{{Short description|British stage and film actress and singer (1909–2007)}} {{Use Canadian English|date=October 2012}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Victoria Hopper | image = Actress_Victoria_Hopper.jpg | caption = Publicity still | birth_date ={{Birth date|df=yes|1909|05|24}} | birth_place = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2007|01|22|1909|05|24}} | death_place = Romney Marsh, Kent, England, UK | occupation = Actress | known_for = ''Lorna Doone'' }}
'''Victoria Hopper''' (24 May 1909 – 22 January 2007) was a Canadian-born British stage and film actress and singer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f7cbee4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181125074033/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f7cbee4|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 November 2018|title=Victoria Hopper}}</ref>
==Biography== Victoria Evelyn Hopper was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and brought up in North East England.<ref name=thestage>{{cite web|url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/obituaries--archive/obituaries/victoria-hopper/|title=Victoria Hopper - Obituaries - The Stage|date=26 April 2007}}</ref> She studied acting and singing at the Webber-Douglas School of Singing, and was talent spotted in a school production and cast in the title role in a West End play, ''Martine'' in 1933.<ref name=independent/> She was at the peak of her popularity during the 1930s.<ref name=independent/> She was married from August 1934 until 1939 to Basil Dean, a British stage and film writer, director and producer.<ref name=independent>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/victoria-hopper-434840.html|title=Victoria Hopper| website=Independent.co.uk | date=3 February 2007 }}</ref> Dean reportedly grew interested in Hooper due to her resemblance to his former lover, actress Meggie Albanesi (died 1923).<ref name=telegraph>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1544555/Victoria-Hopper.html|title=Victoria Hopper|date=5 March 2007|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}</ref>
Dean promoted Hopper's career and cast her as the leading lady in several major films for Associated Talking Pictures in the mid-1930s. However, the films did badly at the box office and her career waned.<ref name=thestage/> Two films she was scheduled to appear in, ''Grace Darling'' and ''Come Live with Me'', never materialised.<ref>Sweet, p. 142</ref>
==Filmography== * ''The Constant Nymph'' (1933) as Tess Sanger * ''Lorna Doone'' (1934) as Lorna Doone * ''Whom the Gods Love'' (1936) as Constanze Mozart * ''Lonely Road'' (released in the US as ''Scotland Yard Commands'') (1936) as Molly Gordon * ''Laburnum Grove'' (1936) as Elsie Radfern * ''The Mill on the Floss'' (1937) as Lucy Deane * ''The Constant Nymph'' (1938, TV film) as Tessa Sanger * ''Nine Till Six'' (1938, TV film) * ''Cornelius'' (1938, TV film) * ''London Wall'' (1938, TV film) as Pat Milligan * ''Magic'' (1939, TV film) as Patricia Carleon * ''The Rose Without a Thorn'' (1947, TV film) * ''Escape from Broadmoor'' (1948)
==Theatre roles== * Three Sisters (1934) as Mary (Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London) (from 30 April) * Cornelius (1935) as Judy Evison (Duchess Theatre, Aldwych, London) (from 8 April) * The Melody That Got Lost (1936) as Edith (Embassy Theatre, Swiss Cottage, London) (26 December) * ''Autumn'' (1937) as Monica Brooke (St. Martin's Theatre, London) * Autumn (1938) as Monica Brooke (Touring production, Leeds - 19 May for one week) * Drawing Room (1938) as Sylvia (Touring production) (Theatre Royal, Brighton, 19 June for one week) *''Johnson Over Jordan'' (1939) as Freda Johnson (Saville Theatre, London) * The Dominant Sex (1941) as Angela Shale (Touring production?) (Theatre Royal, Hanley, from 2 March) * ''The Shop on Sly Corner'' (1945) as Margaret Heiss (St. Martin's Theatre, London) * Vanity Fair (1946) as Amelia Sedley (Comedy Theatre, London) (29 October 1946 - 21 December 1946) * Once Upon a Crime (1948) (Theatre Royal Birmingham) (Commenced Monday, 21 June) * Serious Charge (1955) as Hester Byfield (Garrick Theatre, London) (From 17 February)
==Bibliography== * Sweet, Matthew. ''Shepperton Babylon: The Lost Worlds of British Cinema'', Faber and Faber (16 February 2006); {{ISBN|0571212980}}/{{ISBN|978-0571212989}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== *[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/victoria-hopper-434840.html Obituary: Victoria Hopper], independent.co.uk; 3 February 2007.
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0394435}} * [http://www.victoriahopper.co.uk Victoria Hopper website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518133012/http://victoriahopper.co.uk/ |date=18 May 2013 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopper, Victoria}} Category:1909 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Actresses from Vancouver Category:Canadian emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:English musical theatre actresses Category:English film actresses Category:English stage actresses Category:English television actresses Category:Singers from Vancouver Category:Actors from Gateshead Category:Actresses from Tyne and Wear Category:Musicians from Tyne and Wear Category:20th-century English women singers Category:20th-century English singers