Gracie Fields

Gracie Fields
Fields on Capri (Allan Warren, 1973)
Born
Grace Stansfield

(1898-01-09)9 January 1898
Died27 September 1979(1979-09-27) (aged 81)
La Canzone Del Mare, Capri, Italy
NationalityBritish/Italian[1]
Occupations
  • Actress
  • singer
Years active1908–1979
Spouses
(m. 1923; div. 1939)
(m. 1940; died 1950)
Boris Alperovici
(m. 1952⁠–⁠1979)

Dame Gracie Fields DBE OStJ (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 1898 – 27 September 1979) was a British actress, singer and comedian. A star of cinema and music hall,[2][3] she was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the highest paid film star in the world in 1937.[4] Fields was known affectionately as Our Gracie and the Lancashire Lass and for never losing her strong, native Lancashire accent.[5] She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and an Officer of the Venerable Order of St John (OStJ) in 1938, and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1979.[6]

  1. ^ "Prima facie, Miss Fields has, by her marriage to a husband who was at the time an Italian, lost British nationality and acquired Italian nationality ... She ought therefore to be treated as an alien.", 'Our Gracie' risked fall from grace over wartime marriage to Italian, 21 Dec, 2021
  2. ^ "Gracie Fields". Bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 6 May 2016.
  3. ^ "Gracie Fields - Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference heritage was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Fields never lost the speaking accent of Lancashire, where her birthplace, the mill town of Rochdale, Fields, Gracie (1898–1979), 21 Dec, 2021
  6. ^ "BFI Screenonline: Fields, Gracie (1898-1979) Biography". Screenonline.org.uk.