Betty Paul

Betty Paul (21 May 1921 – 27 February 2011) was a British actress, screenwriter, and novelist who worked across stage, television, and radio over the course of several decades. Born Betty Percheron in Hendon, north-west London, she was the youngest of three children. Her father, of French origin, worked as a furnishing fabrics importer, and her mother was London Irish. Paul attended South Hampstead High School and the Institut Français before leaving formal education at age 14, motivated by her mother's influence, to pursue a career as an actress, singer, and dancer.

Her professional stage work began in 1936, a year after leaving school, when she portrayed Adele in a production of Jane Eyre at the Queen's Theatre in London's West End. By 1938 she had become the youngest member of C.B. Cochran's Young Ladies troupe. During World War II, Paul joined the Entertainments National Service Association, performing for troops, and appeared in Lady Behave in 1941 alongside American actor Hartley Power, whom she later married in 1945 following the 1944 death of her first husband, Robin Hood, brother of actress Miki Hood. Her marriage to Power ended in divorce in 1955. During the early 1940s she also worked in radio alongside Vic Oliver, Jimmy Jewel, and Ben Warris. It was during this period that she adopted Betty Paul as her professional name, having previously performed under her birth name.

Her stage career continued through the postwar years with appearances in Bless the Bride (1947), Bitter Sweet (1949), Into the Blue (1950), The Dish Ran Away (1951), and All for Mary (1954). In 1953, Paul made her American stage debut on Broadway in Maggie, a credit that remains her sole Broadway appearance. The role earned her a nomination for a New York Critics' Award, and critic John Chapman of the Daily News noted that she was "sweet and gifted" and that "few could both act and sing a role as she did." Despite the positive reception, she did not return to Broadway. She later appeared in And So to Bed in 1961 and, in 1979, joined Cameron Mackintosh's stage production of My Fair Lady.

In 1958, Paul married her third husband, Hungarian-born sculptor Peter Lambda, with whom she collaborated as a writer for stage and television. Together they created Weavers Green, credited as the first rural soap opera, along with The Probation Officer and Harriet's Back in Town. Paul also wrote approximately six radio plays that were broadcast during her later years. She published two novels: Lucky Star in 1989 and Conditions of Love in 1992. In 1986, she relocated from London to Tibberton, Gloucestershire, where she continued writing until her later years. Lambda died in 1995. Paul died on 27 February 2011 in Tibberton, Gloucestershire.