Noel Dyson
Elsie Noël Dyson (23 December 1916 – 29 June 1995) was an English character actress[1]
Noël Dyson | |
|---|---|
 Noel Dyson as Ida Barlow in Coronation Street | |
| Born | Elsie Noël Dyson 23 December 1916 Newton Heath, Manchester, England |
| Died | 29 June 1995 (aged 78) Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1938 – 1995 |
| Television | Coronation Street |
| Spouse(s) | Kenneth Edwards Harry Judge |
Dyson appeared in a number of stage and films (including telemovies) but is best remembered as a versatile television character actress in serials who became a familiar face to British viewers in a career spanning almost 50 years from 1949 until her death. Dyson's best remembered roles are as matriarch Ida Barlow, one of the original characters in the long-running soap opera Coronation Street (1960–61), and Nanny in the sitcom Father, Dear Father (1968–73).
Early life and career
Dyson was born into a wealthy Manchester family (she was given the middle name Noel because she was born two days before Christmas), and was educated at the prestigious Roedean School in Brighton. Following a period at a finishing school in Paris, she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London from which she graduated in 1938. Initially she performed in repertory companies around Britain, in Birmingham, Oxford and Windsor and elsewhere, before moving on to London's West End.
During the Second World War Dyson temporarily ceased acting to become a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse. She returned to the acting profession, initially mainly in stage productions, then from the late 1940s started to become involved with television productions. Dyson's first known TV credit came in a 1948 BBC production The Guinea Pig, and for the next decade or so she would appear, mainly in one-off supporting roles, in a number of TV programmes as well as a handful of films. Her most significant roles in this period included seven appearances in the series The Vise (first broadcast in the U.S. between October 1954 and December 1955, but not shown on TV in the UK until 1957-59) and a BBC adaptation of The Secret Garden in 1960.
Coronation Street
In 1960 Dyson was cast in the role of Ida Barlow in the newly commissioned Coronation Street set in a fictional working class district (Weatherfield) of Salford. Ida was married to Frank Barlow, a postman, and had two sons, Ken and David. She was written as a calm-natured, placid character who frequently had to act as mediator between her hot-headed husband and Ken, whose upwardly-mobile aspirations were seen by Frank as a rejection of his family background.
The initial commission for Coronation Street ran to 13 episodes. The first episode was transmitted on 9 December 1960 and was panned by TV critics, who predicted a short-lived ignominious fate for the programme. However the series became an instant hit with viewers. By March 1961 Coronation Street was topping the British TV ratings with an estimated 75% of all television-owning households in the UK tuning in, and it was decided to extend its run indefinitely. This proved to be a problem for Dyson, who had only envisaged a limited commitment to the programme. Coronation Street was produced in Manchester by Granada TV while Dyson's home and family were now in London, and she did not feel able to commit to ongoing lengthy absences, so when her contract came up for renewal she declined to sign. The programme's producers decided that rather than replacing Dyson with another actress, which they felt would be unpopular with viewers, Ida would be the first regular character to die. No death scene was filmed, but in the episode of 6 September 1961 it was announced that Ida had been knocked down and killed by a bus.
Later career
During the 1960s Dyson continued to appear regularly on TV, but was cast in either one-off productions for strands such as the BBC's The Wednesday Play and ITV's Play of the Week or supporting roles in popular shows such as Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green and The Likely Lads. However she took the role of Nanny in the Thames Television sitcom Father, Dear Father which ran for seven series between 1968 and 1973 and also spawned a spin-off film in 1973. Her only other long-running TV role came as the long-suffering wife of Arthur Lowe in the sitcom Potter between 1979 and 1983 but she continued to make cameo appearances in many top-rated shows such as Me and My Girl, London's Burning, Bergerac, Prime Suspect and Casualty until shortly before her death. She also appeared as John Hurt's mother in the 1983 film Champions.[2] Her last credit was an episode of Heartbeat, broadcast posthumously in September 1995.
