Jessie Matthews
(1907-1981), Singer and actressSitter in 21 portraits
Matthews began as a dancer. There is a plaque in Berwick Street market commemorating her childhood, when she danced in the street to a barrel-organ. In the 1930s she became Britain's top musical film star. She starred in Noël Coward's This Year Of Grace, in which she introduced 'A Room With a View' and 'Teach Me To Dance Like Grandma'. She came to the Gaiety Theatre in 1931 in Hold My Hand, with music by Noel Gay. Her films, especially Evergreen, It's Love Again and First A Girl retain all their charm. In the 1960s she found new fame on BBC Radio as Mrs Dale.
by Dorothy Wilding
chlorobromide print on tissue and card mount, circa 1928
NPG P210
published by Raphael Tuck & Sons
postcard print, late 1920s-1930s
NPG x27519
by Daily Mirror
bromide press print, 1927
NPG x184053
by Bassano Ltd
half-plate glass negative, 3 September 1928
NPG x19398
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 3 September 1928
NPG x16521
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 3 September 1928
NPG x16522
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 3 September 1928
NPG x16520
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 3 September 1928
NPG x16519
by Bassano Ltd
whole-plate glass negative, 3 September 1928
NPG x16518
Jessie Matthews as Paula Bond in 'Hold My Hand'
by Sasha (Alexander Stewart)
bromide print, December 1931
NPG x135145
by Unknown photographer
bromide press print, circa 1931
NPG x184052
Jessie Matthews as Paula Bond and Stanley Lupino as Eddy Marston in 'Hold My Hand'
by Sasha (Alexander Stewart)
gelatin silver print, December 1931
NPG x198406
Basil Sydney and Jessie Matthews in a scene from 'The Midshipmaid'
by Unknown photographer
bromide press print, 1932
NPG x184051
Sir Ralph Richardson and Jessie Matthews on the set of 'Friday the Thirteenth'
by Unknown photographer
bromide press print, circa 1933
NPG x184049
by Edward Malindine, for Daily Herald
modern bromide print from original negative, 5 April 1937
NPG x182418
by William Davis
halftone reproduction tear sheet, published 1 April 1931
NPG x137080
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