Olivia Williams mentioned “a wonderful drama teacher [at the Bristol Old Vic theatre school], who was old enough to be Prussian” (Olivia Williams: ‘I’ve been close enough to stardom to see how horrifying it is’, 11 May). He was Rudi Shelley, a Prussian Jewish actor and dancer who escaped on the last legal train to leave Germany for Paris; still feeling unsafe, he carried on to London.
Unable to find professional work, he accepted a teaching job at the then new Old Vic School and found his vocation. He never parted with his thick Prussian accent but had a memorable command of English, and students didn’t forget his comments; some returned for private tutorials long after leaving the school, which was transferred to Bristol because of the war. I know he informed one student that he walked like a pregnant duck, and described another (not to her face) as having a certain radiant amateurishness. I’m sure there are many more examples. I first knew him when I was on the technical course (“crude mechanicals”, according to Rudi).
Marcia Wheeler
London