Private life and death
Dyson was married twice, to actor Kenneth Edwards and Major Harry Judge (died 2003).[3] She died of cancer on 29 June 1995, aged 78.[4]
Filmography
1985|| Summer Season (TV series) || Mrs. Nesbit
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1949 | The Guinea Pig (TV movie) | Mrs Read |
| 1950 | Chance of a Lifetime | Tea Lady |
| 1951 | The Concert | Miss Vesey |
| 1952 | Emil and the Detectives (TV series) | Mrs Tichburn |
| 1952 | Huckleberry Finn (TV series) | Aunt Polly |
| 1953 | Stranger in the House (TV series) | Mrs Benfield |
| 1953 | Seven Woman | Mrs Tovey |
| 1954 | Eight O'Clock Walk | Gallery Regular |
| 1954 | Bless this House (TV movie) | Mrs Bevan |
| 1954 | The Gay Dog | Lecturer |
| 1955 | Patrol Car (TV series) | Cora |
| 1955 | The Women on the Beach (TV movie) | Madame Suzette |
| 1956 | A Girl Called Jo (TV movie) | Mrs March |
| 1956 | Non de Plume (TV series) | Queen of Bavaria |
| 1956 | Adventure Theatre (TV series) | |
| 1956 | Tomorrow May Be Fine (TV movie) | Anne Wright |
| 1956 | Bill Radford: Reporter (TV series) | Mrs Barry |
| 1956 | Joan and Leslie (TV series) | Mrs Henshaw |
| 1957 | The Lonely House (film short) | |
| 1957 | Dick and the Duchess (TV series) | Pamela Culberson |
| 1958 | ITV Television Playhouse (TV series) | Meg Cooper |
| 1958 | Private Investigator (TV series) | Mrs Landon |
| 1958 | The Voyagers (TV movie) | Meg Cooper |
| 1959 | Three Crooked Man | unknown role. |
| 1959 | Emergency - Ward 10 | Mrs Haines |
| 1959 | The Gay Dog (TV movie) | Maggie Gay |
| 1951–1959 | BBC Sunday Night Theatre (TV series) | 2 roles -Boney -Mrs. Ellis |
| 1959 | Probation Officer (TV series) | Mrs West |
| 1959 | The Young Lady From London (TV miniseries) | Pamela Hamilton-Huntley |
| 1957–1959 | The Vise (TV series) | 7 roles -Emma Pine -Ella -Stella -Mrs Mayes- -Princess Dariana -Jean Mrs Watson |
| 1959 | Please Turn Over | Mrs Brent |
| 1960 | The Secret Garden (TV series) | Mrs Sowerby |
| 1960 | Carry On Constable | Vague Woman |
| 1960 | Man from Interpol (TV series) | 2 role- Countess Salon- Martha |
| 1960 | Annual Outing (TV movie) | Maud Higgins |
| 1960 | Saturday Playhouse | Miss Minney, Maud Higgins |
| 1960–1961 | Coronation Street | Ida Barlow |
| 1961 | Jacks and Knaves (TV series) | Alice Hitchins |
| 1961 | The Middle Course | Maria Gerard |
| 1962 | The Silent Invasion | MM Veroux |
| 1962 | Studio 4 (TV series) | Dorrie Robinson |
| 1962 | Z-Cars (TV series) | Elsie Heskeith |
| 1962 | No Hiding Place | Landlady |
| 1962–1963 | BBC Sunday Night Play (TV series) | 3 roles- -Mrs Peck -Alice Preston Mrs Woodbridge |
| 1963 | The Odd Man (TV series) | Mother Eve |
| 1963 | Gutter Girls | Muriel Donahue |
| 1963 | Carry on Cabby | District Nurse |
| 1962–1964 | Compact (TV series) | Mrs Jean Henderson |
| 1964 | First Night (TV series) | Gracie |
| 1964 | The Villains (TV series) | Flo |
| 1964 | Taxi (TV series) | Sandra's mum |
| 1964–1965 | Thursday Theatre | 2 roles -Annie Parker -Rhoda Lucas |
| 1965 | Gidion C.I.D (TV series) | Mrs Lane |
| 1965 | Londoners (TV series) | Vesta Bardell |
| 1965 | Comedy Playhouse (TV series) | |
