Moira Lister Gachassin-Lafite, Viscountess of Orthez (6 August 192327 October 2007) was a South African-British film, stage and television actress and writer.
Early life Lister was born in Cape Town to Major James Lister and Margaret (née Hogan), and educated at the Parktown Convent of the Holy Family in Johannesburg. She studied theatre under Anna Romain Hoffman, who, along with her husband Arthur Hoffman, founded The Johannesburg Repertory Theatre.
Career Lister began her acting career on stage in South Africa and then went on to act in the London theatre at the age of 18. Lister began working in films in 1943, and appeared in a number of films over several decades. The most notable of these being for Ealing Studios, such as Another Shore (1948), (1949), Pool of London (1951) and The Cruel Sea (1953). She starred in Peter Ustinov's long-running 1951 play The Love of Four Colonels in the West End.
She had a regular role in the first series of the BBC radio comedy Hancock's Half Hour in 1954–55, and was also one of the girlfriends in A Life of Bliss starring George Cole as David Bliss, a perpetual bachelor. She played Felicity Willow in BBC Radio's comedy Mr Willow's Wife.
She starred in the BBC television series The Whitehall Worrier and The Very Merry Widow from 1967 to 1968. (Later series of this programme were titled The Very Merry Widow — and How!) Lister also appeared on various other British TV series such as Danger Man and The Avengers ("The See-Through Man", 1967). In 1980, she made a guest appearance as a film star in the sitcom Only When I Laugh.
She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1971 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.
Lister was still performing until three years before her death, touring with her one-woman show about Noël Coward. She belonged to the British Catholic Stage Guild.
Personal life In 1946, Lister went on a date in London with Neville Heath, who murdered two women in London only months later. Heath was convicted after a sensational trial, and he was hanged in October 1946.
In 1951, Lister married Belgo-French aristocrat Jacques Gachassin-Lafite, Viscount of Orthez, son of André Gachassin-Lafite, Viscount of Orthez and of Louise van Dievoet. Jacques was a French officer of the Spahis, owner of a champagne vineyard and hero of the Rif War; they had two daughters, Chantal and Christobel. Lister also had two granddaughters, Christina d'Orthez and Marina d'Orthez.
Moira Lister died at the age of 84 in 2007. Both she and her husband are interred in the churchyard of St Edward's Catholic Church in Sutton Green, Surrey.
Honours Naledi Theatre Award, a lifetime achievement award for her services to the theatre in South Africa. Best Actress of the Year (1971) Freedom of the City of London (2000)
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Notes1943Rita1944Carol1945My Ain FolkJoan Mackenzie1945Don ChicagoTelephone Operator1945Joan Shackleton1946Wanted for MurderMiss WillisAKA, A Voice in the Night1948So Evil My LoveKitty Feathers1948Uneasy TermsCorinne Alardyse1948Another ShoreJennifer1949Once a Jolly SwagmanDotty Liz1949Jo1951Files from Scotland YardJoanna Goring1951Pool of LondonMaisie1951My Seal and ThemDiana1951White CorridorsDolly Clark1952Something Money Can't BuyDiana Haverstock1953Elaine Morell1953Grand National NightBabs Coates1953Pauline French1953Trouble in StorePeggy Drew1955John and JulieDora1955Dawn Maxwell1957Seven Waves AwayEdith MiddletonAKA, Abandon Ship1964Lady Angela St. Simeon1965Joey BoyLady Thameridge1967Mrs. Carrington1967Cop-OutMrs. Flower1973Not Now, DarlingMaude Bodley1989Ten Little IndiansEthel Mae Rodgers2007FloodGrandma
Television Year Title Role Notes1948FriedaFriedaTV film1949And So to BedMrs. PepysTV film1950Sunday Night TheatreSenora Maria"The Bridge of Estaban"1951Joseph Proctor's MoneyPoppy MarshTV film1954AnneTV film1954Yelena Ivanovna PopovaTV short1954Stage by StageBerinthia"The Relapse or, Virtue in Danger"1956Douglas Fairbanks PresentsEve"The Intruder"1956ITV Play of the WeekLetty Golightly"The Golden Cuckoo"1957ITV Play of the WeekMaggie Palmer"His and Hers"1957Armchair TheatreMathilde Loisel"The Necklace"1957Sunday Night TheatreAmelia Laurenson"Mayors' Nest"1957Sunday Night TheatreOrinthia"The Apple Cart"1960Somerset Maugham HourVesta Grange"Flotsam and Jetsam"1960Theatre NightNell Nash"The Gazebo"1961Danger ManVanessa Stewart"Find and Return"1961ITV Play of the WeekLouise Yeyder"Gilt and Gingerbread"1963Zero OneMrs. Grey"The Golden Silence"1964Thursday TheatreLaura Foster"Simon and Laura"1966Danger ManClaudia Jordan"The Hunting Party"1966Theatre 625Laura Foster"Simon and Laura"1966Comedy PlayhouseJanet Pugh"The Mallard Imaginaire"1966Major BarbaraLady BritomartTV film1967Elena"The See-Through Man"1967The Whitehall WorrierJanet PughTV series1967–68Jacqui VilliersTV series1968Emma Grant"Desmond"1968Mimsy"The Lovemakers"1969Love StoryAriade"The Dolly Spike"1969Jacqui VilliersTV series1973Late Night TheatreVicky Labone"She'll Have to Go"1980Life Begins at FortyGertie"The Christening"1980Only When I LaughGloria"Whatever Happened to Gloria Robins?"1984HayfeverJudith BlissTV film1987GranTV film2000GrandmotherTV miniseries2005Sterne über MadeiraMutter OberinTV film
Publications The Very Merry Moira (1971)
Bibliography « Lister, Moira », in : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005–2008, Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 696–697 .
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