{{Short description|British actress (born 1925)}} {{Use British English|date=October 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Thelma Ruby | image = | caption = Thelma Ruby with Kenneth Williams in The Buccaneer in 1955 | birth_name = Thelma Wigoder | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1925|3|23|df=y}} | birth_place = Chapel Allerton, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England | occupation = Actress | spouse = {{marriage|Peter Frye|1971|1991|reason=died}} | children = }}
'''Thelma Ruby''' (born '''Thelma Wigoder''', 23 March 1925) is a British actress, best known for her long stage career, she has also appeared in radio, television and film.
Ruby is best known for her theatre roles including Shakespearean roles, ''Fiddler on the Roof'' and ''Cabaret'' with Judi Dench<ref name="Miller"/>, as well as known for co-adapting and starring in the one-woman show ''Momma Golda'', about Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Julie Tomlin’s theatre news: Inga; Voila! Europe; Enter the Dragons; Moma Golda; Dear Chocolate Soldier |url=https://www.westminsterextra.co.uk/article/julie-tomlins-theatre-news-inga-voila-europe-enter-the-dragons-moma-golda-dear-chocolate-soldier |access-date=2025-06-03 |website=Camden New Journal |language=en-gb}}</ref>
She has had stints in television soap operas and serials like ''Coronation Street'' and ''EastEnders'' and the sitcom ''Dad's Army''<ref name="Miller"/>
==Early life and education== Ruby was born Thelma Wigoder at Chapel Allerton in Leeds on 23 March 1925.<ref name="Grammar School">{{Cite web |title=That's Entertainment as Thelma looks back on her career |url=https://gsal.org.uk/thats-entertainment-as-thelma-looks-back-on-her-career/ |date= 16 January 2014|access-date=25 March 2023 |website=The Grammar School at Leeds}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-03-21 |title=Happy 100th Birthday Thelma Ruby! – Danielle Mitzman |url=https://www.dmitzman.com/2025/03/21/happy-100th-birthday-thelma-ruby/ |access-date=2025-03-26 |language=en-US}}</ref> She grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family in Leeds. Her mother, Paula Ruby, was a singer and also an actress;<ref name="Miller"/> whilst her father, Louis, from Lithuania, was a dentist.
She was educated at Leeds Girls' High School<ref name="Grammar School"/><ref name="YEP">{{Cite news |date=15 September 2017 |title=The Leeds-born actress who is making a comeback on ITV – at the age of 92 |work=Yorkshire Evening Post |url=https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/leeds-born-actress-who-making-comeback-itv-age-92-599395 |access-date=5 October 2022}}</ref> and, after evacuation with her mother to the United States during the Second World War, at Finch College in New York City.<ref name="Miller"/>
Returning to Britain in 1944, Ruby joined the Entertainments National Service Association and performed to British troops.<ref name="Miller"/>
==Early stage and film career== In 1958 she acted in Bernard Kops' play, ''The Hamlet of Stepney Green'', at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in London, with Harold Lang, John Fraser, John Barrard and George Selway also in the cast.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4bYlDwAAQBAJ&dq=the+hamlet+of+stepney+green+harold+lang&pg=PT119|title=Making a Noise: Getting It Right, Getting It Wrong in Life, Arts and Broadcasting|first=John|last=Tusa|author-link = John Tusa|date=22 February 2018|publisher=Orion|isbn=9781474607100|via=Google Books}}</ref>
She also had a role in the British film ''Live Now, Pay Later'' in 1962.<ref name="TV Guide">{{Cite magazine |date=1962 |title=Live Now---Pay Later – Full Cast & Crew |url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/live-now-pay-later/cast/2000005323/ |magazine=TV Guide |access-date=25 March 2023}}</ref>
Her West End theatre roles included performing as Golde in ''Fiddler on the Roof'' alongside Topol in 1984.<ref name="Wild"/><ref name="North">{{Cite news |last=North |first=Nic |date=16 June 2022 |title=Stage star Thelma Ruby lowers the curtain on her sparkling 78-year career with a solo show |work=The Jewish Chronicle |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/news/stage-star-thelma-ruby-lowers-the-curtain-on-her-sparkling-78-year-career-with-a-solo-show-ZuYMO4vUenwmh3bhzV02R |access-date=18 October 2022}}</ref>
==Television and later theatre== In 1996 she appeared in ITV's ''Coronation Street'' as Lily Dempsey, a friend of Phyllis Pearce.<ref name="Grammar School"/>
