Googie Withers

Georgette Lizette "Googie" Withers, CBE, AO (12 March 1917 – 15 July 2011) was an English entertainer.

She was a dancer and actress, with a lengthy career spanning some nine decades in theatre, film, and television.

She was a well-known actress and star of British films during and after World War II.

During the 1930s, Withers was constantly in demand in lead roles in minor films, and supporting roles in more prestigious productions.

She was a dancer in a West End production when she was offered work as a film extra in Michael Powell's The Girl in the Crowd (1935).

She arrived on the set to find one of the major players in the production had been dismissed, and she was immediately asked to step into the leading role, beginning a seven year contract with Warner Brothers, after which she worked for Fox British, Ealing Studios and The Rank Organisation.

She was in Windfall (1935) and The Love Test (1935), and she had the lead in All at Sea (1935).

Withers supported in Dark World (1935), King of Hearts (1936), and Accused (1936).

Her Last Affaire (1935) was her third film with Powell.

She followed it with She Knew What She Wanted (1936), Crown v. Stevens (1936) (directed by Powell), Crime Over London (1936), Pearls Bring Tears (1937), Action for Slander (1937), and Paradise for Two (1937).

Withers had the lead in You're the Doctor (1938) and was back to support for Kate Plus Ten (1938).

Her best-known work of the period was as one of Margaret Lockwood's friends in Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes (1938).

She continued in support roles in Paid in Error (1938) and Strange Boarders (1938).

She was in a Will Hay film Convict 99 (1938) and supported Jack Buchanan in The Gang's All Here (1939).

Then she appeared in crime films Murder in Soho (1939) and Dead Men are Dangerous (1939).

She supported George Formby in Trouble Brewing (1939) and Tommy Trinder in She Couldn't Say No (1939).

She was in a Robert Montgomery film Busman's Honeymoon (1939) and was reunited with Buchanan in Bulldog Sees It Through (1940).

Among her successes of the 1940s, and a departure from her previous roles, was the Powell and Pressburger film One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1942), a topical World War II drama, in which she played a Dutch resistance fighter who helps British airmen return to safety from behind enemy lines.

She was still supporting comics in Back-Room Boy (1942) with Arthur Askey.

Powell and Pressburger then used her in a film they produced but did not direct, The Silver Fleet (1943).

She played Helen, a significant second lead in the Clive Book-directed 1944 comedy On Approval.

Withers was in They Came to a City (1945), directed by Basil Dearden, and was one of several stars in Dead of Night (1945).

She was given a star part in Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945).

It was well received, and Withers was given the title role in The Loves of Joanna Godden (1947), which was a hit.

In the cast was actor John McCallum, whom Withers later married.

Withers then starred in It Always Rains on Sunday (1948), which was one of the biggest hits of the year.

In 1948, British exhibitors voted her the 8th most popular British star in the country.

Three comedies followed: the hugely popular Miranda (1948), with McCallum, and Once Upon a Dream (1949) and Traveller's Joy (1949), both directed by Ralph Thomas.

She often featured in British productions, primarily in films with actor and producer John McCallum, whom she married and, in the late 1950s, emigrated together to her husband's native Australia, where they became best known in theatre.

Next, she was third-billed after Hollywood stars Gene Tierney and Richard Widmark in the tense thriller Night and the City (1950).

Withers took 13 months off following the birth of her first child, then returned to star as a doctor in White Corridors (1951), one of the most popular films of the year in Britain.

She was one of many cameos in The Magic Box (1951) and was in a play Winter Journey.

However, during the 1970s, she played prison governor Faye Boswell in the TV series Within These Walls, and continued to feature in films.

Withers was born in Karachi, British India (now Pakistan), to Edgar Withers, a captain in the Royal Navy, and Lizette Wilhelmina Katarina, of Dutch, French and German descent.

She was named after her aunt Georgette Ottolina, but was fondly given the name "Chota ghugi'" at a young age by her Punjabi ayah (nanny), Chota ghugi' being Punjabi for "little dove", which became Anglicised to "Googie".

She became used to the nickname and decided to keep it as her stage name.

As a child, she showed interest in learning the Urdu language.

After her father left the Royal Navy to manage a foundry in Birmingham, England, Googie was sent to a boarding school near Dover, and a secondary day school in London.

Withers began acting at the age of twelve, and was student at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, and at the dance school of Buddy Bradley, where she learnt ballet and tap.

They remained married until McCallum died in 2010.