Nell Stirling

New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 651, 21 December 1951, Page 18

Nell Stirling

OMETIMES a radio actor remains merely a voice to the . audiences, sometimes some of the sincerity behind the voice comes through, establishing an almost personal link. Listeners throughout New Zealand will learn with regret that well-known radio actress Nell Stirling collapsed and died at her home in Vaucluse. Sydney, on November 10. At thirty-eight she was one of the best-known radio voices in Australia and New Zealand, and the controlling force behind the George Edwards Players. She was heard in a great variety of productions, from the classics of Dickens and Dumas to the evergreen Dad and Dave, in which she played the part of Mabel. She was at home in character parts of every description, excelling in dialect, and frequently played several roles in the one productionshe had seven different parts, for example, in Bleak House. Most of those who heard the George Edwards productions of Georgette Heyer stories will remember her portrayal of Léonie, Duchess of Avon, in

NEWS of the death of Nell. Stirling, whose voice was as fomiliar to thousands of New Zealanders os that of the nextdoor neighbour, reached us just as our last issue went to press.. This brief appreciation

is

contributed by

NANCY

BRUCE

_- eatin ane — — These Old Shades, and her stammering little Countess Horatia in The Convenient Marriage. She had the. ability to get inside a character and bring it vividly to life simply through the medium of her voice. Nel! Stirling early determined to have a stage career, and at sixteen produced her own act at Sydney’s Tivoli Theatre, later joining the Jim Gerald Revue Company, When she was. eighteen, George Edwards, with his eyes on the radio field, was auditioning girls in a search for a partner. Forty-first to be heard, Nell was his selection, and they began work together almost immediately. In those days of radio acting there ‘were no recordings, and actors were on call from early morning until late evening, playing all shows "live." In 1933-34 Nell Stirling played in 44 quarter-hour episodes weekly. Later on, recordings made it possible to work to less trying schedules, and to send the shows over

more and larger networks, including those in New Zealand. In 1934 she became Mrs. George Edwards, and by that time the Company had built up a wide reputation, numbering in its casts many top-ranking Australian players and such New Zealand names as Warren Barry, Hilda Scurr and Lloyd Berrell, In 1947 that first marriage was dissolved (she later became Mrs. A. G. Atwill), but at the time of her death she was Chairman of Directors of the George Edwards Players Pty. Ltd., and the moving spirit behind what has grown into one of the biggést production units in Australia. She leaves two daughters, ten-year-old Carolyn Georgia Edwards, and a baby, Helen, who is not quite two, To many New Zealanders who knew her only as a voice, and to those in her own country who knew the warmly sincere person behind it, hér passing at such an early age leavés a blank that will never be completely filled.