Diane Todd (4 June 1937 – 18 April 2010) was a British-born and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

n naturalized stage, film, television and stage actress and singer. She is best known for her illustrious stage career.

Personal life

Todd was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

and at the age of ten, she moved with her family to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

where her father, Eric continued a music career, joining the Billy Ternent Orchestra and appearing on

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

. She later married the diamond heir, Douglas Cullinan, great grandson of Thomas Cullinan. The couple settled in Cullinan's native

in 1965. The couple separated but later reunited. In 1975 Cullinan died of a heart attack. Todd later married a fellow stage actor, Robin Dolton. Their marriage ended tumultuously, as Dolton died during their divorce proceedings. In 2000, she announced her engagement to Andrew Finlay in the Port Elizabeth press. She was soon alerted by her fiancé's ex-wives and creditors that he had used a false name and lied about his profession and background. Todd later left

and settled in England in 2007. She died of

Leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

on 18 April 2010.

Career

Todd received singing lessons from Harold Miller, the voice coach for Julie Andrews and Shirley Bassey. She would make her West End debut at 16 in ''A Girl Called Jo''. In 1956 she performed in the original 1956

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

production of ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...

'' and in the Drury Lane and

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

productions. She later had the honour of an American national holiday in her name, with the Diane Todd/

Eliza Doolittle Eliza Doolittle is a fictional character and the protagonist in George Bernard Shaw's play '' Pygmalion'' (1913) and its 1956 musical adaptation, ''My Fair Lady''. Eliza (from Lisson Grove, London) is a Cockney flower woman, who comes to Prof ...

Day Allan, Jani. '' Face Value'', 1980s. Longstreet. pp. 19 when she took on the Doolittle role in 1959. She played Doolittle in a touring production across the United States,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and South Africa. She appeared in major South African productions of famous musicals such as ''

Guys & Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on " The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also b ...

'', ''

Kiss Me, Kate ''Kiss Me, Kate'' is a musical written by Bella and Samuel Spewack with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew'' and the conflict on and off-stag ...

'', '' Daddy Long Legs'', '' Stop the World I Want to Get Off'' and ''

The Merry Widow ''The Merry Widow'' (german: Die lustige Witwe, links=no ) is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt ...

''.Obituary: Diane Todd: Star of Broadway, West End - and PE
Sunday Times (South Africa). 25 April 2010

Filmography

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Todd, Diane 1937 births 2010 deaths Deaths from cancer in England Actresses from Edinburgh British stage actresses Scottish emigrants to South Africa South African stage actresses South African people of British descent White South African people British television actresses 20th-century British businesspeople