Ida Shepley
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Ida Shepley born Ida Mary Humphrey (9 December 1908 – 12 March 1975) was a British actress and singer. She began as a singer and worked with the
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before expanding her career into acting appearing on the London stage and television.


Life

Shepley was born in
Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...
in 1908. Her father was Clement Humphrey, a Caribbean-born herbalist, her mother was Gladys May born Worthington; she had a younger brother born in 1912. In 1919, her mother remarried to John Henry Elvin Shepley and the whole family took the new surname of Shepley. She kept that name in her acting work even after she married the divorcee Charles Frederick Skilbeck Smith. In 1937, her singing abilities were recommended to the BBC and following year she worked on ''Mississippi Nights''. She sang live with
Elisabeth Welch Elisabeth Margaret Welch (February 27, 1904July 15, 2003) was an American singer, actress, and entertainer, whose career spanned seven decades. Her best-known songs were " Stormy Weather", " Love for Sale" and "Far Away in Shanty Town". She was ...
on BBC Radio's ''Brief Interlude'' and the following year on the BBC's ''Band Waggon''. She sang regularly for the BBC. Her friendship with Amanda Aldridge led to her career broadening. Aldridge had coached actors like
Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...
and with her help she was able to offer to act. Shepley advertised herself as "The bronze girl with the golden voice", but now she offered acting. In 1944, she was in Colchester appearing in
Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...
's play '' All God's Chillun Got Wings'' with an "all coloured cast" including
Earl Cameron Earlston Jewitt Cameron, CBE (8 August 19173 July 2020), known as Earl Cameron, was a Bermudian actor who lived and worked in the United Kingdom. After appearing on London's West End stage, he became one of the first black stars in the Britis ...
, Robert Adams and Elizabeth Jeppe at the Repertory Theatre. The play was held over for a second week. In 1946, she was in another production of ''All God's Chillun Got Wings'' for the Unity Theatre. In that year, the BBC revived its television service and Shepley appeared in ''Black, Brown or Beige''. When the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''
Flower Drum Song ''Flower Drum Song'' was the eighth musical by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein. It is based on the 1957 novel, ''The Flower Drum Song'', by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee. It premiered on Broadway in 1958 and was then performed in the ...
'' came to the West End, Sheply was cast in the role of the Chinese character, Madame Liang. Shepley played many small parts on television including three times in ''
ITV Play of the Week ''Play of the Week'' is a 90-minute British television anthology series produced by a variety of companies including Granada Television, Associated-Rediffusion, ATV and Anglia Television. Synopsis From 1955 to 1967 approximately 500 episodes a ...
'' and twice in BBC's ''
Sunday Night Theatre ''Sunday Night Theatre'' was a long-running series of televised live television plays screened by BBC Television from early 1950 until 1959. The productions for the first five years or so of the run were re-staged live the following Thursday, pa ...
''. Her television work included a 1959 version of ''All God's Chillun Got Wings'' directed by
Joan Kemp-Welch Joan Kemp-Welch (23 September 19065 July 1999) was a British stage and film actress, who later went on to become a television director. After making her stage debut in 1926 at the Q Theatre, Kemp-Welch made her film debut in 1933 and appeared in ...
and featuring
Lloyd Reckord Lloyd Reckord (26 May 1929 – 8 July 2015) was a Jamaican actor, film maker, and stage director who lived in England for some years. Reckord appeared in 1958 in a West End production of '' Hot Summer Night'', which as an ITV adaptation broadc ...
,
Connie Smith Connie Smith (born Constance June Meador; August 14, 1941) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Her contralto vocals have been described by music writers as significant and influential to the women of country music. A similarity h ...
and Shepley. Shepley died in Bromley Kent in 1975.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepley, Ida 1908 births 1975 deaths 20th-century English actresses Actresses from Cheshire Black British actresses Black British singers English people of West Indian descent People from Nantwich