Kathleen Saintsbury Explained

Kathleen Saintsbury (4 July 1899 – 1995) was a British actress from the 1920s to the 1970s but who is best known today for playing Cissy Godfrey in the BBC comedy Dad's Army.^[1]

Early life

Saintsbury was born in London in 1899, the younger daughter of the actor H.A. Saintsbury (also a playwright under the name Jay Nibb) and his Irish wife, Florence. According to the 1911 census, her parents were married in 1893, but there is no record of a marriage in England.^[2] Saintsbury's older sister, Dorothie Helen (known as Helen) was also an actress. Helen married first the actor Edgar Norfolk and, after a divorce, Captain Buckley Rutherford, a son of Sir Ernest Rutherford (a wine importer, not the physicist Ernest Rutherford, although they were both born in 1871 and are sometimes confused^[3]).^[4] The marriage to Rutherford took place in 1932; four months later Rutherford shot himself.^[5] Distraught, less than a month after Rutherford's suicide, Helen also shot herself.^[6] There is some suggestion that Helen was married three times,^[7] but it is possible this reflects that her first husband was originally called Edgar Greenwood, and changed his name to Norfolk for the stage.^[8]

Stage work

Early in her career, Saintsbury appeared in stage productions:

• Ivor Novello and Constance Collier's The Rat at the Grand Opera House, Belfast, Theatre Royal, Bath and Lyceum Theatre, Newport, 1925^[9]
• Robert Buchanan and Charles Marlowe's The Strange Adventures of Miss Brown, Palace Theatre, Fleetwood, 1928^[10]
• F. Brooke Warren's The Face at the Window, Little Theatre in the Adelphi, London, 1929^[11]
• The Crimes of Burke and Hare, New Theatre, London, 1931^[12]
• Uncle Tom's Cabin (a Tom show), The Brixton Theatre, 1931^[13]

Film and television

Saintsbury's subsequent television work included:

• Eric Fawcett's adaptation of Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1950) as Mrs Cratchit, along with Bransby Williams as Scrooge and John Ruddock as Cratchit^[14]
• Leopold Lewis' The Bells (1950), a translation of Erckmann-Chatrian's play Le Juif polonaise^[15]
• Andrew Osborn's adaptation of Georges Simenon's novel Maigret's Mistake, Maigret: The Mistake (1960)^{[16] [17]}
• Alan Bridges' adaptation of August Strindberg's play The Father (1963) for BBC television^[18]
• Andrew Osborn's adaptation of Georges Simenon's novel L’affaire Saint-Fiacre, Maigret: The Countess (1962)^[19]
• The pilot of a sitcom set in 1910 by David Climie and based on a story by W.W. Jacobs, Sam The Samaritan (1965), but which was not then commissioned^[20]
• The Long House (1965)^[21]
• Jack Bond's Separation (1968)^[22]
• Ben Travers' Rookery Nook (1970) along with Richard Briers, Arthur Lowe and Joan Cooper^[23]

Saintsbury is best-known for her appearance in an episode of Dad's Army. Nan Braunton had previously appeared as Cissy Godfrey, one of Private Godfrey's two sisters. Saintsbury appeared in place of Braunton in 1975, in episode 3 of series 8, Is There Honey Still for Tea?^[24]

Personal life

Saintsbury died in 1995, aged 95.^[25] She was unmarried.

Notes and References

1. Web site: IMDB: Kathleen Saintsbury. 9 May 2021.
2. Web site: 1911 census, via Find My Past. 9 May 2021.
3. News: FOUND DEAD IN CAR . . 4571 . New South Wales, Australia . 4 August 1932 . 10 May 2021 . 8 . National Library of Australia.
4. News: FOUND DEAD IN CAR. . . XLVIII . 9,394 . Western Australia . 5 August 1932 . 10 May 2021 . 19 . National Library of Australia.
5. News: Helen Saintsbury Thrice Married, Say Police . . XIX . 2,852 . South Australia . 8 September 1932 . 10 May 2021 . 7 . National Library of Australia.
6. News: HELEN SAINTSBURY SUICIDES . . 6128 . Queensland, Australia . 6 September 1932 . 10 May 2021 . 1 . National Library of Australia.
7. News: Helen Saintsbury Thrice Married, Say Police . . XIX . 2,852 . South Australia . 8 September 1932 . 10 May 2021 . 7 . National Library of Australia.
8. News: FOUND DEAD IN CAR. . . XLVIII . 9,394 . Western Australia . 5 August 1932 . 10 May 2021 . 19 . National Library of Australia.
9. Web site: Charles Mortimer: The Rat. 10 May 2021.
10. Web site: The Strange Adventures of Miss Brown. 10 May 2021.
11. News: NEW REPERTORY PLAYS . . 16,308 . Victoria, Australia . 24 August 1929 . 10 May 2021 . 20 . National Library of Australia.
12. News: Blood and Thunder . . Queensland, Australia . 27 January 1932 . 10 May 2021 . 4 (FIRST EDITION) . National Library of Australia.
13. Bolton, H Philip, Women Writers Dramatized: A Calendar of Performances from Narrative Works Published in English to 1900, (1999: Bloomsbury), p 383.
14. Web site: IMDB: A Christmas Carol. 9 May 2021.
15. Web site: British Universities Film & Video Council: The Bells. 10 May 2021.
16. Web site: BBC Genome: Maigret – The Mistake. 9 May 2021.
17. Web site: BFI: The Mistake (1960). https://web.archive.org/web/20171114021255/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b7b69146b. dead. 14 November 2017. 9 May 2021.
18. News: Chilling Drama Of Wife And Husband . . 38 . 10,698 . Australian Capital Territory, Australia . 20 November 1963 . 10 May 2021 . 35 . National Library of Australia.
19. Web site: BBC Genome: Maigret – The Countess. 9 May 2021.
20. Web site: Comedy: Sam The Samaritan. 9 May 2021.
21. Web site: BFI: The Long House (1965). https://web.archive.org/web/20201126011354/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b73b09d9b. dead. 26 November 2020. 9 May 2021.
22. Web site: BFI: Separation (1968). https://web.archive.org/web/20160811123716/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6baa4ce2. dead. 11 August 2016. 9 May 2021.
23. Web site: IMDB: Rookery Nook. 9 May 2021.
24. Web site: IMDB: Is There Honey Still for Tea?. 9 May 2021.
25. Hillingdon district registry, district number 2361C, register number C28B, entry number 125.