Pat Kirkwood

Jan 1 2008 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

SHE was a looker, everybody could see that, and in a flight of fancy, Kenneth Tynan, the critic, who was a connoisseur on such matters, would describe her legs as the eighth wonder of the world, though sticklers for detail might have suggested that the eighth and ninth would have been even more flattering.

However, it was her long, raven hair, which stirred resentment in the eyes of Beryl Formby, wife and custodian of the ukelele-strumming comic, George,

“Crop it,” was her instruction to the 18-year-old actress and singer, who had been billed to appear alongside her husband in the race-track romp, Come on George! (1939).

Beryl was always cautious about any young filly, who might attract the buck-teeth of her man and she also refused to allow her to sing with George. Even so, the film was a success.

Nine years later, there were greater anxieties about the friendship, which seemed to have developed between Patricia Kirkwood and the Duke of Edinburgh, when his wife was carrying their first child, Prince Charles.

Miss Kirkwood always vehemently denied rumours of an affair, but some still wondered why her wonderful career on stage and screen was not rewarded with a gong.

Instead, she had to live with compliments, such as Tynan’s, and the general observation that she was Britain’s Betty Gable.

Pat was born to William, a shipping clerk, and his wife Norah, who had theatrical ambitions. As a teenager, she appeared in Schoolgirl Songstress at the Royal Hippodrome, Salford, near her home in Pendleton. Her promise, based on fine singing, excellent comic-timing and that figure, soon led her to star in pantos, radio and revues.

Before her meeting with George and Beryl Formby, she had appeared in two films, Save A Little Sunshine and Me and My Gal.

A spell in Hollywood failed, but she was loved in Britain, where Cole Porter gave her permission to sing his great hit, My Heart Belongs to Daddy.

Her impersonations of other stars, such as Marie Lloyd and Vesta Tilley were much admired, as was her performance of Boomps-a-Daisy in Arthur Askey’s film Band Wagon. Her autobiography, The Time of My Life, was published in 1990.

In later life Miss Kirkwood, four times married, was in a triumphant revival of Pal Joey (1976).

Pat Kirkwood, entertainer, born February 24, 1921; died December 25, 2007.