Fenella Fielding facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fenella Fielding OBE
Fenella Fielding on her 90th birthday in 2017
Born	Fenella Marion Feldman (1927-11-17)17 November 1927 Hackney, London, England
Died	11 September 2018(2018-09-11) (aged 90) Hammersmith, London, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1952–2018
Relatives	Basil Feldman, Baron Feldman (brother) Nick Feldman (nephew)

Fenella Fielding, who received the OBE award, was a famous English actress. She was born Fenella Marion Feldman on 17 November 1927 and passed away on 11 September 2018. She became well-known in the 1950s and 1960s for her unique voice and acting style.

Fenella Fielding starred in many plays, films, and TV shows. She was especially famous for her roles in two of the popular Carry On movies: Carry On Regardless (1961) and Carry On Screaming! (1966).

Early Life and School

Fenella Marion Feldman was born in Hackney, London, England. Her birthday was 17 November 1927. Her mother, Tilly, was from Romania, and her father, Philip Feldman, was from Lithuania. Both of her parents were Jewish.

She had an older brother named Basil, who later became Baron Feldman. Fenella grew up in Lower Clapton and later in Edgware. She went to school at North London Collegiate School. Her father used to manage a cinema in Silvertown, east London. Later in her life, Fenella lived in Chiswick, west London.

Acting Career

Fenella Fielding started her acting journey in 1952. She first focused on performing in plays, including those at the Bromley Little Theatre. She got her first big chance when she went with actor Ron Moody to an audition.

Her performance in the musical Valmouth in 1958 made her a star. In 1959, she acted alongside Kenneth Williams in a comedy show called Pieces of Eight. This show was written by famous writers Harold Pinter and Peter Cook. Fenella also appeared in an episode of Hancock's Half Hour in December 1959.

Fenella Fielding had her own TV show called Izeena in 1966. She also made guest appearances in other TV programmes. These included The Avengers and Danger Man. She was also seen in four episodes of the Morecambe and Wise Show between 1969 and 1972.

Besides the Carry On films, she was in three "Doctor" films, like Doctor in Clover. Fenella also performed in serious plays by famous writers such as Ibsen, Shakespeare, and Henry James. She was known for keeping a book by Plato next to her bed.

In the late 1960s, a famous Italian film director, Federico Fellini, asked Fenella to work on one of his movies. However, she had to turn down the offer because she was already booked to perform on stage at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

From 1990 to 1993, Fenella starred in the children's TV series Uncle Jack. She played the villain, The Vixen. In 1999, she appeared in the film Guest House Paradiso with Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson. That same year, she toured in a play called Lady Windermere's Fan.

In 2011, Fenella performed in a play in London called Dearest Nancy, Darling Evelyn. It was based on letters between Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh. From 2012, she performed readings of old Greek stories translated by David Stuttard. She often performed with actors like Simon Russell Beale and Stephen Greif.

Fenella Fielding's autobiography, which is her life story, was released in 2017. It came out as both an audio book and a regular book. This led to her performing readings from it across the UK. In 2018, Fenella was given the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) award. This was for her great work in drama and for her charity efforts.

Voice Work

Fenella Fielding was also well-known for her voice acting. She was the voice of "The Blue Voice" in the 1972 English version of the French film Dougal And The Blue Cat. She also voiced MOOD, a clever supercomputer, in the video game Martian Gothic.

After the year 2000, she recorded many audio books with a company called Savoy. These included readings of works by Colette, J. G. Ballard's Crash, and T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets. She even made an album where she sang cover versions of popular songs. These included "Angels" by Robbie Williams and "Can't Get You Out of My Head" by Kylie Minogue.

Fenella was also a regular guest on BBC Radio 4 programmes like PM and Broadcasting House.

Death

Fenella Fielding had a stroke on 25 August 2018. She passed away two weeks later, on 11 September 2018, at Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith. She was 90 years old. Fenella never married or had children.

Filmography

Film

Television

See also

In Spanish: Fenella Fielding para niños