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Gracie Fields 1898 - 1979

Gracie Fields was born on January 9, 1898 in Rochdale, Lancashire England, U.K., and died at age 81 years old on September 27, 1979 at Capri, Italy. Gracie Fields was buried in September 1979 at Place of burial: Catholic cemetery and Protestant Cemetery Capri, Marina Grande, Italy.

Gracie Fields

Capri, Italy

January 9, 1898

Rochdale, Lancashire, England, U.K.

September 27, 1979

Capri, Italy

Female

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Gracie Fields Gracie Fields (1898 - 1979)

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Gracie Fields' History: 1898 - 1979

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Introduction

Dame Gracie Fields DBE Born Grace Stansfield 9 January 1898 Rochdale, Lancashire, England Died 27 September 1979 (aged 81) La Canzone Del Mare, Capri, Italy Nationality British Occupation Actress, singer Years active 1924–1978 Spouse(s) Archie Pitt (m. 1923; div. 1939) Monty Banks (m. 1940; his death 1950) Boris Alperovici (m. 1952; her death 1979) Dame Gracie Fields, DBE (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 1898 – 27 September 1979) was an English actress, singer and comedian and star of both cinema and music hall. She spent the later part of her life on the isle of Capri, Italy. Fields was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for "services to entertainment" in 1938, and in 1979, seven months before her death, she was invested a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II. Fields was born Grace Stansfield, over a fish and chip shop owned by her grandmother, Sarah Bamford, in Molesworth Street, Rochdale, Lancashire. Fields met the comedian and impresario Archie Pitt and they began working together. Pitt began to manage her career and they began a relationship; they married in 1923 at Clapham Register Office. The title of her first film, Sally in Our Alley (1931), which was a major box office hit. She went on to make several films initially in Britain and later in the United States (for which she was paid a record fee of £200,000 for four films). In the 1930s her popularity peaked and she was given many honors: the Officer of the Venerable Order of St. John (for charity work), the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) (for services to entertainment) in 1938 and the Freedom of the Borough of Rochdale in 1937. She donated her house, The Towers, 53 The Bishops Avenue, London, N2 0BJ (which she had not much cared for and which she had shared with her husband Archie Pitt and his mistress) to an orphanage after the marriage broke down. In 1939, she became seriously ill with cervical cancer. The public sent over 250,000 goodwill messages and she retired to her villa on Capri. After she recovered, she recorded a very special 78 rpm record simply called Gracie's Thanks, in which she thanks the public for the many cards and letters she received while in hospital. During World War II, she paid for all servicemen/women to travel free on public transport within the boundaries of Rochdale. In 1933 she set up the Gracie Fields Children's Home and Orphanage at Peacehaven, Sussex for children of those in the theatre profession who could not look after their children. She kept this until 1967, when the home was no longer needed. This was near her own home in Peacehaven, and Fields often visited, with the children all calling her 'Aunty Grace'.World War II. Fields, accompanied by an RAF orchestra, entertains airmen at their 1939 Christmas party.Fields shares a joke with troops in a village near Valenciennes, France, April 1940. In 1939, Fields suffered a breakdown and went to Capri to recuperate.[9] World War II was declared while she was recovering in Capri, and Fields – still very ill after her cancer surgery, threw herself into her work and signed up for the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) headed by her old film producer, Basil Dean. Fields travelled to France to entertain the troops in the midst of air-raids, performing on the backs of open lorries and in war-torn areas. She was the first artist to play behind enemy lines in Berlin. Following her divorce from Archie Pitt, she married Italian-born film director Monty Banks in March 1940. However, because Banks remained an Italian citizen and would have been interned in the United Kingdom after Italy declared war in 1940, she went with him to North America, possibly at the suggestion of Winston Churchill who told her to "Make American Dollars, not British Pounds", which she did, in aid of the Navy League and the Spitfire Fund. She and Banks moved to their home in Santa Monica, California. Fields occasionally returned to Britain, performing in factories and army camps around the country. After their initial argument, Parliament offered her an official apology. Although she continued to spend much of her time entertaining troops and otherwise supporting the war effort outside Britain, this led to a fall-off in her popularity at home. She performed many times for Allied troops, travelling as far as New Guinea, where she received an enthusiastic response from Australian personnel.