 | The Wednesday Play | Alicia | Episode: "The Navigators" |
| 1967 | Thirty-Minute Theatre | The Wife | Episode: "Teeth" |
| 1968 | The Sex Game | Alison Watkins | Television series. Episode: "Return Match" |
| 1969 | ITV Playhouse | Leslie Amlett | Episode: "Uncle Jonathan" |
| 1970 | The Doctors | Lena Freeman | Television series. 10 episodes |
| 1970 | ITV Sunday Night Theatre | Joanna | Episode: "The Insider" |
| 1971 | Gardeners' World | narrator | Television series |
| 1971 | The Benny Hill Show | various characters | Television series. Sketches: "The Grass is Greener" (24 March 1971); "New England 1635", "The Movie Shakers" (24 November 1971) |
| 1972 | He Said, She Said | self | Television series |
| 1973 | Spy Trap | Susan | Episode: "Salvage" |
| 1973 | The Benny Hill Show | Bo Peep's sister | Television series. Sketch: "Naked Lust in Sinful Sweden" (27 December 1973) |
| 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 | Television series. Episode: "The Two Musketeers" |
| 1990 | T-Bag and the Pearls of Wisdom | Osiris | Television series. Episode: "Tut Tut" |
| 1990–1991 | The Third Wave | self | Television discussion series. 4 episodes. |

## Radio appearances

The appearances below have been sourced from the BBC Programme Index.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes (dates are first broadcast) |
| 1952 | Mistress Macham's Repose | Maria | BBC Home Service, 6 April 1952 |
| 1955–1956 | Hancock's Half Hour | Andrée | BBC Light Programme, 33 episodes |
| 1955 | Manservant and Maidservant | Sarah | BBC Home Service, 11 January 1955 |
| 1955 | Waters of the Moon | Tonetta | BBC Home Service, 9 June 1955 |
| 1957 | The Repair of Heaven | Allan McClelland | BBC Third Programme, 9 April 1957 |
| 1959 | Unaccompanied Child | Jane | BBC Home Service, 20 September 1959 |
| 1959 | Rhinoceros | Daisy | BBC Third Programme, 12 September 1959 |
| 1960 | Dead Men's Embers | Jane Cleary | BBC Home Service, 8 May 1960 |
| 1960 | Woman's Hour | self | BBC Light Programme, 12 July 1960 |
| 1960 | Home For the Day | | BBC Home Service, 10 September 1960 |
| 1962 | A Girl in a Garden | Gwen | BBC Home Service, 28 August 1962 |
| 1962 | London Mirror | self | BBC Light Programme, 10 March 1962 |
| 1962 | Medea | Creusa | BBC Third Programme, 12 December 1962 |
| 1963 | Don't Listen, Ladies | Madeline | BBC Home Service, 8 July 1963 |
| 1966 | Woman's Hour | self | BBC Light Programme, 18 January 1966 |
| 1967–1976 | Just a Minute | self | BBC Radio 4, 54 episodes |
| 1968 | Play School | self | BBC Radio Two, 2 episodes |
| 1969 | Story Time | | BBC Radio 4, 4 episodes |
| 1969 | Saturday-Night Theatre | | BBC Radio 4, Episode: "The Lady of Lyons", 18 October 1969 |
| 1970–1973 | Petticoat Line | self | BBC Radio 4, 8 episodes |
| 1971 | Right or Wrong? | self | BBC Radio 2 & Radio 4, 7 episodes |
| 1971 | Saturday-Night Theatre | Catherine | BBC Radio 4, Episode: "The Hidden Face", 23 January 1971 |
| 1974 | Husband of the Year | self | BBC Radio 2, 23 February 1974 |
| 1975 | Many a Slip | self | BBC Radio 4, 22 December 1975 |
| 1976 | Twenty Questions | self | BBC Radio 4, 14 July 1976 |
| 1989 | With Great Pleasure | self | BBC Radio 4, 30 July 1989 |

