Dilys Laye

Dilys Laye was an English actress and screenwriter, best known for comedy roles. She died of cancer aged 74.

Dilys Laye was born in Muswell Hill, London, the daughter of Edward Lay and his wife Margaret Her father was a musician who left the family when she was aged eight to work as a musician in South Africa and never came back. During World War II Laye and her brother were evacuated to Devon, where they were unhappy and endured physical abuse. Laye returned home to a new stepfather and a mother who was keen to transfer her thwarted ambitions to her daughter. After education at St. Dominics Covent, Middlesex and training at the Aida Foster School, Laye made her stage debut agedas a boy in a play called The Burning Bush at the New Lindsey Theatre and her film debut a year later as a younger version of Jean Kent in Trottie True.

Source: Wikipedia