Mabel Constanduros
| Mabel Constanduros | |
|---|---|
 Ardath tobacco card, 1935 | |
| Born |
29 March 1880 London, England |
| Died |
8 February 1957 (aged 76) Chichester, Sussex, England |
| Occupation | Actress, screenwriter |
| Spouse(s) | Athanasius Constanduros (d. 1937) |
| Children | Three children (only Michael surviving to adulthood) |
Mabel Constanduros (29 March 1880 – 8 February 1957), birth name Mabel Tilling, was an English actress and screenwriter.[1][2] She achieved fame playing Mrs.Buggins on the radio programme The Buggins Family, which ran from 1928 to 1948.[3] As well as writing the series, she started off playing the whole family as well. She trained at the Central School of Speech Training at the Royal Albert Hall, making her stage debut at the London Coliseum in 1929. She subsequently played a variety of roles in London and on tour, including Anne of Cleves in The Rose Without a Thorn at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1933. Constanduros became a radio celebrity after broadcasting her own sketches in 1925.[4] She also wrote novels, short stories, and co-wrote 29 Acacia Avenue with her nephew Denis Constanduros.[3] After World War II, she played Earthy Mangold in the popular Worzel Gummidge radio serial on the BBC Children's Hour.[5]
Mabel was one of the seven children of Richard Tilling, managing director of the Thomas Tilling bus company and Sophie (née Thorn).[6]
Barry Took wrote, "although today her reputation has faded, she was a popular cultural figure between the wars, helping to establish the style and flavour of British radio comedy."[7]
Selected filmography
- Where's George? (1935)
- Stars on Parade (1936)
- Rose of Tralee (1942)
- Variety Jubilee (1943)
- I'll Walk Beside You (1943)
- The White Unicorn (1947)
References
- ↑ "Mabel Constanduros". BFI.
- ↑ "Constanduros, Mabel (1881-1957), actress and author". nationalarchives.gov.uk.
- 1 2 "From Mrs Buggins to Acacia Avenue". Culture - Telegraph Blogs.
- ↑ "Mabel Constanduros". vam.ac.uk.
- ↑ "CHILDREN'S HOUR". bbc.co.uk.
- ↑ Barry Took, ‘Constanduros , Mabel (1880–1957)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2011 accessed 25 Feb 2011
- ↑ "Mabel Constanduros". oxforddnb.com.