Judy Campbell (born Judith Mary Gamble; 31 May 1916 – 6 June 2004) was an English film, television and stage actress, widely known to be Noël Coward's muse. Her daughter was the actress and singer Jane Birkin, her son the screenwriter and director Andrew Birkin, and among her grandchildren are the actresses Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon, the late poet Anno Birkin, the artist David Birkin and the late photographer Kate Barry.

Early life

Campbell was born in Grantham, Lincolnshire, on 31 May 1916, daughter of John Arthur Gamble and his wife Mary (née Fulton). She was educated briefly at Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School, then at St Michael's Convent, East Grinstead, Sussex. Both her parents were on the stage; her father was also the author of several plays under his professional name of J.A. Campbell. In Grantham, her family was acquainted with the family of Margaret Roberts, later to become Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Career

Campbell made her stage debut in 1935 as a "Guest" in The Last of Mrs. Cheyney at the Theatre Royal, Grantham, and entered films in 1940 in the London-based thriller Saloon Bar. In 1941, Campbell had a role in the stage musical Lady Behave. While touring with Coward from September 1942 to March 1943, she created the roles of Joanna in Present Laughter and Ethel in the stage production of This Happy Breed, and played Elvira in Blithe Spirit. Campbell also appeared with him in twice-weekly troop concerts. In 1943 at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, she performed in Present Laughter and This Happy Breed on alternate nights under the umbrella title of Play Parade, before playing Elvira in the West End presentation of Blithe Spirit at the Duchess Theatre in 1943. During one performance on tour, she was surprised to feel Coward stroking her shoulder in an affectionate way that was not called-for in the script, and she began to wonder "Have I succeeded where so many women have failed?" In fact, he was just trying to keep his hands warm in an unheated theatre during fuel rationing. In 1981, Campbell appeared in Andrew Birkin's BAFTA-winning and Academy Award-nominated short film Sredni Vashtar (1981), playing the fearsome Aunt Augusta. It was her last major film role, although she appeared regularly on British television throughout the remainder of her career. In 1995 she appeared as Laura’s mother Caroline’s grand mother in ITV’s The Upper Hand In 2002, Campbell lent her patrician presence to a television remake of The Forsyte Saga. In December 2002, at the end of a 67-year career as a boulevard actress and chanteuse, Campbell gave her farewell London performances at the King's Head Theatre with Where Are the Songs We Sung?, a nostalgic garland of songs, memories, and scenes from plays, accompanied by Stefan Bednarczyk at the piano, a programme they finally reprised at the Jermyn Street Theatre. The evening recalled her Grantham childhood, the 1950s with Sandy Wilson, by way of the Liverpool rep with Robert Helpmann, wintry tours and troop concerts with Noël Coward and cheering up West End audiences during the Blitz on London, including her unique renderings of "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square", the Eric Maschwitz standard that made her a star in the New Faces revue at the Comedy Theatre in 1940. In September 2003, Campbell finally recorded "Nightingale" (and Coward's "If Love Were All"), as part of a cabaret performance with Sheridan Morley and Michael Law at Pizza on the Park. She had previously appeared as guest star with Morley and Law for several Jermyn Street cabaret performances as well as with Law's Piccadilly Dance Orchestra, most memorably for a Coward centenary concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1999, where she had regaled the audience with anecdotes about her work with Coward during the 1940s (and sang "her" Nightingale song).

Personal life and death

She was married to Lieutenant-Commander David Birkin,, until his death in 1991. The couple had three children. They bought the oldest house in Old Church Street, Chelsea, which was once a pub, "a few steps from the Chelsea Arts Club", in 1974, and Campbell lived there until her death in 2004. Campbell died in London on 6 June 2004, aged 88. After her death, her name was commemorated on the actresses' dressing-room door at the Jermyn Street Theatre. In March 2023, she was one of a number of notable women with a connection to Grantham honoured by South Kesteven District Council.

Theatre

Plays by Judy Campbell:

Selected filmography

Films

Television and TV films

Sources