Accession Number

B324

Series Title

LOOK NORTH

Programme Title

GRACIE FIELDS OBITUARY

Producer

Tony Millar

Other Credits

Editor: Tony Williams

Transmission Date

27/09/79

colour+b/w , sound (sep), 14 mins 53 secs

Synopsis

Programme to mark the passing away of singer and comedian Dame Gracie Fields, born Grace Stansfield, who died aged 81 on 27 September 1979. Opens with general views of cobbled streets and terraced houses in Rochdale. Includes brief interviews with elderly locals about Fields, extracts from a black and white interview with Fields, in which she talks about her childhood and career, black and white footage of her receiving the Rochdale Freedom of the Town and footage of her at her home in Capri. An elderly Fields performs 'Walter Lead me to the Altar' with her last husband Boris Alperovici playing the piano. There are various stills: of her as a youngster and young woman, the fish and chip shop where she lived, her first film 'Sally in Our Alley' (1931) and her first and second husbands Archie Pitt and Monty Banks (cuts off abruptly).