Queenie Ashton () (11 November 190321 October 1999), was a British singer, dancer, and actress, having started her career as a soprano and theatre actress in her naive UK, she had a long career in Australia as a radio and television performer, with a career spanning over 75 years.

Ashton was born as Edith Muriel Ashton in Stoke Newington, London, from 1946 upon her marriage she legally used the name Ethel Muriel Cover.

Her best known roles were in the radio serials The Lawsons between 1944 and 1949 as Lee Gordon (the wife of Dr. Gordon) and its sequel Blue Hills as the elderly "Granny" Emily Bishop, a role she played for some 27 years between 1949 and 1976. She would also play this character in the TV series Autumn Affair.

Ashton, alongside her contemporaries including Gwen Plumb, Ethel Lang, Grace Gibson and Margaret Christensen, has been described as a pioneer for females in radio. Her other prominent role was as Dolly Lucas in TV series Certain Women.

Biography Early life and stage Ashton was born in London, England. She was an accomplished ballet dancer, and specialist in voice production and drama, and started performing when she was fourteen.

She started her career in musical comedy on the London stage, on occasion appearing with playwright Noël Coward. She left England in 1927, and performed for Dame Nellie Melba while travelling to Australia through the Suez Canal.Crocker, Patti Radio Days (with foreword by Queenie Ashton), Simon and Schuster 1989 She first appeared in Melbourne as a soprano on the concert stage, then in musical comedy, alongside such stars as Gladys Moncrieff, whom she understudied, and Strella Wilson.

Radio Ashton featured in radio from the 1930s, appearing in musical comedy opposite Dick Bentley in Oh! Quaite. Her first straight drama role was in 1939, a period piece playing Marie Antoinette.

She played Budge's mother in "Budge's Gang", a segment of the ABC Children's Session (c. 1941–45; it was so popular it was made into a comic book). Most notably, she played the wife of Dr. Gordon and the long-running role of Granny Emily Bishop (a character many years her senior) in the radio serial Blue Hills, for the entire 27 years of the serial's run (1949–1976) Hers were the very first and last spoken parts. The final words of Granny Bishop, as spoken by Ashton, were: We don't have to see people every day of the week/to imagine them in their surroundings or even to live their lives with them. We can still use our imagination ... they can still be in our minds. They can still be with us and so you see, and it is isn't really very hard to say goodbye. to say goodbye and God bless.

Television and film Ashton also played the Granny Bishop role on Australia's first television serial Autumn Affair. In 1957 she appeared in a one-off television play called Tomorrow's Child and was a cast member of Certain Women (as Dolly Lucas). She was a semi-regular cast member of A Country Practice (as "Lillian Coote") and G.P. (as Mrs Sculthorpe).Lane, Richard The Golden Age of Australian Radio Drama Melbourne University Press 1994

Film roles included both theatrical and telefilms Always Another Dawn in 1948 and The Farrer Story in 1949, she also had cameos in Mama's Gone A-Hunting in 1977 and The Year My Voice Broke in 1987. She also appeared in many television commercials, most notably for Sara Lee. She was still performing in stage and cabaret plays in her nineties and was one of Australia's last great grand dames and one of the oldest entertainers still performing.

Personal life Ashton married Lionel Lawson, a violinist, in 1931. He became leader of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; they had a daughter, nurse Janet Lawson, in 1933 and a son, Tony Lawson, in 1935.Sydney Morning Herald 1 October 1953 They divorced in 1940 and he died in 1950.

Ashton remarried in 1946 to Frederick John Cover, a theatrical agent, and founder and managing director of the actors' casting firm, Central Casting.

She died on 21 October 1999, in the Sydney suburb of Carlingford, New South Wales, aged 95.

Selected stage appearances Title Year Kid Boots with Leslie Henson at the Winter Garden, London 1926Sydney Morning Herald 28 January 1927 Sunny as "Sue Warren" at the Empire Theatre, Sydney 1927 Rio Rita as "Carmen" at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne 1929The Argus 26 January 1929 Whoopee! at the Empire Theatre, Sydney 1929Sydney Morning Herald 17 June 1929 The Patsy (play by Barry Conners) as the nasty elder sister 1944Sydney Morning Herald 2 February 1944 Anna Christie for the John Alden Company with Leonard Thiele and Lyndall Barbour 1951Sydney Morning Herald 22 April 1951 A Victorian Marriage (1951 play by Warwick Fairfax) 1951Sydney Morning Herald 30 June 1951 The Glass Menagerie 1961 An Evening with Noël Coward 1965 The Boy Friend 1968/1969 The Old Fashioned Show 1977 Three Sisters (by Anton Chekhov Drama theatre, Sydney Opera House) 1977 Stevie 1982

