Blanche Stocker

Blanche Eleanor Stocker (20 July 1884 – 1950) was a British actress and singer born in Bombay, India, the eldest of three children of George Stocker (1857–1929), an engineer, and Mary Dunn née Johnston (1862–1946). While her father remained in India for professional reasons, her mother brought the children to England, where the family lived in London from at least 1891 to 1911. Her younger sister Doris Stocker pursued a parallel career as a singer and actress.

Stocker built her early career in Edwardian musical comedy, taking on a succession of roles in West End productions. In 1908 she appeared as Lucille in The Belle of Brittany at the Queen's Theatre. She subsequently worked for producer George Edwardes at the Gaiety Theatre, where she played Lady Sybil Julia James in Our Miss Gibbs in 1909 and Ethel in Peggy in 1910. In 1910 she also appeared on screen, playing Jane in the silent film Winning a Widow.

Stocker continued her association with the Gaiety Theatre when she originated the role of Viola in The Girl on the Film in 1913. Later that same year she brought the role to Broadway, performing in the production at the 44th Street Theatre. Her subsequent stage work included Ruth Goldman/Miss Cohen in Potash and Perlmutter at the Queen's Theatre from 1914 to 1915, Goo Goo in The Bing Boys Are Here at the Alhambra Theatre in 1916, and a return to the Alhambra in 1917 for The Bing Girls Are There in the same role. Also in 1917 she appeared as a Lady-in-Waiting in Arlette at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

Stocker never married. She died in Kensington, London, in 1950 at the age of 65.