Eleanor Summerfield

Known for her small yet earthy Brit portrayals on film, Eleanor Summerfield was born in London on March 7, 1921, initially trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1937). The hard-looking, blue-eyed blonde began in films in 1947 but created some waves first on stage opposite Cicely Courtneidge in "Her Excellency" at the London Hippodrome in 1949. She followed that with a top role in a rather mediocre musical entitled "Golden City." Musicals would be a strong suit for her in the ensuing years, including a more glamorous role in "When in Rome" (1959) alongside June Laverick. Summerfield made her last West End musical in 1974 in a show based on the cartoon characters of Osbert Lancaster. A popular radio actress and a regular on BBC Radio Four panel show "Many a Slip," she positively shone on TV in a number of comedy series as she entered her matronly years. She had the difficult task of replacing Dora Bryan in the established program "Our Dora" when Bryan abruptly left the series after the sudden death of her first child. Soon retitled My Wife's Sister (1956), the show, and Summerfield, succeeded quite well. During her five-decade career, she added bite to a number of films, often raucous comedies, including Laughter in Paradise (1951), Uncle Willie's Bicycle Shop (1953), Dentist in the Chair (1960), On the Fiddle (1961) and Some Will, Some Won't (1970), which was a remake of the earlier film Laughter in Paradise (1951). Wed to actor Leonard Sachs in 1947, they produced two sons; one son, Robin Sachs, became an actor in his own right. Her husband died in 1990, and Summerfield followed him a decade later on July 13, 2001, in London. She was 80.