Andrée Melly, along with Moira Lister before her, appeared in early radio episodes of 'Hancock's Half Hour' but was removed from the show, when her character became increasingly more incidental,
Both characters extremely tentatively toyed with a 'love interest' idea (Hancock's kissing scene in the tunnel in 'The Rail Strike') but that element was completely out of place within the context of "Hancock's Half Hour". Eventually a woman was brought into the equation, the indomitable
Hattie Jacques, who brought with her the additional comedy possibilities which came with her physical size. Her relationship with Hancock, as the inept secretary Miss Grizelda Pugh, was purely professional, which suited both parties well (Pugh to Hancock, "Viper, toffee nosed little runt!": Hancock to Pugh, "where's me book?....'fat gags', let's see"), but there were one or two close calls ('Cyrano De Hancock'). Anyway, enough about Miss Pugh, Andrée affected a French accent in "Hancock's Half Hour" in an attempt to give her character more dimension (?) - and because Tony was "a great Francophile".
Andrée Melly
Andrée Melly was born in Liverpool on the 15th September 1932 and was educated at Liverpool and in Switzerland. Her mother and father were Edith and Francis Melly and her brother is jazz legend, George Melly.
She began her career at the New Theatre, Bromley alongside such stars as Robin Bailey, Leslie Phillips and Arthur Lowe. To members of THAS she will always be thought of as Tony's girlfriend in the "Hancock's Half Hour" shows.
Moira Lister had played Tony's girlfriend in the first series and Andrée took over for the second and third, appearing in a total of 32 episodes. What was noticeable about her first three appearances in the series was that she played alongside Harry Secombe while Hancock was absent. She was
(re)introduced into the series when Hancock and Bill smuggled her back to East Cheam from Paris, where they had ended up after setting out for Southend!
According to Roger Wilmut's book, "Tony Hancock - 'Artiste'", Andrée left the series because, "She had found that the gradually changing style of the programme left her with less and less to do."
Andrée is married to the actor Oscar Quitak.
Films
- The Belles of St Trinian's (1954) .... Lucretia
- A Passionate Stranger (1957) .... Marla
- The Big Day (1960) .... Nina Wentworth
- Beyond the Curtain (1960) .... Linda
- Brides of Dracula (1960) .... Gina
- The Horror of It All (1963) .... Natalia
- Nowhere to Go
- The Secret Tent
- So Little Time
Television
- Just William
- Hot Summer Night
- The Navigators
- Tiny Revolutions
- The Fasting Girl
- Little Women
- My Flesh My Blood
- My Uncle Jonathon
- Act of Violence
- The Doctors
- The Benny Hill Show (1971 & 1973 - 3 episodes)
- The Best of Benny Hill (1974)
- Teeth (1967)
- T Bag
- Third Wave
Radio
- Hancock's Half Hour (1955-56)
- Just a Minute
- Rhinoceros
- Petticoat Lane
- Woman's Hour
Theatre
- Mornings at Seven
- Mixed Doubles
- A Thousand Clowns
- The Shot in Question
- Plaintiff in a Pretty Hat
- Boeing Boeing
- The Moon is Blue
- Hot Summer Night
- The Killing of Sister George
- On Golden Pond
- Quality Street
- The Dining Room
- The Ghost Writers
- Reclining Figure
- As You Like It
- The Importance of Being Earnesthow
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Who's Who Index Page
