Bettine Le Beau Has Died
She was not on the list.
Bettine Le Beau was a Belgian-English actress and writer probably best known for "The Benny Hill Show" and several film, radio and television appearances in the UK.
Born on March 23, 1932 in Antwerp, Belgium to Jewish
parents, she was separated from her parents during World War Two and was held
in Camp Degurs concentration camp on the French border of Spain, later escaping
and going into hiding with the help of a family. She eventually made it to
England in 1945 and attended Pitman's College, working as a model, artist,
graphologist, cabaret artist and a facilitator for a Yiddish language circle.
She also worked on radio on a woman's program for solving problems.
As an actress, her television appearances include five
episodes of "The Benny Hill Show," "The Prisoner,"
"Call My Bluff" and "The Golden Shot." She also starred in
the movies "My Last Duchess," "San Ferry Ann" and "Devil's
Daffodil." She also had an uncredited role as Professor Dent's secretary
in the first James Bond film, "Dr No." On radio, Le Beau was a
regular on the BBC World Service program, "Animal, Vegetable and
Mineral," a version of Twenty Questions.
Le Beau also worked as a public speaker, talking about her
experiences as a child of the Holocaust. She is also an author, with the book,
"Help Yourself to Happiness."
She passed away September 8, 2015 at the age of 83 in Finchley, England. Married twice, she was survived by her two children.
Bettine Le Beau was separated from her parents at a young age and was taken to two concentration camps during the Holocaust. She eventually escaped from Camp De Gurs on the border of Spain and headed to France, where she (and another girl, "Henriette") was hidden by Marthe and Abel Marre - a middle-aged, childless Catholic couple who owned a secluded farm. On Christmas Eve 1942, a truck dropped the two 10 year-olds by the side of a main road, saving their lives. She was reunited with her parents and brother after the war.
She went to England in 1945, where she attended Pitman's College in Southampton Row. Le Beau went on to work as a model, actress, broadcaster, cabaret artiste, lecturer, portrait painter, sculptor, graphologist, and a facilitator for a Yiddish language circle. She has worked in radio, on a woman's program for solving problems. She has founded a cosmetic business along with a charity called The Feminine Touch. Le Beau is perhaps best known worldwide for her appearances on The Benny Hill Show (1969) (1971-72) and her small part on an episode of Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner (1967) ("A, B and C"). She became a public speaker and authored a book, "Help Yourself to Happiness".
Faced with an unimaginable dilemma, Bettine Le Beau’s mother decided to give her and her brother to a stranger to save them from a concentration camp.
To mark Holocaust Memorial Day, Bettine told Louette Harding about her dangerous escape and her remarkable life after the war
The depths of winter, 1940: an agent from a humanitarian organisation smuggles herself into Gurs concentration camp near the French Pyrenees. In the women’s barrack, she explains, ‘I am able to take ten children out of here. Tell me if you want me to take yours.’
Bettine Le Beau was then eight years old, shivering in the separate children’s barrack close by, along with her elder brother. More than 70 years later, her voice shakes with emotion at the memory. ‘A lot of the women said, “No. Where I go, my children go.” But my mum said, “Take them. Please take them to safety. But keep a record. If God helps me and I make it out of here, I will need to know where they are.”’
Bettine spent the rest of the war as a hidden child, protected by strangers who risked their lives for her. In a parallel narrative – the shadowy what-might-have-been – she was transported east to Auschwitz with most of the other prisoners.
Like them, she stepped out on to a platform beneath its belching, satanic chimney and followed the queue into the gas chambers. In that version, she did not come to England, did not marry and have two children, did not enjoy a frothy career as a starlet in TV comedies and film. She would not now be a beautiful woman still, sitting in her flat in North London with the central heating at full blast, surrounded by ornaments and house plants, spoiling me with fondant fancies served upon porcelain with dainty forks.
She is talking now about those wartime years in order to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day today. This year’s theme is ‘Communities Together: Build a Bridge’, so her story is particularly apt. After the charity engineered her escape, they concealed her in a remote rural neighbourhood, a gentile community sheltering a Jewish child.
