Diana Darvey - Revision history

Kurt at 03:34, 8 September 2024

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	==Early life and career==		==Early life and career==
	~~{{unreferenced section\|date=August 2015}}~~
	The daughter of a former [[Windmill Theatre\|Windmill Girl]], Pamela Cooper, Diana was raised and educated in [[Bristol]]. Her father died when she was just two and, when she first entered [[show business]], she adopted the surname "Davey" from her mother's second husband (the "r" was added years later).		The daughter of a former [[Windmill Theatre\|Windmill Girl]], Pamela Cooper, Diana was raised and educated in [[Bristol]]. Her father died when she was just two and, when she first entered [[show business]], she adopted the surname "Davey" from her mother's second husband (the "r" was added years later).

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	==''The Benny Hill Show''==		==''The Benny Hill Show''==
	~~{{unreferenced section\|date=August 2015}}~~
	Darvey made her first appearance on ''The Benny Hill Show'' on 7 February 1974, and became an instant hit with fans. Her self-designed, often [[Gravitation\|gravity]]-defying [[costume]]s became as famous as her show-stopping performances. While she sang such [[Continental Europe\|Continental]] music standards as "[[Sway (Luis Demetrio song)\|Sway]]", "[[Quizás, Quizás, Quizás]]", and "[[Perfidia]]" on the show, perhaps her most famous number was a four-song medley fronted by "It's Nice to Go Trav'lin'" (which [[Frank Sinatra]] recorded on his 1957 album ''[[Come Fly with Me (Frank Sinatra album)\|Come Fly with Me]]''), and also featuring a rendition of [[Maurice Chevalier]]'s "Valentine".		Darvey made her first appearance on ''The Benny Hill Show'' on 7 February 1974, and became an instant hit with fans. Her self-designed, often [[Gravitation\|gravity]]-defying [[costume]]s became as famous as her show-stopping performances. While she sang such [[Continental Europe\|Continental]] music standards as "[[Sway (Luis Demetrio song)\|Sway]]", "[[Quizás, Quizás, Quizás]]", and "[[Perfidia]]" on the show, perhaps her most famous number was a four-song medley fronted by "It's Nice to Go Trav'lin'" (which [[Frank Sinatra]] recorded on his 1957 album ''[[Come Fly with Me (Frank Sinatra album)\|Come Fly with Me]]''), and also featuring a rendition of [[Maurice Chevalier]]'s "Valentine".

Kurt at 03:33, 8 September 2024

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	~~{{short description\|British actor, singer and dancer (1945–2000)}}~~
	~~{{Multiple issues\|~~
	~~{{More footnotes needed\|date=August 2020}}~~
	~~{{One source\|date=September 2021}}~~
	}}
	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=March 2023}}~~
	{{Infobox person		{{Infobox person
	\| name = Diana Darvey		\| name = Diana Darvey
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	*[http://www.runstop.de/bennysplace/darvey.html Benny's Place tribute to Diana Darvey]		*[http://www.runstop.de/bennysplace/darvey.html Benny's Place tribute to Diana Darvey]
	*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDHdqMlWEzQ Diana Darvey (feat. Benny Hill & Jackie Wrigh) – The Benny Hill Show, 1977], youtube.com		*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDHdqMlWEzQ Diana Darvey (feat. Benny Hill & Jackie Wrigh) – The Benny Hill Show, 1977], youtube.com

	~~{{authority control}}~~

	{{DEFAULTSORT:Darvey, Diana}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Darvey, Diana}}

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{{short description|British actor, singer and dancer (1945–2000)}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{More footnotes needed|date=August 2020}}
{{One source|date=September 2021}}
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Diana Darvey
| image = Diana_Darvey.jpg
| birth_name = Diana Magdalene Roloff
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1945|4|21|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Cheadle, Greater Manchester|Cheadle]], [[Cheshire]], England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2000|4|11|1945|4|21|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Redhill, Surrey]], England
| occupation = Actress, singer, dancer
| spouse = Terry Gittings (divorced)<br/>[[Ralph Barker]] (m. 1995-2000; her death)<ref name="obituary">[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/8587787/Ralph-Barker.html Obituary of Ralph Barker], ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', 20 June 2011.</ref>
}}

'''Diana Magdalene Roloff''' (21 April 1945 – 11 April 2000), known professionally as '''Diana Darvey''', was a British [[actress]], [[singing|singer]] and [[dance]]r, best known for her appearances on ''[[The Benny Hill Show]]''.

==Early life and career==
{{unreferenced section|date=August 2015}}
The daughter of a former [[Windmill Theatre|Windmill Girl]], Pamela Cooper, Diana was raised and educated in [[Bristol]]. Her father died when she was just two and, when she first entered [[show business]], she adopted the surname "Davey" from her mother's second husband (the "r" was added years later).

