Biography for
Jessie Matthews (I) More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

11 March 1907, London, England, UK

Date of Death

19 August 1981, Eastcote, Middlesex, England (cancer)

Birth Name

Jessie Margaret Matthews

Nickname

The Dancing Divinity
The English Ginger Rogers

Height

5' 5" (1.65 m)

Mini Biography

Born to a huge, poor family in Soho in Londons West End, Jessie became a big stage star in the late 1920s and 1930s, enjoying some cross over success in musical films. Her career never quite relaunched after the war though, but she staged a comeback replacing the lead actress in radio soap "Mrs Dale's Diary" in the 1960s. Her life was blighted by breakdowns of relationships and her own struggles against ill-health and insecurity, and ended, amazingly, buried in an unmarked grave (only rectified after a TV documentary in the late 80s brought this to light - beg, steal or borrow a copy of the BBC's Timewatch documentary "Catch A Fallen Star"). An amazing life.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Pete Lambert <pete@petelambert.freeserve.co.uk>

Spouse

Brian Lewis	(August 1945 - October 1959) (divorced)
Sonnie Hale	(24 January 1931 - 3 July 1944) (divorced) 1 child
Henry Lytton Jr.	(17 February 1926 - 21 November 1929) (divorced)

Trivia

Plans for her to sing and dance on the silver screen with Fred Astaire never came to fruition.

'The Jessie Matthews Bar' is situated in the Adelphi theatre, London, England, UK.

Started out as a chorus girl in the 1920s.

Weight: eight stone (112 lb) at time of filming Evergreen (1934). Source: newspaper interview.

Personal Quotes

If I ceased to be a star, all that interest in my home life would evaporate, I believe. Perhaps it is the price one has to pay for being a star.