Writer
Benny Hill in The Benny Hill Show (1969)
The Benny Hill Show
7.6
TV Series
co-writer: "French for Starters" (uncredited)
1971
1 episode
Actress
Jane Wiedlin, Nicholas Clay, Tahnee Welch, and Sylvia Miles
in Sleeping Beauty (1987)
Sleeping Beauty
5.8
2nd Spinning Woman (as Bettine LeBeau)
1987
Anthony Hopkins and Timothy West in The Edwardians (1972)
The Edwardians
6.8
TV Mini Series
Maid
1973
1 episode
Benny Hill in The Benny Hill Show (1969)
The Benny Hill Show
7.6
TV Series
Various Roles
1971–1972
5 episodes
Mike and Bernie
TV Series
1971
1 episode
Moira Lister in The Very Merry Widow and How (1968)
The Very Merry Widow and How
TV Series
Stewardess
1969
1 episode
The Old Campaigner (1967)
The Old Campaigner
TV Series
Yvette
1968
1 episode
The Morecambe & Wise Show (1968)
The Morecambe & Wise Show
8.1
TV Series
1968
2 episodes
NET Playhouse (1964)
NET Playhouse
7.3
TV Series
Maria
1968
1 episode
The Prisoner (1967)
The Prisoner
8.5
TV Series
Maid at Party
1967
1 episode
The Magnificent Two (1967)
The Magnificent Two
5.3
Telephonist (uncredited)
1967
Pamela Franklin in Quick Before They Catch Us (1966)
Quick Before They Catch Us
6.9
TV Series
Cecile
1966
3 episodes
That Riviera Touch (1966)
That Riviera Touch
5.8
French Lady at Casino (uncredited)
1966
Mrs Thursday (1966)
Mrs Thursday
8.1
TV Series
Nicole Dunrich
1966
1 episode
Summer Comedy Hour
TV Mini Series
Minette
1965
1 episode
San Ferry Ann (1965)
San Ferry Ann
5.5
French War Museum Attendant
1965
Jim Dale in Pet Pals (1965)
Pet Pals
TV Series
1965
1 episode
The Wednesday Play (1964)
The Wednesday Play
7.2
TV Series
Maria
1965
1 episode
Rodney Bewes, James Bolam, and Bartlett Mullins in The
Likely Lads (1964)
The Likely Lads
7.1
TV Series
Colette (as Bettine leBeau)
1964
1 episode
The Counterfeit Constable (1964)
The Counterfeit Constable
6.2
French Lady (uncredited)
1964
No Hiding Place (1959)
No Hiding Place
7.4
TV Series
Michelle Duvalle (as Bettine Lebeau)
1963
1 episode
Sean Connery and Ursula Andress in Dr. No (1962)
Dr. No
7.2
Professor Dent's Secretary (uncredited)
1962
Garry Halliday
8.5
TV Series
French Barmaid
1962
2 episodes
Village of Daughters (1962)
Village of Daughters
5.5
Alisa Marcio
1962
The Devil's Daffodil (1961)
The Devil's Daffodil
5.6
Trudi Mahler (uncredited)
1961
Dentist on the Job (1961)
Dentist on the Job
5.2
Judith Dobbin (uncredited)
1961
Jango (1961)
Jango
6.9
TV Series
Girl
1961
1 episode
The Trunk (1961)
The Trunk
6.2
Maria
1961
Patrick McGoohan in Danger Man (1960)
Danger Man
7.9
TV Series
Receptionist (as Betty Le Beau)
1961
1 episode
Interpol Calling (1959)
Interpol Calling
7.2
TV Series
Susie D'Ambrosio (uncredited)
1960
1 episode
Emergency-Ward 10 (1957)
Emergency-Ward 10
6.2
TV Series
Jacqueline Sablon (as Betty Le Beau)
1959–1960
3 episodes
Self
I've Got a Secret
TV Series
Self - Interrogator
1984
2 episodes
Friday Night, Saturday Morning (1979)
Friday Night, Saturday Morning
6.2
TV Series
Self
1981
1 episode
Call My Bluff (1965)
Call My Bluff
7.0
TV Series
Self
1969–1970
2 episodes
Benny Hill in The Benny Hill Show (1967)
The Benny Hill Show
7.7
TV Special
Various Characters
1967
Archive Footage
Benny Hill in The Best of Benny Hill (1974)
The Best of Benny Hill
7.1
Various Roles (archive footage)
1974
No comments:
Post a Comment