[10] In late 1945 she toured the South Pacific Islands. After the war, Fields continued her career less actively. She began performing in Britain again in 1948 headlining the London Palladium over Eartha Kitt who was also on the bill. The BBC gave her her own radio show in 1947 dubbed Our Gracie's Working Party in which 12 towns were visited by Fields, and a live show of music and entertainment was broadcast weekly with Fields compering and performing, and local talents also on the bill. In 1951, Fields opened the Festival of Britain celebrations. She proved popular once more, though never regaining the status she enjoyed in the 1930s. She continued recording, but made no more films, moving more towards light classical music as popular tastes changed, often adopting a religious theme. She continued into the new medium of LP records, and recorded new takes of her old favourite songs, as well as new and recent tracks to 'liven things up a bit'. Monty Banks died on 8 January 1950 of a heart attack while travelling on the Orient Express. On 18 February 1952 in Capri, Fields married Boris Alperovici, a Romanian radio repairman. She claimed that he was the love of her life, and that she couldn't wait to propose to him. She proposed on Christmas Day in front of friends and family. They married at the Church of St. Stefano on Capri in a quiet ceremony before honeymooning in Rome. She lived on her beloved Isle of Capri for the remainder of her life, at her home La Canzone Del Mare, a swimming and restaurant complex which Fields' home overlooked. It was favoured by many Hollywood stars during the 1950s, with regular guests including Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Greta Garbo and Noël Coward. Her UK tours proved popular, and in the mid-1960s she performed farewell tours in Australia, Canada and America – the last performance was recorded and released years later. In 1956, Fields was the first actress to portray the title character in Miss Marple in a US TV production of Agatha Christie's A Murder is Announced The production featured Jessica Tandy and Roger Moore, and predates the Margaret Rutherford films by some five years. She also starred in television productions of A Tale of Two Cities, The Old Lady Shows Her Medals – for which she won a TV Award – and Mrs 'Arris Goes to Paris. Fields regularly performed in TV appearances, being the first entertainer to perform on Val Parnell's Sunday Night at the London Palladium. Fields had two Christmas TV specials in 1960 and 1961, singing her old favourites and new songs in front of a studio audience. 1971 saw A Gift For Gracie, another TV special presented by Fields and Bruce Forsyth. This followed on from her popularity on Stars on Sunday, a religious programme on Britain's ITV, in which well known performers sang hymns or read extracts from the Bible. Fields was the most requested artist on the show. In 1968, Fields headlined a two-week Christmas stint at the West Riding of Yorkshire's prestigious Batley Variety Club. "I was born over a fish and chip shop – I never thought I'd be singing in one!" claimed Fields during the performance recorded by the BBC.[19] In 1975, her album, The Golden Years, reached No. 48 in the UK Albums Chart. In 1978, she opened the Gracie Fields Theatre, located next to Oulder Hill Community School, in her native Rochdale, performing a concert there recorded by the BBC to open the show. Fields appeared in ten Royal Variety Performances from 1928 onwards, her last being in 1978 at the age of 80 when she appeared as a surprise guest in the finale, in which she appeared and sang her theme song, "Sally". Her final TV appearance came in January 1979 when she appeared in a special octogenarian edition of The Merv Griffin Show in America, in which she sang the song she popularised in America, "The Biggest Aspidistra in the World".[20] Fields was notified by her confidante John Taylor while she was in America that she had the invitation to become a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, to which she replied: "Yes I'll accept, yes I can kneel – but I might need help getting back up, and yes I'll attend – as long as they don't call Boris 'Buttons'." Death Fields' health declined in July 1979, when she contracted pneumonia after performing an open-air concert on the Royal Yacht which was docked in Capri's harbour.[citation needed] After a spell in hospital, she seemed to be recovering, but died on 27 September 1979.[21] The press reported she died holding her husband's hand, but in reality he was at their Anacapri home at the time, while Gracie was home with the housekeeper, Irena. She is buried in Capri's Protestant Cemetery in a white marble tomb. Her coffin was carried by staff from her restaurant. Her husband Boris died on 3 July 1983. Honors and popular culture In February 1979, she was invested as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire seven months before her death at her home on Capri, aged 81. Gracie Fields was mentioned in the 1987 film Wish You Were Here and the 2006 film The History Boys. On 3 October 2009 the final train to run on the Oldham Loop before it closed to be converted to a tramway, a Class 156, was named in her honour.[24] Fields was granted the Freedom of Rochdale. The local theatre in Rochdale, the Gracie Fields Theatre, was opened by her in 1978.
01/9

