Renée Houston

Biography

Renée Houston (24 July 1902 - 9 February 1980) was a Scottish comedy actress and revue artist who appeared in television and film roles. Born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, as Katherina Houston Gribbin she toured music halls and revues with her sister Billie Houston as the "Houston Sisters". In 1926, the sisters made a short musical film, the script of which Renée had written. It was produced by Lee De Forest, whose process, Phonofilm, enabled a soundtrack to be played alongside the film (a year before The Jazz Singer). Houston married three times, the second was to the actor Pat Aherne, the brother of Brian Aherne. Her third husband was the actor Donald Stewart. In her later years, she specialised in "battleaxe" roles, notably as shop steward Vic Spanner's (Kenneth Cope) formidable mother in Carry On at Your Convenience (1971). She published her autobiography in 1974 which was entitled Don't Fence Me In. Houston was also in the early episodes of radio's The Clitheroe Kid and a regular guest on radio panel show The Petticoat Line chaired by Anona Winn. She died in London at the age of 77 on 9 February 1980. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Known For

Repulsion

as Mme Balch

Cul-de-sac

as Christopher's Mother

The Saint

as Ida Warshed

The Saint

as Mrs. McAlister

The Phantom of the Opera

as Mrs. Tucker

Carry On Cabby

as Molly

Carry On at Your Convenience

as Agatha Spanner

Carry On Spying

as Funhouse Madame

The Flesh and the Fiends

as Helen Burke

The Belles of St. Trinian's

as Miss Brimmer