{{Short description|British actress, singer and music hall performer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Bertha Willmott cigarette card.jpg|thumb|right|Bertha Willmott on a [[cigarette card]]]] '''Bertha Mary Willmott''' (16 September 1894 – 3 June 1973)<ref name=BFI>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220308225721/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bb06743f7 Bertha Willmott] [[British Film Institute]] database</ref> was a British actress, comedienne, singer and [[music hall]] performer.
She was born in [[West Ham]] in [[Essex]] in 1894, the second of four daughters of Henry Benjamin Willmott (1863 - 1929), an engine fitter, and his wife Bertha Vivian (1872-1953), who married in 1891.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/7814/images/ESSRG13_1584_1586-0669?pId=9393611 1901 England Census for Bertha Willmott, Essex, West Ham] [[Ancestry.com]] {{subscription}}</ref> When she was a girl at a London convent school the nuns encouraged and commenced her vocal training, which she continued at the London School of Music. At age 14 she became well known in the provinces for her Irish songs in costume. During [[World War I]] she appeared in the revue ''Razzle-Dazzle'' which opened in June 1916 at the [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]] where it ran for 408 performances.<ref>[http://www.guidetomusicaltheatre.com/shows_r/razzledazzle.htm ''Razzle-Dazzle'' (1916)], The Guide to Musical Theatre</ref> She spent much of her leisure singing for the soldiers. While playing in the chorus at the [[Empire, Leicester Square|Empire Theatre]] in [[Leicester Square]] in 1918 she met Reginald Thomas Bishop Seymour (1895-1962), a Lieutenant in the [[Royal Garrison Artillery]]. They married three months later at [[Romford]] in [[Essex]].<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/8753/images/ons_m19182az-1147?pId=64956621 England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 for Bertha M Willmott, 1918, Q2-Apr-May-Jun], [[Ancestry.com]] {{subscription}}</ref> From about 1939 the couple ran the Spinney Hill Hotel in [[Northampton]].<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/61596/images/tna_r39_6099_6099i_002?pId=36873570 1939 England and Wales Register for Bertha M Seymour, Northamptonshire, Northampton], [[Ancestry.com]] {{subscription}}</ref> They had one son, Donald Henry Thomas Bishop Seymour (1920 - 1999). At about this time Willmott turned to comedy, and in 1924 she made her first radio broadcast from [[Savoy Place#Savoy Hill House|Savoy Hill]]. Billed as "The Radio Comedy Girl with a Voice", she scored success after success, especially with her contributions to the ''Old Time Music Hall'' series. In 1931 she appeared in the [[BBC]] radio musical show ''The Ridgeway Parade'',<ref>[https://websterboothanneziegler.wordpress.com/tag/bertha-willmott/ Bertha Willmott in ''The Ridgeway Parade'' (1931)], The Webster Booth-Anne Ziegler database</ref> while in 1935 she was in the British [[musical film]] ''[[Variety (1935 film)|Variety]]''.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20201201063936/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b9ae67c Bertha Willmott in ''Variety'' (1935)], [[British Film Institute]] database</ref> From the 1920s through to the 1940s Willmott released a number of recordings, including 'Maggie! - Yes, Ma!' (1923), 'Mum And Dad And The Nipper' (1932), 'No ! No ! A Thousand Times No !' (1935), 'Live And Love Another Day' (1937), '[[Bless 'Em All]]' (1940) and 'You'll Be Far Better Off In A Home' (1942).<ref>[https://www.discogs.com/artist/966767-Bertha-Wilmott Bertha Wilmott] Discogs database</ref>
Willmott made an early appearance in the new medium of television on 4 January 1937 in ''The Two Leslies and Bertha Willmott'' for the BBC Television Service.<ref>[https://tvrdb.com/listings/1937-01-04 ''The Two Leslies and Bertha Willmott'' (1937)], The Television & Radio Database</ref> In 1938 she appeared with [[Seymour Hicks]] and [[Ellaline Terriss]] in the BBC radio broadcast of ''George Edwardes'', an "illustrated biography" of the Edwardian musical impresario.<ref>Jean Collen and Pamela Davies. [https://books.google.com/books?id=8qrghqgAP6MC&pg=PA109 ''Do You Remember Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth?''], Lulu (2006), Google Books, pp. 108-109</ref> In 1941 she sang music hall favourites in a BBC radio broadcast for military personnel serving during [[World War II]],<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220308234045/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/686890224c614f28b405e80763422249 Music-Hall Forces Programme (1941)], ''[[The Radio Times]]'', BBC Database</ref> while in 1943 she played The Singer in ''[[Millions Like Us]]'', a war-time British propaganda film. In April 1944 Willmott was among the cast of ''[[Variety Bandbox]]'' broadcast by BBC radio.<ref>[https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/schedule/1944-04-23/ Broadcast of ''Variety Bandbox'' (April 1944)], British Comedy Guide</ref> In 1953 she appeared in the popular [[BBC]] light entertainment programme ''[[The Good Old Days (British TV series)|The Good Old Days]]''.<ref name=BFI/><ref>[https://www.chartersandcaldicott.co.uk/i-say-old-man/bertha-wilmott Bertha Willmott], Charters and Caldicott database</ref><ref>[https://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=146288 Bertha Willmott], aveleyman.com</ref> In the same year she was the Queen Ratling of the [[Grand Order of Water Rats#Grand Order of Lady Ratlings|Grand Order of Lady Ratlings]],<ref>[https://www.golr.org.uk/our-history Bertha Willmott, Queen Ratling], Our History - The Grand Order of Lady Ratlings</ref> a branch of the show-business charity the [[Grand Order of Water Rats]].
Bertha Willmott Seymour died in 1973 in [[Northampton]] in [[Northamptonshire]].
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0932546}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Willmott, Bertha}} [[Category:1894 births]] [[Category:1973 deaths]] [[Category:Actors from the London Borough of Newham]] [[Category:English women comedians]] [[Category:English women singers]] [[Category:British music hall performers]] [[Category:British vaudeville performers]] [[Category:English television actresses]] [[Category:English film actresses]] [[Category:Comedians from Essex]] [[Category:Actresses from Essex]] [[Category:People from West Ham]] [[Category:Comedians from the London Borough of Newham]]