Shirley Booth

b. Thelma Booth Ford, 30 August 1898, New York City, USA, d. 16 October 1992, North Chatham, Massachusetts, USA. A distinguished actress and singer, who was once described by the New York Post as ‘one of the wonders of the American stage; a superb actress, a magnificent comedienne, and an all-round performer of seemingly endless variety', Booth started to act at an early age, and made her professional stage debut in 1923 and her first Broadway appearance two years later. In the Broadway musical theatre she played a gossip columnist in Hollywood Pinafore (1945), and excelled as...