June Spencer

Well, it was all right for me.

It must have been awful for my parents.

Oh yes, when I was 12 I started a club and I made the costumes and we charged admission and we made 12 shillings and sixpence in old money which went to Dr. Barnardo's.

No, she was co-opted.

My parents were co-opted.

for the actual performance, to work the curtains and to make sound effects offstage and that sort of thing.

Well, I know I heard many years later that my mother would have loved to have gone on the stage.

And she would have made a beautiful soubrette in musical comedy.

She could sing, she was slender and dainty and loose-limbed, she could do high kicks and splits.

But for some reason she did not want me to go on the stage.

When I finally made it into rep, she said, ''Oh, well, I suppose it was meant.''

And became my sternest critic.

Did she?

Oh, yes, very stern, yes, very critical.

One of my favourite roles was Alexandra in The Little Foxes.

Years later, she said, well, it wasn't until I saw the film that I realised how good you were in it.

Yes.

Had to wait a long time for that one.

It's possible.

I mean, she just gave up on life.