SIGNED UP BY TEA TIME
Born Vera Frances Still in Dagenham, East London, her father worked as a props and special effects man for Gainsborough Pictures, based at Lime Street Studios in Shepherd’s Bush.
One day, when Vera was twelve, her father was having lunch in the studio canteen, when he overheard a conversation between some film producers. They were making a comedy and could not find a child actor to play the little girl.
The following day, her father turned up for work with Vera in tow. She took a screen test – “I was signed up by tea time.”
What impressed the producers was Vera’s ability to switch from her normal polite, cultured accent to a gritty Cockney one.
She took her common names, Vera Frances, as her stage name, and kept it throughout her life.
The film was ‘Back-Room Boy’ starring comedian Arthur Askey and Googie Withers, directed by Herbert Mason.
In the film, Askey plays a weatherman who is trapped on a lighthouse. Vera played a stowaway.
The movie received good reviews. ‘Film in Review’ said of Vera, “She outshines bigger stars such as Googie Withers. Rarely has there been such conviction, likeability and talent in a debut performance.”
Askey and Vera got on like a house on fire. He insisted she starred in his next film, ‘King Arthur was a Gentleman’.
He also took her on tour with him, performing on the stage.
Despite repeated requests, her parents refused to let Vera sign a studio contract. They wanted her to continue with her education. Instead, she took individual film contracts.
Vera appeared in the movie of Tommy Handley’s successful radio show, ITMA (It’s That Man Again). It did not translate to the movie screen and returned to radio, continuing until Handley’s sudden death in 1949.
Vera attended his funeral (along with ten thousand other people).
Her next film was, ‘Get Cracking’, starring George Formby. He plays a corporal in the Home Guard, who gets up to several escapades. One of them is to build a tank, aided by an evacuee (played by Vera).
The film is often regarded as a forerunner of the TV series ‘Dad’s Army’.
Vera also appeared in the 1944 film, ‘Waterloo Road’, about a family struggling through the Blitz. She plays the younger sister of the main star, John Mills. The film also featured Stewart Granger as a villainous ‘Romeo’ character.
Vera also appeared alongside other famous names such as Dinah Sheridan and Alastair Sim.
When Vera reached eighteen, she decided to retire from the film industry as she had outgrown her usual roles as a child. She admitted she was just a character actor and, “Certainly not a conventional screen beauty.”
Her fans (of whom there were many), and the critics, mourned her retirement.
Vera’s dream had always been to become a dancer, so she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dance in 1947.
She made one more film, ‘The Good-Time Girl’, in 1948, appearing as the younger sister of the main character, played by Jean Kent.
When Vera graduated, she became a dance teacher. She was so successful that quickly she set up her own dance school in Ealing.
Vera met and married Dennis Ward in 1953. They had one daughter called Lynne.
They moved to March in Cambridgeshire and relocated the dance school, now named the Vera Frances Dance School.
Vera ran the school for six decades until she was well into her eighties. Her daughter, Lynne, taught alongside her and eventually, her grandson, Iain Ward, joined them, giving drama lessons.
Vera’s husband, