Moira Lister

Moira Lister Gachassin-Lafite, Viscountess of Orthez, born on 6 August 1923 in Cape Town, South Africa, was a South African-British actress and writer who worked across film, stage, and television. She died on 27 October 2007 at the age of 84. The daughter of Major James Lister and Margaret Lister, née Hogan, she received her education at the Parktown Convent of the Holy Family in Johannesburg. Her theatrical training came under Anna Romain Hoffman, who co-founded The Johannesburg Repertory Theatre with her husband Arthur Hoffman.

Lister launched her acting career on stage in South Africa before moving to London, where she began performing in theatre at the age of 18. Her film work commenced in 1943 and extended across several decades, with her most prominent screen appearances coming through Ealing Studios. Those credits included Another Shore (1948), A Run for Your Money (1949), Pool of London (1951), and The Cruel Sea (1953). In 1951, she also starred in Peter Ustinov's West End production The Love of Four Colonels, which enjoyed a long run.

In 1948, Lister made her Broadway appearance in Don't Listen, Ladies. Her radio work in Britain included a regular role in the first series of the BBC comedy Hancock's Half Hour, which ran from 1954 to 1955. She also appeared in A Life of Bliss alongside George Cole and played Felicity Willow in the BBC Radio comedy Mr Willow's Wife. On British television, she starred in The Whitehall Worrier and The Very Merry Widow between 1967 and 1968, with later series of the latter retitled The Very Merry Widow — and How! She made guest appearances on Danger Man and The Avengers, including the 1967 episode "The See-Through Man," and appeared in the sitcom Only When I Laugh in 1980. In 1971, she was the subject of This Is Your Life, with Eamonn Andrews presenting the programme.

Lister continued performing until three years before her death, touring in a one-woman show centered on Noël Coward. She published an autobiography, The Very Merry Moira, in 1971. Among her honors were the Naledi Theatre Award for lifetime achievement in service to theatre in South Africa, a Best Actress of the Year award in 1971, and the Freedom of the City of London in 2000. She was a member of the British Catholic Stage Guild.

In her personal life, Lister married Belgo-French aristocrat Jacques Gachassin-Lafite, Viscount of Orthez, in 1951. Jacques was a French officer of the Spahis, a hero of the Rif War, and the owner of a champagne vineyard. The couple had two daughters, Chantal and Christobel, and Lister had two granddaughters, Christina d'Orthez and Marina d'Orthez. Both Lister and her husband are interred in the churchyard of St Edward's Catholic Church in Sutton Green, Surrey.