Helen Roberts
Helen Florence Roberts (15 July 1912 – 12 December 2010), later known as Betty Roberts and by her married name, Betty Walker, was an English singer and actress, best known for her performances in
After beginning her career touring in Italy and then England in
After four more years of theatre in Britain, the couple moved to the US, where they presented Gilbert and Sullivan in two-person entertainments throughout North America. They then moved to Australia, where they joined the
Early life and career
Roberts was born in
In September 1938, Roberts was engaged by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as a principal soprano.[3] She began to perform there under the name Betty Roberts, but Rupert D'Oyly Carte soon asked her to change it to something more fitting to a leading lady, and she returned to her birth forename.[2] During her decade of performing with the D'Oyly Carte company, she appeared regularly as Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore, Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, the title character in Princess Ida, Elsie Maynard in The Yeomen of the Guard, and Gianetta in The Gondoliers.
She soon added the role of Phyllis in
Roberts married fellow company member
Later years
At the end of July 1948, Roberts and her husband, seeing some of their roles being given to new talent, left the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. After a year playing in other theatre in Britain (he returned for part of that time to D'Oyly Carte). Roberts and Walker also gave two-person concert tours of Gilbert and Sullivan throughout North America in the early 1950s, where they lived for several years.[1][9]
They then joined
Last years
After her husband's death in 1989, Roberts returned to England and lived first at Blandford Forum (where she continued to do charity work)[1] and, in her last years, at Gillingham, Dorset, in a retirement home where her two sisters lived.[11] She died at The Malthouse, Gillingham, in December 2010, aged 98.[12] Her remains were cremated at Salisbury Crematorium.[13]
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Hoare, Colin. Gilbert & Sullivan News, "An Interview with Helen Roberts", Spring 2003, Vol. 3, No. 7
- ^ a b c d e Stone, David. Helen Roberts at Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, 16 December 2010.
- ^ Rollins and Witts, p. 163
- ^ Rollins and Witts, pp. 163–72
- ^ Rollins and Witts, passim. A few principal sopranos served the company over a longer span of years, but not continuously; a few women served for longer but did not sing the principal soprano roles continuously.
- ^ See, e.g., "Princes Theatre, Gilbert and Sullivan", The Times, 16 June 1942; p. 2; "Princes Theatre, Iolanthe", The Times, 19 June 1942; p. 6; and "Sadler's Wells Theatre, Gilbert and Sullivan", The Times, 22 July 1947; p. 6.
- ^ "Pirates of Penzance", The Manchester Guardian, 14 November 1941, p. 6
- ^ "Helen Betty Roberts Walker 1912–2010", The Palace Peeper, The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of New York, Vol. LXXV, No. 5, pg. 3, 5 July 2017.
- ^ Ayre, p. 353
- ^ a b "Helen Roberts". Memories of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, accessed 18 December 2010
- ^ Parker, Peter. Gilbert & Sullivan News, Vol. 4, No.13, Spring 2011, p. 20
- ^ "Walker". Daily Telegraph, 15 December 2010
- ^ Hufford, Bob. "Helen Roberts". Find-a-grave, # 63244790, 23 December 2010
References
- Ayre, Leslie (1972). The Gilbert & Sullivan Companion. London: W.H. Allen & Co Ltd.
- Rollins, Cyril; Witts, R. John (1962). The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Gilbert and Sullivan Operas: A Record of Productions. London: Michael Joseph.