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Jessie Matthews (March 11, 1907 - August 19, 1981)
was a popular British actor|actress and singer of
the 1930s, whose career continued into the
post-war period.

She was born in relative poverty the East End of
London, one of 16 children of a fruit and
vegetable seller, and first appeared on the stage
in 1912; she made her film debut in 1923 in the
silent film "The Beloved Vagabond."

In 1925, she married actor Henry Lytton, Jr., the
first of her three husbands (the others were
actor-director Sonny Hale and military officer Lt.
Brian Lewis). All of her marriages ended in
divorce and all were marred by miscarriages and
stillbirths; she and Hale had one adopted
daughter, Catherine Hale. She had many failed
relationships, including a romance with Prince
George, Duke of Kent, and some of her much
publicized temperamental behavior and emotional
tempestuousness can be traced to the secret but
lifelong psychological trauma that resulted from
having being raped and impregnated at the age of
16 by a friend of the then Prince of Wales.

Her first major success was in the stage
production of Evergreen, a musical by Richard
Rodgers|Rodgers and Lorenz Hart|Hart, filmed in
1934, during which she sang Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me
a Bow Wow.  And she was famed as the originator of
numerous popular songs, including "Room With a
View" by Noël Coward and "Let's Do It" by Cole
Porter. After a string of hit films, Matthews
developed a following in the United States|USA,
where she was dubbed "The Dancing Divinity". Her
warbling voice and round cheeks made her a
familiar and much-loved personality to British
film audiences at the beginning of World War II,
but her popularity waned.

After a few false starts as a straight actress,
she played Tom Thumb's mother in the 1958
children's film, and during the 1960s found new
fame when she was given the leading role in the
BBC's long-running radio serial, Mrs Dale's Diary
(aka The Dales).  She won an OBE in 1970 and
continued to make cabaret appearances.  She had
suffered from ill-health throughout her life and
eventually died of cancer.

==Filmography==
* There Goes the Bride (1932)
* The Good Companions (1933)
* Friday the 13th (1934)
* First a Girl (1935)
* Strauss's Great Waltz (aka Waltzes from Vienna)
(1933) 
* It's Love Again (1936)
* Climbing High (1938)
* Forever and a Day (1943)
* tom thumb (1958)

==External links==
*imdb name|id=0560056|name=Jessie Matthews
*http://www.radioacademy.org/halloffame/matthews_j
/index.shtml Her entry in the Radio Hall of Fame