1898

Birthday

January 9, 1898

Birthdate

Rochdale, Lancashire England, U.K.

Birthplace

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Ethnicity & Family History

Caucasion
Nationality & Locations

British
Religious Beliefs

Christian
Military Service

She entertained the Troops during WW II.
Professional Career

Actress, singer, entertainer, motion pictures, music halls, radio, television, troop entertainment, charity fundraisers. DAME [D.B.E.] GRACIE FIELDS. Famous songs Gracie Fields 1937 "We're All living at the Cloisters", You didn't want me when you had me "Sally", The Kerry Dance "Sing As We Go" Filmography Gracie Fields in Stage Door Canteen (1943) Sally in Our Alley (1931) Looking on the Bright Side (1932) This Week of Grace (1933) Love, Life and Laughter (1934) Sing As We Go (1934) Look Up and Laugh (1935) Queen of Hearts (1936) The Show Goes On (1937) We're Going to Be Rich (1938) Young and Beautiful (1938) – short Jinx Falkenburg feature, in colour Keep Smiling (1938) Shipyard Sally (1939) Stage Door Canteen (1943) Holy Matrimony (1943) Molly and Me (1945) Paris Underground (1945) aka Madame Pimpernel
09/27

1979

Death

September 27, 1979

Death date

Unknown
Cause of death

Capri, Italy
Death location

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09/dd

1979

Gravesite & Burial

September 1979

Funeral date
Place of burial: Catholic cemetery and Protestant Cemetery Capri, Marina Grande, Italy
Burial location
Obituary

