Lucille Lisle

Lucille Lisle was an Australian actress born Lucille Hunter Jonas on 16 May 1908 in Richmond, Melbourne, the only child of David Henry Jonas and Caroline, née Hunter. Her mother, known professionally as Cissie Hunter, had been an actress and dancer associated with John F. Sheridan's Musical Comedy Company in the early 1900s, touring Australia and South Africa. Shortly after Lisle's birth, the family relocated to Sydney, where her father worked as a company manager. Lisle received her education at the Kincoppal School at the Sacred Heart Convent in Rose Bay and later at St. Vincent's College at Potts Point.

Her stage career began in 1916 at the age of eight, when she appeared as a dancer in the pantomime Dick Whittington at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne. At ten she performed in Eyes of Youth, starring Emélie Polini, billed as Miss Lucille Jonas. In 1919 she appeared in a dramatised prologue staged before a screening of Daddy Long Legs at the Lyceum Theatre in Sydney. Through the early 1920s she continued to appear in pantomimes and charity events, and for a period studied under drama teacher and elocutionist Mary MacNichol.

By 1924, at sixteen, she had adopted the stage name Lucille Lisle and was cast as Margie in the silent comedy film Hullo Marmaduke, featuring English comedian Claude Dampier and written and directed by Beaumont Smith, released in November 1924. The following year she appeared as Olive Lennox in Painted Daughters, directed by F. Stuart Whyte and released in May 1925, a romantic melodrama about high society and the flapper generation that performed well at the box office. From September 1925 Lisle was among six performers selected in a competition to appear as part of Maurice Diamond's revue at the Tivoli theatres in Sydney and Melbourne. During 1926 she performed in the chorus of the musical comedy Katja across Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne, and in October of that year successfully auditioned for the lead female role of Phyllis in a production of John Galsworthy's Old English at King's Theatre in Melbourne.

From April 1927 Lisle joined the cast of The Cradle Snatchers, a touring American farce comedy featuring English and American actors, playing the ingénue role of Anne Hall through seasons in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Brisbane into early 1928. From approximately August 1928 to early 1929 she toured with Maurice Moscovich's company as understudy to Bertha Riccardo in The Silent House, a production that also featured Moscovich's son, Nat Madison. In May 1929 Lisle joined the American Comedy Company formed by Benjamin and John Fuller, appearing in The Baby Cyclone, Saturday's Children, and Whispering Friends across multiple Australian cities. In December 1929, while the company was travelling by the steamer Manuka from Melbourne to Dunedin, the vessel struck rocks at Long Point in thick fog on the night of 16 December. All passengers and crew reached shore by lifeboat, though personal belongings and the company's scenery and costumes were lost. The company nonetheless opened at Dunedin's Princess Theatre on Boxing Day 1929 with a production of The Family Upstairs, using replacement scenery and costumes brought from Wellington.

In May 1930 Lisle and her mother departed Australia for the United States aboard the SS Sonoma. After spending approximately ten weeks in Hollywood, where she stayed with Nat Madison and his wife and performed in a series of short films for Brown-Nagel Productions, Lisle moved to New York. There she was cast in Stepdaughters of War, a play by Kenyon Nicholson about female ambulance drivers who served in the British army during World War I. The production opened at the Empire Theatre on Broadway in October 1930 and ran for twenty-four performances. In early 1931 she appeared in a touring production of the comedy Art and Mrs. Bottle, playing cities along the US and Canadian east coast. In November 1931 she was a cast member of A Widow in Green at the Cort Theatre in Manhattan. In March 1932 she appeared in a revival of J. M. Barrie's Alice Sit-By-The-Fire at the Playhouse Theatre on Broadway. Her Broadway credits also include The Old Lady Shows Her Medals and The Merchant of Venice. In July 1932 Lisle and her mother left New York for England.

Upon arriving in London, Lisle secured work as understudy to Edna Best in Rose Franken's Another Language at the Lyric Theatre. In approximately February 1933, when Best departed the production and her designated replacement Celia Johnson was unable to take over for a week, Lisle stepped into the role and drew considerable attention for her performance. That same year she was cast in the film After Dark, directed by Albert Parker and filmed at Nettleford Studios at Walton-on-Thames. Also in 1933 she took on the lead role of the young ingénue Susan Haggett in the comedy drama The Late Christopher Bean, an English adaptation of a French play, which opened at the St James's Theatre in London in May 1933 and ran for 488 performances. By March 1935 she was appearing in Lady Precious Stream, a play based on Chinese folklore written by Hsiung Shih-I, at the Little Theatre in London. During 1935 she played Marian Steele in the film Expert's Opinion, directed by Ivar Campbell and made at Elstree Studios for release by the British subsidiary of Paramount Pictures. She also had leading roles in the 1936 films Twice Branded, a prison melodrama directed by Maclean Rogers, and Midnight at Madame Tussaud's, directed by George Pearson. In total, Lisle was cast in six films made in the United Kingdom during the 1930s. In the war years and afterward she concentrated primarily on radio drama. Lucille Lisle died in 2004 at the age of 95.