Diane Holland

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Diane Holland
Dancer
and actress
Years active1949–2001
RelativesGillian (Gilda) Perry (sister).

June Diane Neeltje Holland (28 February 1930 – 24 January 2009) known as Diane (Dee-yon) Holland, was a British actress and dancer best known for playing Yvonne Stuart-Hargreaves in the television sitcom Hi-de-Hi! from 1980 to 1988.

Early life

Holland was born in Melbourne, Australia, and raised in England, where she lived for the remainder of her life. She was partly Dutch through her paternal ancestry. On arrival in Britain, the family was hampered by her father's ill-health, the after-effects of having been gassed in the trenches during World War I.[2] During World War II, Holland and her sister Gilda were evacuated with their school (Cone-Ripman) to Loddington Hall, in Leicestershire.

Career

Finding a love for dance as a young girl, Holland trained as a dancer at the London Cone Ripman (now

Sunday Night at the London Palladium shows, and also performed as principal during summer seasons in Monte Carlo and other European casino hotspots as part of an adagio act. She also performed in many West End
productions, including Her Excellency (1949), Fancy Free (1951), and Rocking the Town (1956).

Having always enjoyed acting in addition to dance, Holland also appeared in many theatre productions, later turning her attentions to television, playing the recurring role of Sarah Maynard in Crossroads from 1964 to 1970.

The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, alongside Skip Martin. During the 1970s, she frequently worked alongside comedian Eric Sykes in Big Bad Mouse (1972) Sykes and TV film The Likes of Sykes (1980). At the peak of Hi-de-Hi! in the 1980s, Holland received letters from British troops in the Falklands, with the BBC press office stating that she had become a "Forces' sweetheart", although she claimed this was a "slight exaggeration" and that it "just snowballed".[3]

Later in her career, Holland earned her most well-known part of ballroom dancer Yvonne Stuart-Hargreaves in

maternity hospital receptionist.[4]
She played Miss Lavant in the TV film The Children of Dynmouth (1987), and Madame Dupree in Lace 2 (1985).

Following the end of

Are You Being Served
.

One of her last appearances was in one of her favourite roles as maiden aunt in The Nutcracker in The Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, a role she had danced for over 20 years, from 1984 to 2008. She also received critical acclaim for her role as a terminally ill patient in Casualty in 2001.

Death

Holland lived quietly in the village of

bronchial pneumonia. She never married or had children, and while a private person, her obituaries frequently note her being "extremely kind-hearted" and her "very dry sense of humour". Holland's agent stated that she was "a real trouper", "a joy to look after", and "extremely hard-working". The news of her death was not made public until more than three weeks later. She was survived by her younger sister, Gillian (Gilda) Perry, a former dancer, actress and theatre manager.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b Obituary, Independent.co.uk; accessed 25 October 2016.
  2. ^ Obituary for Diane Holland, theguardian.com; accessed 27 July 2018.
  3. ^ "Obituary: Diane Holland: actress on television show Hi-de-Hi!". The Times. 17 February 2009. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  4. ISSN 0033-8060
    . Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  5. ^ "Hi-De-Hi!'s Yvonne dies aged 78", BBC.co.uk; accessed 25 October 2016.

External links

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