A WRNS officer who was called by the lure of the stage
HER FIRST job on the stage came because the director was looking for a mysterious Spanish-looking woman, and Helen Barnett was a perfect choice. This led to several years at the Perth Repertory Company acting alongside a star cast and touring with a different play every two weeks.
Helen Barnett, who has died aged 98, applied to join the WRNS, and after a brief training course she was called up and assigned to WRNS HQ in Westminster, then to Canada House in Trafalgar Square, to work for the Canadian Navy. Later she joined the Coastal Forces base in Norfolk and volunteered for service in South East Asia. She was sent to Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) where she served in the Naval Amenities department.
Helen Barnett was the daughter of Jack Keen and Bessie (Leveson) Keen, descended from Lithuanian immigrants. She had two siblings, Montague and Denzil (Denny). Helen won a scholarship to Burlington School, then to a West End girls’ school. Hoping to become an actress, she left school at 17 and worked in her cousin’s London office.
During the Blitz the family moved out of London, apart from her father who remained in the family house. Helen commuted between London and Maidenhead where she lived with her uncle. During a particularly heavy raid in September 1940, the family house received a direct hit, killing her 50-year-old father.
A second tragedy cut short Helen’s successful career as a WRNS officer. About two weeks after his 21st birthday Denny, who had been accepted into the army before his 17th birthday, claiming to be 18, joined the parachute regiment and took part in the Battle of Arnhem, where he was killed in September, 1944. Helen applied for her discharge from the WRNS and returned to her recently widowed mother.
Her acting break came when a director was looking for a woman of Spanish appearance. Helen, with her black curly hair, good looks and an elegant figure, fitted the bill and she joined the Perth repertory company, remaining with them for several years. She acted with Frank Thornton,
Sir Donald Sinden and Patrick Troughton (the second Doctor Who) and travelled widely within the UK.
Helen met Morris Barnett at a friend’s wedding and their courtship was partly stimulated by her love of smoked salmon — Barnett’s of Frying Pan Alley being his family’s East End business. Marriage followed a year later and they had three children, a son, Peter Barnett, and two daughters, Alexandra Dembitz and myself, Ruth Mercado.
Later Helen qualified to teach English as a Foreign Language, and taught for many years at the former Putney Technical College. Retiring at 65, she regained her Equity card, joined an actors’ co-operative and appeared in commercials and fringe productions in London and Exeter. She also acted in a production aimed at people facing retirement.
Her love of the theatre was a source of great joy to her. She went as often as she could and read all the reviews. She passed on her love of the theatre to her children, to whom she became the matriarch of the family. To us, she encapsulated everything that was good about a family: love, warmth and understanding.
When requested to read from a prayer book in synagogue on Shabbat, she had the skill to bring the passage to life. When Morris became ill and she could not leave him to work in the theatre, she attended U3A classes, becoming a valued member of the Short Story and Shakespeare classes. Morris died in October, 1998. Always elegant, Helen was famed for her baking, which made her very popular with AJEX of which she remained an active member. Renowned for her grammar usage, she corrected everyone, from her children to officials and people “who ought to know better.”
She moved to Nightingale House seven years before her death, where she was physically close to her English grandson Robert Dembitz and his wife Heather and twins, Isabelle and Milana. She was also visited by her Paris and Australian grandchildren and their families.She is survived by her children, six grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. RUTH MERCADO
Helen Barnett née Keen: born May 22, 1922. Died January 21, 2021