Grade Fields, the rowdy and rollicking singer and comedian who was “our Gracie” to millions of Britons, died yesterday at her home on Capri. Miss Fields, who was reportedly recovering from an attack of pneumonia, was 81 years old. Miss Fields, at her last public appearance, in February, was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, the female equivalent of a knighthood, in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. A few months earlier, she had performed at a theater named for her in her native Rochdale, an industrial town near Manchester. The Queen Mother Elizabeth was present. Miss Fields, blue‐eyed and still bouncy, forbore her usually lavish wardrobe for the occasion. “Folk in Rochdale don't like swank,” she said. Her audience, many of whom knew her and her family, pelted her with roses. From 1915 to 1945, the one‐time mill girl was the darling of the British public, in music halls, on the theatrical stage, in films and on television. She entertained troops in every theater of operations during World War II, her benefits raised millions of pounds for charities, and she gave 10 command performances for British royalty. As tastes changed, her performances became less frequent, but scarcely a year passed without “farewell” appearances. She spent most of her time, however, at her villa on an island resort in the Bay of Naples with Boris Alperovici, her third husband, who survives. Miss Fields's special mark was a broad Lancashire accent and a funny, and occasionally mildly risqué, song. She won applause not only from the working class but also across the British social spectrum. Her popularity did not immediately cross the Atlantic, however. When she played the Palace Theater in New York, the country's premier vaudeville house, in 1930, the audience sat on its hands. Miss Fields never quite figured out why. She came to believe it was because she had toned down her material. Subsequent visits were more successful, but it was always British audiences who loved her best. Her income reflected her popularity. For many years she was among the world's highest‐paid entertainers. In the depressed 1930's, she received $750,000 for three movies. Her records, including a renowned version of the Lord's Prayer, sold more than five million copies. Miss Fields, whose real name was Grace Stansfield, was born Jan. 9, 1898, over a fish‐and‐chips shop in Rochdale. Her father worked in a textile mill, and her mother washed clothes for touring performers. Gracie learned their songs and sang them for pennies on the street. Before deciding on a theatrical career, Miss Fields worked in a Rochdale mill. She toured provincial music halls, learning to dominate a rough and often drunken audience. Her first London success was a revue, “Mr. Tower of London,” in which she appeared with Archie Pitt, a comedian to whom she was married. It ran for six and a half years and led to her enduring popularity. At 4 A.M. on New Year's Day 1938, when Miss Fields's name appeared in the King's Honors List, she found a group of sweepers, police officers, milkmen, and other night workers assembled outside her home to congratulate her. She was divorced from Mr. Pitt in 1939, and the next year was married to Monty Banks, her producer. He was born Mario Bianco, an Italian, and it was this marriage that was to lead to the only rift between Miss Fields and the British public. When Italy entered the war, her husband was liable to internment in England as an enemy alien. When he left for their home in Santa Monica, Calif., Miss Fields went with him. Questions were asked in the House of Commons, and the Government was criticized for permitting the couple to take $140,000 with them. Among her defenders was Prime Minister Winston Churchill. She subsequently covered tens of thousands of miles performing for troops, one tour lasting a year without a break, and raised more than $2 million for wartime charities. Miss Fields added a verse to what was probably her most famous song, a double entendre ditty about a popular English house plant, “The Biggest Aspidistra in the World”: “They're going to string old Hitler/From the very highest branch/ Of the biggest aspidistra in the world!” She was 55 years old, and her famous golden-red hair was touched with gray, when she played the Palladium, London's great vaudeville house, in 1953. But all the talent was still there, even if she no longer turned cartwheels after a song. Of her performance, Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times's drama critic, wrote: “She is the perfect music hall minstrel. Gracie's authority over an audience is genuine because she is genuine. No one can help to believe in this smiling woman who faces an audience with absolute sincerity.” Among the pictures Miss Fields made for 20th Century Fox were “We're Going to Be Rich,” “Molly and Me,” “Holy Matrimony,” “Paris Underground,” “Smiling Along” and “Shipyard Sally.” After Mr. Banks's death in 1950, Miss Fields retired to Capri. She met the Rumanian‐born Mr. Alperovici when he came to the villa to fix a broken radio. They were married in February 1952, and he was with her at her death.

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Gracie Fields lived 11 years longer than the average family member when died at the age of 81.

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18 Memories, Stories & Photos about Gracie

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

05/09/2024

Gracie Fields

Where Gracie Fields stayed in 1958. I met her there. 30 West 54th Street, New York, NY.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Dawn Ford

12 favorites

03/01/2022

I've always remember in the early 40s when our dad & mum were courting and a ball was hosted for Dame Gracie Field at Tamatekapua Rotorua New Zealand this was an exciting nite for my dad as he was Master Of Ceremony for the nite ......

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

05/21/2024

Gracie Fields.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

12/10/2020

Gracie Fields

Gracie Fields with Monty Woolley in Holy Matrimony.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

02/06/2019

Gracie Fields

A photo of Gracie Fields

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

11/17/2017

Gracie Fields

A photo of Gracie Fields

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

11/17/2017

Gracie Fields

A photo of Gracie Fields

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

11/17/2017

I was looking at a Gracie Fields movie with my mother in 1959 and when she began to sing about Christopher Robin my mother [also named Grace] burst into tears and said [erroneously] "She died during the war and I miss her so much! I was an autograph hound and read in SHOW BUSINESS MAGAZINE that Gracie Fields was staying at a hotel on 55th Street. I went there and called her on the house phone and told her I was 15 so she invited me up. I told her about the incident with my mother and she laughed and said, "I didn't die, I moved to Capri!" I asked her if I could call my mother and she LOVED the idea. I called my Mom and said, "Somebody wants to talk to you." "Gracie! This is Gracie Fields. I want you to know I'm not dead. I just moved to Capri, and I'd love to have you come visit me!" Well my mother was ecstatically happy and 12 years later she did visit her twice on Capri! I have an album of hers that has 100 songs. I also own two of her movies. I'll love Gracie Fields forever!

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