Beatrice Lillie Collection

Beatrice Lillie
(1894 – 1989)

She was called the funniest lady in the world, with good reason. Beatrice Lillie took very little seriously, least of all herself. Her mother planned for her to become a concert soprano, but she discovered early on that she was much better at making people laugh, and it was a lot more fun.

Beatrice was born in Toronto, 1894, her father a former officer in the British Army who had served in India and went to work for the Canadian Government, and her mother a former concert singer, Lucie-Ann Shaw. Older sister Muriel was beginning to show some talent on the piano, so Lucie took her girls to England for training and to 'test the waters". While they performed occasionally as the Lillie Trio and Muriel showed progress in her classical training, Beattie was never able to develop the discipline her mother expected. It was just too much fun to make people laugh. In fact, she was tossed out of a church choir at the tender age of eight for making funny gestures during the serious portions of the service, causing the young boys near her to fall into fits of giggling.

At fifteen, Beatrice was called upon to play a male impersonator in a West End revue. In top hat and tails, it was a role she would return to several times over the years "I was the best-dressed transvestite in the world" she claimed. Transplanted Frenchman Andre Charlot first hired her in 1914 for his West End revues, using Lillie in skits, blackouts, and fast-paced, sophisticated songs. The "stage-door Johnnies" were lined up to meet the intriguing comedienne, but the one who won her heart was the future Sir Robert Peel.

Robert Peel's ancestor had been Queen Victoria's prime minister, and London police officers are nicknamed "bobbies" for the original Sir Robert. Beatrice's Robert married her at his family estate, Drayton House, in 1920, officially becoming Lady Peel even though she never assumed the title. Miss Lillie was fond of having her hair done at the Elizabeth Arden Salon when she was in New York City. During one visit, the heiress to the Armour Meat Packing fortune came into the salon, and upon seeing Beatrice and her actress friends declared "I wouldn't have come in if I had realized they were letting in chorus girls." At the end of her session, while saying goodbye to the manageress, Beatrice said loudly, "You may tell the butcher's wife that Lady Peel has finished."

Miss Lillie continued to work after having a son (another Robert Peel), which was fortunate because her husband was unable to hold a job as well as being an unfortunate gambler. Sir Robert died of peritonitis at the home of his mistress in 1934, and "little Bobby" became an officer in the Royal Navy and was killed in Ceylon in 1942 during a Japanese air raid.

Beatrice spent most of the War entertaining troops in the Mediterranean, Africa, the Middle East, and eventually in Germany. She successfully toured the U.S. and appeared on Broadway both before and after the War. In 1956, she was awarded a Tony for An Evening with Beatrice Lillie. Back in 1936, MGM had considered casting Beatrice as "Glenda, the Good Witch" in The Wizard of Oz (1939), but decided that she was 'too funny' for the rest of the company.

Although she had delighted the troops during WWII, by the Vietnam era her style had become blasé and out of fashion. While filming Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) she began to show signs of dementia, early indications of Alzheimer's Disease. She was able to publish her autobiography in 1973, entitled Every Other Inch a Lady. She had the first of two strokes the following year and went into seclusion for the rest of her life. Beatrice Lillie passed away on January 20, 1989, due to complications related to Alzheimer's. She was 94. A Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6404 Hollywood Blvd was dedicated in 1960 to honor Beatrice Lillie's contributions to Motion Pictures.