British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W. 421. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Organisation LTD.
Dutch postcard by Hemo. Photo: Eagle Lion.
Constantly in demand
Georgette Lizette 'Googie' Withers was born in 1917 in Karachi, British India. She was the daughter of British soldier Edgar Clements and Dutch Lizette Catarina Wilhelmina (van Wageningen). Googie was her nickname since childhood. She moved to Great Britain with her parents at the age of seven.
Her father left the Royal Navy to manage a foundry in Birmingham. Googie was sent to a boarding school near Dover, and a secondary day school in London. In 1929, she made her stage debut at twelve in the chorus of the children's show 'The Windmill Man' at Victoria Palace. Her father hated the thought of his daughter going on the stage but her mother quietly encouraged her.
Withers studied at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, and at the dance school of Buddy Bradley, where she learned ballet and tap. At 16 she was the youngest member of the chorus of 'Nice Goings On' and was soon appearing in other popular musicals. She was a dancer in a West End production when she was offered work as a film extra in Michael Powell's The Girl in the Crowd (1935). She arrived on the set to find one of the major players in the production had been dismissed.
She was immediately asked to step into the leading role, beginning a seven-year contract with Warner Brothers, after which she worked for Fox British, Ealing Studios and The Rank Organisation. During the 1930s, Googie Withers was constantly in demand for lead roles in minor films and supporting roles in more prestigious productions.
Her best-known work of the period was as one of Margaret Lockwood's friends in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller The Lady Vanishes (1938). She was in the Will Hay comedy Convict 99 (Marcel Varnel, 1938) and supported Jack Buchanan in the comedy mystery The Gang's All Here (Thornton Freeland, 1939). She appeared opposite George Formby in the comedy Trouble Brewing (Anthony Kimmins, 1939) and Tommy Trinder in another comedy, She Couldn't Say No (Graham Cutts, 1939).
British Real Photograph postcard, no. F.S. 42. Googie Withers, Dana Andrews and John McCallum at the Daily Express Film Ball. Caption: These three stars are having a friendly chat between dances at the Daily Express Film Ball.
The 8th most popular British star in the country in 1948
Among Googie Withers' successes of the 1940s was the topical World War II drama One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, 1942). She played a Dutch resistance fighter who helped British airmen return to safety from behind enemy lines. It was a departure from her previous comedy roles. Withers was the leading lady in the J.B. Priestley drama They Came to a City (Basil Dearden, 1945) and was one of several stars in the anthology supernatural horror film Dead of Night (Alberto Cavalcanti, a.o., 1945).
She was given a star part in Pink String and Sealing Wax (Robert Hamer, 1945). It was well received, and Withers was given the title role in the historical drama The Loves of Joanna Godden (Charles Frend, 1947), which was a hit. In the cast was Australian actor and producer John McCallum, whom she married in 1948. They would often work together on stage and in films.
Withers starred in It Always Rains on Sunday (Robert Hamer, 1948), which was one of the biggest hits of the year. British exhibitors voted her the 8th most popular British star in the country in 1948. Three comedies followed: the hugely popular Miranda (Ken Annakin, 1948), with Glynis Johns and McCallum, and Once Upon a Dream (1949) and Traveller's Joy (1949), both directed by Ralph Thomas. She is also remembered as the devious Helen Nosseross in the Film Noir Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950), third-billed after Hollywood stars Gene Tierney and Richard Widmark.
Withers first toured Australia in the stage play 'Simon and Laura'. After John McCallum was offered to run J.C. Williamson theatres, they moved to Australia in 1959. In the following decades, Whither starred in several Australian stage plays, but she also acted in London and on Broadway. Withers returned to films with the lead in Nickel Queen (1971), directed by McCallum. In 1974, she appeared as Faye Boswell, the original governor of a women's prison, in the television series Within These Walls. She continued to be active in the 1990s, appearing in two highly praised films. Country Life (Michael Blakemore,1994) was a version of 'Uncle Vanya' set in Australia in 1919. In 1997, she was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Shine (Scott Hicks, 1997) starring Geoffrey Rush. It was her last film.
In 2002, aged 85, Withers, with Vanessa Redgrave, appeared in London's West End, in Oscar Wilde's 'Lady Windermere's Fan'. With John McCallum, she had three children, two daughters Joanna and Amanda, and a son, Nicholas. Googie Withers died in 2011 at 94 in Sydney, Australia. She was the first non-Australian to be honoured with the Order of Australia, Officer Class (AO) in 1980, and was awarded the title Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2001.
British autograph card. A publicity still from The Loves of Joanna Godden (Charles Frend, 1947).
British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. D 14. Photo: J. Arthur Rank Organisation LTD.
Sources: Dennis Barker (The Guardian), Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.
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