Esma cannon biography definition

Delighting audiences with her scene-stealing performances in films, television and theatre, Esma Cannon, with her pixie-like appearance and dotty charm, was one of the most beloved and versatile actresses of her generation, becoming something of a national treasure in the UK. Unlike many stars of her generation, whose lives were well-documented both on the screen and behind their public image, Cannon remained deeply private and, at the age of 58, she retired from the entertainment industry, never to be heard of again.

Tiny Esma Cannon, who established herself on British television as the panicky pinny girl "Brother Lil" in The Rag Trade , was known for her Cockney mannerisms - yet she was an Australian chirpy flyweight actress— only 4ft 9in tall —and had been on stage from the age of four in Madame Butterfly.

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Round about that time, she and her elder sister began earning money to help their mother in Sydney. She appeared in productions for both the J. As she grew up in age not inches Esma found parts with touring English stage companies playing children's parts well into adulthood - and had many offers of work if she should ever come to England.

When her sister died, Esma and her mother came to England for a holiday in the s— and never went back. Her first London role was in the play Misadventure and she began to perfect her special brand of fluttery confusion and started receiving notices for her performances as early as January when she appeared at the Wimbledon Theatre in the comedy Jack and Jill.

She worked not only as an actress but also in stage management and production, learning all aspects of her industry.

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Her film debut was an uncredited part as a waitress in the low-budget production The Man Behind the Mask , of which, sadly, no full copies are known to exist. By the end of the decade, she had appeared in no less than ten big-screen features, but split her time equally with the theatre. The following year she took to the road again in the comedy Other People's House , a Bernard Delfont presentation which starred the original London Company of Phyllis Dare a famous music hall star and Ivy St.

The s proved just as lucrative for Esma with over twenty screen appearances, two of which saw her take a break from comedy. The first was in Holiday Camp , playing a pathetic spinster who is lured to her death as a murder victim, and the other as a girl struck dumb by terror, alongside Margaret Lockwood in Jassy also During this time, whilst touring, Esma met her husband, Ernst Littmann, when he was in the Pioneer Corps, playing in an orchestra in Salisbury in his spare time.