Dame Gracie Fields
Person Female Born 9/1/1898 Died 27/9/1979
Entertainer. Born over a chip shop in Rochdale, Lancashire as Grace Stansfield. Worked at Gainsborough Film Studios. Gracie and her husband Archie moved from Upper Street, N1 in 1929 to The Towers at 136 or 53 (depending on source) The Bishops Avenue. Cervical cancer in 1939 left her unable to have children. She and Archie split up and she gave the Towers, which she had not liked, to a maternity hospital. It has been demolished and is now a block of flats. Quite where and why the 1934 Frognal house, NW3 fits in is a bit puzzling. Made a Dame shortly before she died, in Capri, where she had had a home for many years. We have watched "Sally In Our Alley" (1932) and have to say that Gracie must be an acquired taste.
