‘Trouper’ Audrey was a remarkable performer

Former Britain’s Got Talent contestant Audrey Leybourne has died aged 95. The singer and actress appeared on the show in May 2018, winning over viewers with her performance of I Wanna Be Loved By You from the 1928 musical Good Boy.

She died last week, the vicar of her local church announced after he was contacted by her family.

The Rev Simon Grigg of St Paul’s in Covent Garden, also known as the Actors’ Church, said she was an “amazing lady” with an “extraordinary career” and had been working up until 18 months ago.

He announced her death in a post on the church’s Facebook page which said: “It is with deep sadness that we report the death of our much loved friend Audrey Leybourne.

“She was a remarkable person, a real ‘trouper’ of an actress (starting her career with Sir Donald Wolfit, no less) and a much loved member of St Paul’s.

“She has a last message for you all. When she was in hospital two weeks ago, she said to me, ‘If I pop off, tell everyone I don’t regret a thing. I’ve had a wonderful life’.”

Leybourne was previously a member of the women’s tap-dancing act the Roly Polys, who appeared on The Les Dawson Show.

On Britain’s Got Talent she amused the panel and studio audience with her suggestive answers. Asked by judge Amanda Holden if she was married, Leybourne replied: “No, I was in love many, many times... 22 gentlemen.”

She also appeared on the stage and did her first pantomime performance, playing Potty T Potts in Beauty And The Beast, in her 90s.

Presenter and charity campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen, a close friend of Leybourne’s for nearly 40 years, described her as a “remarkable performer”.

She said: “We sent each other a card every Christmas, we had lunch together.

“She was multi-talented. She could do everything.

“She could dance, she could sing, she could play the tuba. She could act.

“She was a delight to be with.”

“She has a last message for you all: ‘If I pop off tell everyone I don’t regret a thing. I’ve had a wonderful life’

TOP TALENT: Audrey Leybourne has died aged 95.