| 1965 | Jury Room (TV series) | Mrs Whiteside - The Juror |
| 1965 | Dixon of Dock Green (serial) | Mrs Egan |
| 1965 | Theatre 625 | Emma Moxen |
| 1959–1966 | ITV Play of the Week | 6 roles -Laura Priolleau -Mrs. Tartleton -Anne -MrsForbes -Mrs Phillips -Isabel |
| 1966 | The Likely Lads (TV series) | Mrs Perrin |
| 1966 | Press for Time | Mrs Corcoran |
| 1965–1966 | Meet the Wife (TV series) | Cousin Olive |
| 1967 | Turn Out The Lights (TV series) | Mrs. Wennington |
| 1967 | The Newcomers (TV series) | Mrs Wilberforce |
| 1967 | Mister Ten Per Cent | Mrs Gorman |
| 1964–1968 | Sergeant Cork (TV series) | 2 roles -Mrs. Bellamy -Mrs. Stebens |
| 1968 | Softly, Softly (TV series) | Anne Anderson |
| 1968 | The First Lady (TV series) | Betty Haynes |
| 1968 | Scene (documentary) | |
| 1968 | ITV Playhouse (TV series) | Clara Dixon |
| 1969 | Hark at Barker (TV series) | |
| 1969 | Fraud Squad (TV series) | |
| 1969 | The Wednesday Play | Mrs. Dyson |
| 1969 | All Star Comedy Carnival (TV movie) | Nanny |
| 1970 | The Main Chance (TV series) | Janet Harrison |
| 1970 | Play for Today (TV series) | Jane Budd |
| 1971 | The Ronnie Barker Yearbook (TV movie) | Various Characters |
| 1971 | Persuasion (TV miniseries) | Mrs. Musgrove |
| 1972 | Thirty Minute Theatre (TV series) | 2 roles -Mrs. Proctor -Mrs. Trant |
| 1968–1973 | Father Dear Father (TV series) | Nanny |
| 1974 | Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads (TV series) | Mrs. Chambers |
| 1974 | Late Night Drama | Kitty |
| 1976 | ...and Mother Makes Five (TV series) | Auntie Betty |
| 1976 | The Molly Wopsies (TV series) | Mrs. James |
| 1977 | Jackanary Playhouse (TV series) | Miss. Jordan |
| 1977 | Second City Firsts (TV series) | Patricia |
| 1978 | An Englishman's Castle (TV miniseries) | Mrs. Worth |
| 1979 | Secret Orchards (TV movie) | Netta Ackerley |
| 1979 | BBC2 Playhouse (TV series) | Mrs. Fly |
| 1979–1983 | Potter (TV series) | Aileen Potter |
| 1983 | Partners in Crime (miniseries) | Mrs. Kingston Bruce |
| 1984 | Love and Marriage (TV series) | Mrs. Rodgers |
| 1984 | Champions | Mrs Champion |
| 1972–1985 | The Two Ronnies | 4 roles -Jacks wife -Rose Spooner -Woman with Dog Mrs. Thompson |
| 1986 | The Practice (TV series) | Ada Fielding |
| 1986 | The Life and Loves of a She-Devil (TV miniseries) | Brenda |
| 1987 | Me and My Girl (TV series) | Winifred Spalding |
| 1986–1987 | All in Good Faith (TV series) | Barbara Lambe |
| 1987 | C.A.T.S. Eyes (TV series) | Old Lady |
| 1987 | Rainbow (TV series) | Mrs. Smith |
| 1988 | London's Burning (TV series) | Mrs. Sims |
| 1988 | Executive Stress (TV series) | Miss Pledger |
| 1989 | May to December (TV series) | Mrs. Arlett |
| 1990 | Bergerac (TV series) | Mrs. Williams |
| 1990 | Never the Twain* (TV series) | Vera |
| 1991 | Prime Suspect (TV series) | Mrs. Tennison |
| 1993 | Casualty (TV series) | Mary |
| 1994 | The Knock (TV series) | Barbara Simmons |
| 1994 | Super Grass | Gran |
| 1995 | Heartbeat (TV series) | Netty Pickard |
References
- British Film Institute
- "Champions (1984) - John Irvin | Cast and Crew".
- Obituary: Major Harry Judge, The Daily Telegraph, 13 December 2003
- British Film Institute database