Anne Cumming

Anne Cumming pen name of Felicity Anne Cumming Mason (14 December 1917 – 28 August 1993) was a British translator, public relations officer, polyamorist, and writer.

Anne Cumming
from picture with Brion
Born(1917-12-14)14 December 1917
Walton-on-Thames
Died28 August 1993(1993-08-28) (aged 75)
London
Occupationpublic relations officer
NationalityUnited Kingdom
Genreauto-biographical
Subjectlove and sex

Early life

Felicity Anne Cumming was born in Walton-on-Thames in 1917. She had an indulgent childhood courtesy of James Grimble Groves who was her grandfather, a member of parliament and a brewery owner.[1] Cumming spent much of her childhood in South Africa, where her father had bought a farm.[2]

She was a débutante in 1935 and she later reported that she first had sex under the Eiffel Tower. She studied contemporary dance and later acting at Dartington Hall with Michael Chekhov. She married a fellow student Henry Lyon Young in 1938. He was an aspiring playwright and later writer.[3]

She and her husband, along with Chekhov, left for the United States as war approached, intending to establish a drama school in America to teach the Stanislavski method of acting.[4]

Career

During the war they were asked by British Intelligence to leave New York and return to England. They were sent back by convoy and Cumming assisted with encrypting and decrypting coded messages between the British and American governments.[5]

While in Greece, she worked as a translator for the British Council.

Acting

In 1963 she had a small part in Fellini's film 8½.[5] In 1968 she appeared in the Italian comedy film The Girl Who Couldn't Say No where she played the mother of George Segal's character, Franco.[3] A third appearance was again for Fellini, this time in his film Roma.[5]

Writing

After this Cumming took to salacious autobiography. She wrote The Love Habit in 1977 and The Love Quest in 1991[6] and she allowed herself to appear topless in the British tabloid the Sunday Sport.

Personal life

In 1948 she eloped with and later married the novelist Richard Mason.[7] Richard and Felicity Mason separated in 1958 and were later divorced. Cumming had two children from her first marriage, but had no further children. Cumming had extramarital sexual partners in Britain, North Africa and the Middle East. During her marriage she had a longer relationship with the Italian designer Beni Montresor. This was encouraged by her husband and only ended when Montresor took an interest in another man.[5]

In 1953 she started a platonic but deep relationship with the artist Brion Gysin. They had similar backgrounds, ages and they were born in the same area. They would refer to each other as brother and sister. Cumming helped catalogue his paintings and after he died in 1986 she arranged his funeral and for his ashes to be scattered at the Caves of Hercules in Morocco.[5]

While a translator in Greece, she met the writer Francis King who was also working for the British Council. She enjoyed observing his homosexual adventures.

Cumming discovered that she was HIV positive in 1986. She stayed in Britain to get health care but she was keen to avoid publicity as she did not want to have her condition associated with her life style. She became a social hostess introducing new talent to useful contacts.

Death

Cumming died at the London Lighthouse in 1993, the same year she appeared nude on British television in the first nude TV chat show.[3]

Works
  • The Love Habit, 1978
  • The Love Quest, 1991

References
  1. Company biographies, Groves and Whitnall. Retrieved 11 April 2017
  2. "Obituary: Anne Cumming". The Independent. 23 October 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  3. Richard Davenport-Hines, "Cumming, (Felicity) Anne (1917–1993)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, October 2009. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  4. "Obituary: Anne Cumming". The Independent. 31 August 1993. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  5. "Felicity Mason/Anne Cumming – A Brief Biography and Interview – Jennie Skerl". European Beat Studies Network. 16 October 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  6. Cumming, Anne (1 January 1991). The Love Quest: A Sexual Odyssey. Peter Owen. ISBN 9780720608359.
  7. "A lecture to the Royston Pike group: Part 2", The Elmbridge Hundred.
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