## Theatre appearances

The appearances below have been sourced from Theatricalia.
| Year | Production | Role | Notes |
| 1951 | Traveller’s Joy | Eva | 15–20 January, New Theatre, Bromley. |
| 1951 | Captain Carvallo | Anni | 8–19 October, Nottingham Playhouse (Goldsmith Street). |
| 1952 | Italian Straw Hat | Wedding Guest | started 18 November, The Old Vic, London. |
| 1952–1953 | Love for Love | | Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal. |
| 1952–1953 | Romeo and Juliet | | The Old Vic, London. |
| 1952–1953 | Murder in the Cathedral | | The Old Vic, London. |
| 1952–1953 | The Merchant of Venice | | The Old Vic, London. |
| 1953 | The Moon is Blue | (understudy) Patty O'Neill | 7 July – 5 December 1953, Duke of York’s Theatre, London. |
| 1954 | The Moon is Blue | Patty O'Neill | 5 March – 31 July, Vaudeville Theatre, (Strand) London. |
| 1955 | The Ghost Writers | Julie Bedford | 9 February – 6 March, Arts Theatre, London. |
| 1955 | The Moon is Blue | Patty O'Neill | 2–7 May, Theatre Royal, Windsor. |
| 1955 | Sabrina Fair | Sabrina Fairchild | 1–6 August, Theatre Royal, Windsor. |
| 1956 | I Am a Camera | Sally Bowles | 14–19 May, Theatre Royal, Windsor. |
| 1956–1957 | Plaintiff in a Pretty Hat | Jennifer Wren | 12 October – 14 September 1957, Duchess Theatre, London, St Martin’s Theatre, London, and other locations. |
| 1958–1959 | Hot Summer Night | Kathie Palmer | 29 September – 10 January 1959, Bristol Hippodrome, New Theatre, London (now Noël Coward Theatre), and other locations. |
| 1961 | Roots | Beatie Bryant | 6–19 March, Theatre Royal, Windsor. |
| 1961 | Boeing Boeing | Jacqueline | 9 October – 16 December, New Theatre, Oxford, Grand Theatre & Opera House, Leeds, and other locations. |
| 1963 | The Shot in Question | Elizabeth Mayle | 1 April – 18 May, Duchess Theatre, London, Theatre Royal, Brighton, and other locations. |
| 1965–1966 | The Killing of Sister George | Alice 'Childie' McNaught (replacement) | 20 April – 10 December, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal, Theatre Royal, Bath, and other locations. |
| 1962–1967 | Boeing Boeing | | 20 February – 7 January, Apollo Theatre (Shaftesbury Avenue), London and Duchess Theatre, London. |
| 1967 | As You Like It | | 21 March – 24 May, Birmingham Repertory Theatre. |
| 1969 | Mixed Doubles | A Man's Best Friend: Jackie; Norma: The Woman; Permanence: Helen; Silver Wedding: Audrey | 6 February – 28 June, Comedy Theatre, London (now Harold Pinter Theatre, London) and Hampstead Theatre, London. |
| 1973 | That’s No Lady, That’s My Husband | Hilary Plummer | 19 February – 31 March, Theatre Royal, Brighton, New Theatre, Hull, and other locations. |
| 1983 | The Bed Before Yesterday | Alma | 21 April – 7 May, Theatre Royal, Plymouth. |
| 1983–1984 | Morning’s at Seven | | Theatre Royal, Bath. |
| 1984 | Morning’s at Seven | Myrtle Brown | 3 May – 19 August, Westminster Theatre, London, Watford Palace Theatre, and other locations. |
| 1984 – 1985 | Gala – A Tribute to Joyce Grenfell | | Aldwych Theatre, London. |
| 1988 | Kindly Keep It Covered | Vanessa Harbinger | 9 March – 14 May Theatre Royal, Bath, Churchill Theatre, Bromley, and other locations. |
| 1991 | Just Between Ourselves | Marjorie | 2 October – 2 November, Bristol Old Vic – Theatre Royal. |