Extraordinary
MY MOTHER EDDY
MUM was born in South Shields to a typically down-to-earth Northern family. But she was always fascinated by the idea of a career in showbiz. Her father was an engineer and she had a happy childhood. During World War II, she worked in a munitions factory in Yorkshire, in charge of a group of women making bombs. In the evenings she sang wartime hits with a band in local dancehalls. She sounded a lot like Doris Day, who was a favourite of hers. She was a blonde like Doris, too. She met my dad Michael during the war and they married in 1945. My brother Nigel was born two years later and I came along in 1954. Dad was a salesman for the Jaeger clothing company and in the Sixties he was transferred South for work. We lived in Essex and then Hertfordshire and that’s when Mum started working as an extra in TV shows and films. She loved the showbiz world and rubbing shoulders with famous actors. She appeared in episodes of The Saint, with Roger Moore, and in the 1967 film Casino Royale, where she got chatting to David
Niven, who played James Bond. Of course, the extras’ names aren’t listed, but Mum was credited when she had a longer appearance in an episode of the Tony Britton sitcom, Robin’s Nest, in the Seventies. The last film she worked on was Victor Victoria in 1982. In the nightclub scene, she is sitting at a table behind James Garner, laughing at Robert Preston, who is singing a comic song in drag. I have it on DVD and when I watch it, happy memories float back. Mum encouraged me to do extra work, too. My finest hour was playing a soldier in the wartime spy thriller Eye Of The Needle. Mum and Dad loved the theatre and enjoyed performing in amateur dramatics. Sadly, this shared interest wasn’t enough to save their marriage and they divorced. They both remarried, and Mum and my stepdad Ray were together until the end of her life. As well as singing and acting, Mum had a passion for art. In middle age, she went to night school in North London to learn how to paint and created many wonderful watercolours — I have them all. She just loved to express herself and always kept busy. Mum wasn’t one to sit around. She had a good brain and even in her 90s loved TV quiz shows — she had no trouble answering the questions. We were close and I miss her so much. But I know that whenever I watch a Doris Day film, I’ll think of Mum and smile.
EDDY MAY BOOTH, born may 17, 1921; died February 16, 2020, aged 98.