From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Jessie Matthews OBE 11 March 1907 19 August 1981 was an English actress dancer and singer of the 1920s and 1930s whose career continued into the postwar period After a string of hit stage musicals and films in the mid1930s Matthews developed a following in the USA where she was dubbed The Dancing Divinity Her British studio was reluctant to let go of its biggest name which resulted in offers for her to work in Hollywood being repeatedly rejected Matthews first major film role was in Out of the Blue 1931 She was in two films directed by Albert de Courville The Midshipmaid 1932 and There Goes the Bride 1932 Matthews enjoyed great success with The Good Companions 1933 directed by Victor Saville although it was more of an ensemble film and The Man from Toronto 1933 Waltzes from Vienna 1933 was an operetta directed by Alfred Hitchcock followed by Friday the Thirteenth 1933 She was in the film version of Evergreen 1934 which featured the newly composed song Over My Shoulder which was to go on to become Matthews personal theme song later giving its title to her autobiography and to a 21stcentury musical stage show of her life She was in First a Girl 1935 as a cross dresser then Its Love Again 1936 where she had an American costar Robert Young Exhibitors voted her the sixth biggest star in the country that year Matthews started to appear in films directed by husband Sonnie Hale Gangway 1937 Head over Heels 1937 and Sailing Along 1938 She did Climbing High 1938 directed by Carol Reed In 1938 she was the fourth biggest British star Her warbling voice and round cheeks made her a familiar and muchloved personality to British theatre and film audiences at the beginning of World War II She was one of many stars in Forever and a Day 1943 Her popularity waned in the 1940s after several years absence from the screen followed by an unsatisfactory thriller Candles at Nine 1944 Postwar audiences associated her with a world of hectic prewar luxury that was now seen as obsolete in austerityera Britain In the late 1940s she ran an amateur theatre group at the Theatre Royal in Aldershot After a few false starts as a straight actress she played Tom Thumbs mother in the 1958 childrens film and during the 1960s found new fame when she took over the leading role of Mary Dale in the BBCs longrunning daily radio soap The Dales formerly Mrs Dales Diary Live theatre and variety shows remained the mainstay of Matthews work through the 1950s and 1960s with successful tours of Australia and South Africa interspersed with periods of less glamorous but welcome work in British provincial theatre and pantomimes
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