In 1962, aged 17, Darvey made her first [[Stage (theatre)|stage]] appearance as a [[pantomime]] dancer in [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]], and a year later, became a [[Redcoats (Butlins)|Butlin's Redcoat]]. She then became part of a [[London]] [[ballet]] troupe which travelled [[Sweden]], Germany, and Spain. After the tour ended, Darvey settled in Spain, where she became a popular ''[[Revue|revista]]'' performer under famed Spanish [[impresario]] Colsada. Then for the next several years she appeared in [[musical theatre]] productions in and around Spain. It was during one such performance, in [[Madrid]] in the early 1970s, that she was "discovered" again, this time by [[Benny Hill]].

==''The Benny Hill Show''==
{{unreferenced section|date=August 2015}}
Darvey made her first appearance on ''The Benny Hill Show'' on 7 February 1974, and became an instant hit with fans. Her self-designed, often [[Gravitation|gravity]]-defying [[costume]]s became as famous as her show-stopping performances. While she sang such [[Continental Europe|Continental]] music standards as "[[Sway (Luis Demetrio song)|Sway]]", "[[Quizás, Quizás, Quizás]]", and "[[Perfidia]]" on the show, perhaps her most famous number was a four-song medley fronted by "It's Nice to Go Trav'lin'" (which [[Frank Sinatra]] recorded on his 1957 album ''[[Come Fly with Me (Frank Sinatra album)|Come Fly with Me]]''), and also featuring a rendition of [[Maurice Chevalier]]'s "Valentine".

In the nearly four-minute number, which she sang in English, French and Spanish, Darvey wore a total of four costumes, including as a [[belly dance]]r. She was also known for the "Continental Cabaret" sketch which she performed with Hill and regular [[sidekick]] [[Jackie Wright]], and which featured a gag involving the word "[[supercalifragilisticexpialidocious]]". She participated in other sketches, including as Hill's girlfriend in a gender-reverse [[parody]] of the 1956 film ''[[Baby Doll]]'', repeating a sketch that Hill had performed in 1965 with [[Elaine Taylor (actress)|Elaine Taylor]]. In total, Darvey appeared on the show five times, the last being on 26 January 1977.

==Life after ''Benny Hill''==
Darvey parlayed her popularity from ''The Benny Hill Show'' to appearances on the [[game show]] ''Quick on the Draw'' and the [[Situation comedy|sitcom]] ''[[...And Mother Makes Five]]'', and a role in the 1975 film ''[[Carry On Behind]]''. In the immediate years after her last Hill show appearance, Darvey travelled the world with her [[cabaret]] act, with her then-husband, Terry Gittings (former drummer for [[Georgie Fame]]). For a time in the early 1980s, she was based in [[Miami Beach, Florida]], where by then ''The Benny Hill Show'' had become famous in the United States through [[Broadcast syndication|syndication]]. Their marriage ended in divorce a few years later, and Diana later ended up back in England where, at one point, she ran a [[Public house|pub]] in [[Bodicote]], [[Oxfordshire]].<ref>[http://knowhere.co.uk/3308_heroes.html Profile], knowhere.co.uk; retrieved 20 August 2015.</ref>

==Death==
In 1995, Darvey married for a second time, to [[Ralph Barker]]. She died on 11 April 2000, ten days before her 55th birthday.<ref name="obituary"/>

She fell down the stairs in her home, and although it was not a serious fall it created a linear fracture in the left femur just below her pelvis. A fat embolism resulted due to marrow leakage from the untreated fracture, then traveled to her lung and she went into severe respiratory failure which resulted in her death.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0201791/bio/ | title=Diana Darvey - Biography | website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*"Benny Brings Home the Beauty", ''[[TV Times]]'', 25 April 1974, pp. 18–19.
*"Diana Stages a Daring Hold-Up", ''[[TV Times]]'', 11 November 1976, p. 34.
*"From Benny Hill to Cabaret", ''The British Tourist'' (South Florida), July 1982, p. 14.
*Obituary in ''[[The Stage]]'', 20 April 2000.
*[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20000527/ai_n14316557 Obituary] in ''[[The Independent]]'', 27 May 2000.

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|id=0201791|name=Diana Darvey}}
*[http://www.runstop.de/bennysplace/darvey.html Benny's Place tribute to Diana Darvey]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDHdqMlWEzQ Diana Darvey (feat. Benny Hill & Jackie Wrigh) – The Benny Hill Show, 1977], youtube.com

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darvey, Diana}}
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:English female dancers]]
[[Category:English television actresses]]
[[Category:Butlins Redcoats]]
[[Category:People from Cheadle, Greater Manchester]]
[[Category:20th-century British actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century English singers]]
[[Category:20th-century English women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century British businesspeople]]