Beatrice Lillie: Before Lucy. Before Ethel.

 Born in Toronto in 1894, 

Beatrice Lillie became part of a theatrical trio very early in life,

along with Mom Lucy and Sister Muriel:
The Lillie Trio.

That triumvirate (and World War I) brought them to the London stage,

and an Andre Charlot revue called "Not Likely."

With the wartime lack of male actors,

and her androgynous good looks,

Bea quickly became known as "the best-dressed transvestite in London."

 In 1920,

Bea married Robert Peel,

a British Nobleman descended from Prime Minister Robert Peel II,

the founder of London's Metropolitan Police 

(Bobbies!).

 Charlot's Revue of 1924 hit Broadway and its success

resulted in Bea "being" called to Hollywood,

still in pre-talkie mode.

Exit Smiling, done in 1926,

was her one silent picture,

below with Jack Pickford (yup, the brother of Mary).

Though not a success, it did bring Bea a ton of stage offers

 on Broadway and London

where she worked throughout the 1930s.

 Bea's great association with Noel Coward

began in the late 1920s

and she became part of his circle of celebrity friends,

which included Gertrude Lawrence.

She appeared in Coward's show of 1928,

This Year Of Grace,

and would go on to star in several Coward musicals after that.

 Come the outbreak of WWII,

Bea entertained Allied troops in the Mediterranean, Middle East,

and Africa.

Her only son, Sir Robert, was killed while serving in Ceylon in 1942.

 Come 1952,

Bea toured in "An Evening With Beatrice Lillie",

and won accolades AND a Tony from it.

Said Brooks Atkinson of the Times:

"The slender sharp-featured lady with the polite, embarrassed smile 

and the dainty manner 

dominates the material, the stage and the theatre. 

She radiates satiric comedy even when she is standing still. 

She sits at a table and looks blank: it is funny. 

She pauses for a beat in a song: it is funny. 

It almost seems as though her thoughts were funny. 

For she is one of the most eloquent actresses of the theatre,

 and she can set the audience to laughing without saying a word, 

singing a note or making a gesture."

Above, Bea as Madame Arcati in Coward's High Spirits.

 

As Mrs. Meers in Thoroughly Modern Millie, released in 1967.

Subsequent to this,

Bea retired to England with 

her partner, actor John Philip Huck (30 years her junior).

She passed away in 1989, at the age of 94.

(Huck died the very next day of a heart attack.)