Filmography

Film YearTitleRoleType 1948 Always Another Dawn Molly Regan Feature film 1949 Strong Is the Seed (aka The Farrer Story) Feature film 1980 Age Before Beauty Narrator Film short 1987 The Year My Voice Broke Mrs. O'Neil Feature film

Television YearTitleRoleType 1957 Tomorrow's Child Teleplay 1958–1959 Autumn Affair Granny Bishop TV series, 156 episodes 1959 Lady in Danger Mrs Lamprey Teleplay 1959 Pardon Miss Westcott Lydia Patterson Teleplay musical 1960 Whiplash Miss Culbert TV series, 1 episode 1962; 1964 Consider Your Verdict Adelaide Upton TV series, 2 episodes 1965–1970 Homicide Emily Simpson / Mrs. Miriam Pinkerton / Mrs. Hamilton / Dulcie Reynolds TV series, 4 episodes 1965 TV Spells Magic Guest (with Max Meldrum, Ron Shand, Ruth Cracknell, Evie Hayes, Wendy Blacklock, David Copping, Kevin Miles, Gwen Plumb, Chips Rafferty & Keith Petersen) TV special 1967 My Name's McGooley, What's Yours? Miss Fitchett TV series, 1 episode 1968 Hunter Mrs. Pankhurst TV series, 1 episode 1969–1973 Division 4 Emily Harrison / Elizabeth King / Mary Larkins / Mother O'Connell / Mrs. Wilde TV series, 6 episodes 1969 Pastures of the Blue Crane TV series 1971 Matlock Police Mrs. McIntyre TV series, 4 episodes 1971–1972 The Godfathers Mrs. Frenchman TV series, 4 episodes 1972 Crisis TV pilot 1973 Elephant Boy Doreen Graham TV series, 1 episode 1973–1976 Certain Women Dolly Lucas TV series, 166 episodes 1974 The Evil Touch Elspeth Pfeiffer TV series, 2 episodes 1976 Solo One Annie Robinson TV series, 1 episode 1977 Image of Death Mrs. Brooks TV film 1977 Mama's Gone A-Hunting Old Woman in Restaurant TV film 1977 Say You Want Me TV film 1977 The Restless Years Jessica Metcalf TV series, 1 episode 1978–1981 Cop Shop Agnes Hinch / Mrs. Roberts / Evelyn Armstrong / Betty Walton TV series, 6 episodes 1978 This Is Your Life Herself TV series, 1 episode 1978 The Mike Walsh Show Guest TV series, 1 episode 1979 Skyways Mrs. Fow TV series, 1 episode 1980 Young Ramsay Dolly Farrell TV series, 1 episode 1981 The Love Boat in Australia Mrs. Selkirk TV film, 2 episodes 1981 The Love Boat Mrs. Selkirk TV series, 2 episodes 1982, 1990 A Country Practice Mrs. 'Coote' Duggan TV series, 2 episodes 1983 Warming Up Mrs. Marsh TV film 1985 Double Sculls Pianist TV film 1986 Mother And Son Elsie TV series, 1 episode 1987 Poor Man's Orange Mrs. Casement TV miniseries, 2 episodes 1987 Dearest Enemy TV pilot 1988 Rafferty's Rules Mrs. Capra TV series, 1 episode 1988 The Dirtwater Dynasty Old Patient TV miniseries, 1 episode 1989 In Melbourne Today Guest - Herself TV series, 1 episode 1990 A Country Practice Mrs. Lillian Coote TV series, 19 episodes 1991 The Miraculous Mellops Customer TV miniseries, 1 episode 1991–1992 G.P. Mrs. Jessica Sculthorpe ABC TV series, 6 episodes

Radio YearTitleRole1939East Lynne Lady Isabel 1944-1949 The Lawsons Lee Gordon1949–1976 Blue Hills (radio serial) Granny Emily Bishop

Recognition In 1950 she won the Macquarie Network's award for "best performance by an actress in a supporting role" (in "Edward, My Son").The Argus 12 February 1951

In 1980, she was appointed by her stage name Queenie Ashton a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to the performing arts.It's an Honour

Notes

References Citations

Sources

External links Read more about Queenie Ashton, and listen to an oral history interview done with her on the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia's website. Visit the National Film and Sound Archive's Women in Early Radio collection for more information about the history of women in radio in Australia.