Jessie Matthews

English actress, dancer and singer Jessie Matthews as she appeared in IT’S LOVE AGAIN (1936). Matthews was born to a huge, poor family in Soho in London's West End, on 11 March 1907. Her first major film role was in the musical “Out of the Blue” (1931), followed by “There Goes the Bride”, “The Man from Toronto” and “The Midshipmaid” (all 1932). She enjoyed great success with her appearance in the ensemble film “The Good Companions” (1933). 1933 also saw her starring in “Waltzes from Vienna”, directed by a young Alfred Hitchcock. This was followed by another ensemble film, “Friday the Thirteenth” (1933). She then starred in the film version of “Evergreen” (1934), which featured the newly composed song "Over My Shoulder"; it would to go on to become Matthews' personal signature song, later giving its title to her autobiography and to a musical stage show of her life. This was followed by “First a Girl” (1935), in which she appears as a cross dresser, and then “It's Love Again” (1936). Exhibitors voted her the sixth biggest star in the country that year. Matthews then began to appear in films directed by husband, Sonnie Hale: “Gangway” (1937), “Head over Heels” (1937), “Sailing Along” (1938) and “Climbing High” (1938). Her career never quite relaunched after the war, though, but she staged a comeback when she replaced the lead actress in the radio soap "Mrs Dale's Diary" in the 1960s. Her life was blighted by breakdowns of relationships and her own struggles with bad health. Matthews passed away at age 74 in 1981, but sadly wound up buried in an unmarked grave (only rectified after a TV documentary in the late 1980s brought this to light (Timewatch’s episode of “Catch A Fallen Star”).

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