On the first day of rehearsals for Blithe Spirit we had a read through and when Angela chanted a spell as Madame Arcati, it sounded just like her chanting in Bedknobs and Broomsticks. My co-star Patsy Ferran and I locked eyes and melted.
Growing up, I knew Bedknobs and Beauty and the Beast. Only through working with Angela did I realise the extent of her incredible career. I was quite nervous beforehand: what will this person be like? Will they be difficult, will it be tense, is the focus going to be on her instead of the rest of us? All those things can cause an imbalance in a production that has star casting. She was like a rock star in the West End. There were queues every night and the response was incredible, an explosion of love and awe.
She was probably very nervous, too, in the early days. But Angela was always approachable, kind and professional with a twinkle. She came into her own when we got on the stage. I had friends who wanted to come and meet her after the show and, incredibly, she always had time for that. I know much younger perkier actors who wouldn’t bother.
Madame Arcati is an eccentric medium – no one takes her seriously. It’s easy to play her in a wacky over the top way but Angela remained laser sharp. By the end of the play she’s the only sane character. She managed that brilliantly and subtly. In rehearsals she knew her lines backwards but would occasionally look for a word on stage so during the show she had an earpiece through which a friend prompted her. People thought she was fed lines all the way through but she barely needed it. It was more for confidence.
When we took Blithe Spirit to America, I was pregnant with my first child and there was a bit of panic over how many performances I could do. There were already some nerves about whether Angela would be OK – a pregnant actress was an extra worry. In San Francisco they threw me a baby shower and I still have a picture of Dame Angela with a dummy in her mouth when we were playing the game Spit the Binky. She was so up for it.
She hosted all us Brits who were away from home at Christmas time, when we were doing nine shows a week. It was a humble house, not a huge sprawling mansion but tasteful, cosy and lovely. I totally fondled her Oscar – she let me do that. I wouldn’t have let me!
When I left the tour three weeks early, she gave me and my partner a Tiffany silver spoon engraved with the nickname we were using for the baby. She said you must keep working. Blithe Spirit was such a success for her at a time when she wasn’t sure what opportunities she would have.
Angela was naturally chic and super professional – we adored watching and listening to her. Charles Edwards and I were very good friends and would get terrible giggles – we felt guilty because Angela never let anything derail her. Angela was utterly devoted to the work but ultimately she didn’t take herself too seriously. One night she made up some lines near the end when Madame Arcati is looking for spirits – her comic touch was impeccable and she had a very underplayed lightness. She said something like “I’m looking in the underthings” and Charlie and I started snorting. We looked to Angela and she had gone upstage and turned away from the audience. We could just see her shoulders shaking. It was a glorious moment – she’d finally made herself laugh.