All-rounder with talent and charm
ONE OF the most versatile actresses of her time, Andrée Melly could instantly turn her talents from Shakespeare’s tragedies to outrageous comedy without batting an eye. Gifted with brilliant timing and film-star looks, she could easily have become a huge international star, but seemed content to pursue roles she enjoyed playing with actors she liked.
The sister of jazz singer George Melly, she played Tony Hancock’s French-speaking girlfriend in two series of Hancock’s Half Hour, although many of the recordings were wiped from the archive.
In one particularly memorable episode, Hancock bought her a pet puppy, called Harry, which grew to be six feet tall.
Her verbal dexterity and speed of mind was evident to listeners of Just A Minute. In 1972 she replaced Nicholas Parsons in the chair for an episode in tribute to the women’s liberation movement.
A hugely popular contributor, she took part in a total of 54 episodes from 1967 to 1976 and was the first panellist to speak for 60 seconds without hesitation, deviation or repetition. In her 20s, she gave memorable performances at the Old Vic in Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice and TS Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral.
In the 1954 film The Belles of St Trinian’s she played Lucretia and in The Brides of Dracula, screened in 1960, she menaced provocatively with fearsome fangs as Gina.
Andrée Melly was born in Liverpool into a moneyed family.
Her father Tom earned a comfortable living from the wool trade and her mother Maud was engaging and outgoing with a fondness for actors.
After attending finishing school in Switzerland, she worked in repertory theatre before joining the OldVic Company.
For a time she had a relationship with artist Lucian Freud but married actor Oscar Quitak after meeting him at Elstree Studios when they were filming romantic Second
World War drama So Little Time in 1951. During the 1970s the couple ran a health food shop in Cranleigh, Surrey, producing much of the produce from their smallholding. They also kept hens, ducks and geese and their lifestyle was frequently compared to that of Tom
and Barbara from The Good Life television series.
At the same time she often played buxom ladies in Benny Hill comedies for television.
Warm, witty and wise, she later lived in Ibiza with her husband, Oscar, who survives her.