From 1980, she and her husband, Peter Frye, adapted and performed in the play ''Momma Golda'' about the life of Golda Meir, Israel's first and only woman Prime Minister.<ref name="Miller"/><ref name="Wild"/> In 2018, at the age of 93, she performed extracts from ''Momma Golda'' in a one-woman show at the King's Head Theatre in London.<ref name="Wild">{{Cite news |last=Wild |first=Stephi |date=1 October 2018 |title=Thelma Ruby Returns To The Stage At 93 Years Old For A Limited Run Of MOMMA GOLDA |work=Broadway World |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/uk-regional/article/Thelma-Ruby-Returns-To-The-Stage-At-93-Years-Old-For-A-Limited-Run-Of-MOMMA-GOLDA-20181001 |access-date=5 October 2022}}</ref>
In 2017 she played Alice in the ITV sitcom ''Bad Move''.<ref name="Spiro Ark">{{Cite web |date=2017 |title="That's Entertainment" with Thelma Ruby |url=https://www.spiroark.org/events/thats-entertainment-with-thelma-ruby/ |access-date=17 April 2023 |website=Spiro Ark}}</ref> In 2024, she appeared in the ''Back to Black'' film about Amy Winehouse.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Thelma scores a part in new Amy Winehouse biopic |url=https://gsal.org.uk/news/thelma-scores-a-part-in-new-amy-winehouse-biopic/ |date= 15 February 2024|access-date=16 March 2025 |website=The Grammar School at Leeds |language=en}}</ref>
==Personal life== Ruby lives in Wimbledon, London<ref name="Brown">{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Mick |author-link = Mick Brown (journalist)|date=18 June 2022 |title=Wimbledon at war: Inside the bitter battle between furious locals and Big Tennis |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2022/06/18/wimbledon-war-inside-bitter-battle-furious-locals-big-tennis/ |access-date=5 October 2022}}</ref> and is a member of Wimbledon Synagogue.<ref name="North"/>
She was married to Jay Lewis,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |date=14 June 1969 |title=Jay Lewis |volume=624 |issue=3218 |pages=4 |id={{ProQuest|2600954000}} |magazine=Kine Weekly}}</ref> and subsequently to Canadian-born actor Peter Frye from 1970 until his death in 1991.<ref name="Miller">{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=Sarah |date=29 September 2022 |title=At 97, Thelma Ruby is both a marvel and a rarity |work=Jewish News |url=https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/at-97-thelma-ruby-is-both-a-marvel-and-a-rarity/# |access-date=5 October 2022}}</ref> She has a step-daughter from Frye's first marriage.<ref name="North" />
In 2024, Ruby publicly criticised the proposed felling of trees at, and the expansion of the site of, the Wimbledon tennis championships, which she lives nearby to.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Grace |first=Liam |date=2024-10-16 |title=99-year-old vows to chain herself to a tree to stop £200m Wimbledon expansion |url=https://metro.co.uk/2024/10/16/99-year-old-vows-chain-a-tree-stop-200m-wimbledon-expansion-21808370/ |access-date=2024-10-17 |website=Metro |language=en}}</ref> She said she would chain herself to a tree in protest.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Kieran |date=2024-10-17 |title=99-year-old woman threatens protest against $250,000,000 Wimbledon expansion plans |url=https://www.thetennisgazette.com/news/99-year-old-woman-threatens-protest-against-250000000-wimbledon-expansion-plans/ |access-date=2024-10-17 |website=The Tennis Gazette |language=en-GB}}</ref>
Ruby turned 100 on 23 March 2025.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Brophy |first1=Joe |title=‘I might get arrested’ – 100-year-old would chain herself to tree over £200m Wimbledon plans |url=https://talksport.com/tennis/3315369/wimbledon-expansion-plans-costs-arrests-thelma-ruby/ |access-date=8 February 2026 |publisher=talkSPORT |date=30 June 2025}}</ref>
==Publications== Ruby-Frye, Thelma; Frye, Peter (1997) ''Double or Nothing: Two Lives in the Theatre. The Autobiography of Thelma Ruby and Peter Frye''. Janus Publishing Company, 336 pp. {{ISBN| 9781857562149}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.thelmaruby.com/ Official website] * [https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/thecroftperrypodcast/episodes/2021-12-27T06_45_29-08_00/ Thelma Ruby talking in December 2021 about her appearance in the TV series ''Dad's Army''], The Croft & Perry Podcast, 27 December 2021
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruby, Thelma}} Category:1925 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century English actresses Category:20th-century English Jews Category:21st-century English actresses Category:21st-century English Jews Category:British women centenarians Category:Jewish centenarians Category:Actors from the London Borough of Merton Category:Actresses from Leeds Category:British Reform Jews Category:English people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Category:Finch College alumni Category:Jewish English actresses Category:People educated at Leeds Girls' High School Category:People from Chapel Allerton Category:People from Wimbledon, London