Googie Withers

Georgette Lizette Googie Withers CBE, AO was a British entertainer who had a lengthy career in theatre, film, and television. She was a longtime resident of Australia with her husband, the actor John McCallum, with whom she often appeared. She was a wellknown actress during the war and postwar years.

Withers was born in Karachi, in British India to Edgar Withers, a captain in the Royal Navy, and a DutchGerman mother, Zitette. She acquired the name Googie at a young age from her ayah . As a child, she learned Urdu. Her father left the Royal Navy to manage a foundry in Birmingham, England, and Googie was sent to a boarding school near Dover. She began acting at the age of twelve. A student at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, she was a dancer in a West End production when she was offered work as a film extra in Michael Powells The Girl in the Crowd . She arrived on the set to find one of the major players in the production had been dismissed, and she was immediately asked to step into the role in her place.

Source: Wikipedia