This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (October 2013) |
Olga Lowe (14 September 1919 – 2 September 2013) was a South African-born British film, stage and television actress. She made her film debut in an uncredited role in the 1949 movie, Tottie True.[1] Her many credits included the EastEnders, Where Eagles Dare, Carry On Abroad, Steptoe and Son Ride Again and The Riddle of the Sands.[1]
Lowe, who was of Russian Jewish descent on her father's side, was born in Durban, South Africa. Her father, Charles Lowe, led the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra.[1] She first moved to London from South Africa in 1935.[1] She also worked in Brazil at a performer in Carmen Miranda's cabaret beginning at the age of 17.[1] In 1942, she survived the torpedoing of her ocean liner, City of New York, by a German submarine while returning to South Africa.[1]
She grew up in South Africa with actor Sid James, a childhood friend.[1] Olga Lowe and her first husband, John Tore, were considered to be instrumental in launching James' film career after he moved to Britain in 1947.[1] In 1976, Olga Lowe was performing opposite James in The Mating Season at the Sunderland Empire Theatre on the night he suffered a fatal heart attack on stage.[1]
Personal life
Lowe was married three time. Her first husband, John Tore, died in 1959 when he was just 35 years old.[1] She married her second husband, Peter Todd, in 1959 shorty after Tore's death.[1] The marriage between Lowe and Todd ended in divorce in 1962.[1] In 1970, Lowe married actor Keith Morris. The couple remained together until her death in 2013.[1]
Death
Olga Lowe died on 2 September 2013, aged 93.[1] She was survived by her husband, Keith Morris.