Renée Houston
Renée Houston (24 July 1902 - 9 February 1980) was a Scottish comedy actress and revue artist who appeared in television and film roles.
Born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, as Katherina Houston Gribbin she toured music halls and revues with her sister Billie Houston as the "Houston Sisters".
In 1926, the sisters made a short musical film, the script of which Renée had written. It was produced by Lee De Forest, whose process, Phonofilm, enabled a soundtrack to be played alongside the film (a year before The Jazz Singer).
Houston married three times, the second was to the actor Pat Aherne, the brother of Brian Aherne. Her third husband was the actor Donald Stewart.
In her later years, she specialised in "battleaxe" roles, notably as shop steward Vic Spanner's (Kenneth Cope) formidable mother in Carry On at Your Convenience (1971). She published her autobiography in 1974 which was entitled Don't Fence Me In.
Houston was also in the early episodes of radio's The Clitheroe Kid and a regular guest on radio panel show The Petticoat Line chaired by Anona Winn.
She died in London at the age of 77 on 9 February 1980.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Acting
Movie
Repulsion
as Mme Balch
1965
Movie
Cul-de-sac
as Christopher's Mother
1966
TV
The Saint
as Ida Warshed
1962
TV
The Saint
as Mrs. McAlister
1962
Movie
The Phantom of the Opera
as Mrs. Tucker
1962
Movie
Carry On Cabby
as Molly
1963
Movie
Carry On Spying
as Funhouse Madame
1964
Movie
Carry On at Your Convenience
as Agatha Spanner
1971
Movie
The Belles of St Trinian's
as Miss Brimmer
1954
Movie
The Flesh and the Fiends
as Helen Burke
1960
Movie
Time Without Pity
as Mrs. Harker
1957
Movie
The Horse's Mouth
as Sara Monday
1958
Movie
A Town Like Alice
as Ebbey
1956
Movie
The Key
as Canteen Worker (uncredited)
1958
Movie
Legend of the Werewolf
as Chou-Chou
1975
Movie
Nurse on Wheels
as Mrs. Beacon
1963
TV
Maigret
as Ja-Ja
1960
Movie
Tomorrow at Ten
as Masie Maddox
1963
Movie
Two Thousand Women
as Maud Wright
1944
Movie
Lady Godiva Rides Again
as Beattie
1951
Movie
The Idol
as 1st Woman at Party
1966
Movie
Track the Man Down
as Pat Sherwood
1955
Movie
And the Same to You
as Mildred Pomphret
1960
Movie
Twice Round the Daffodils
as Matron
1962
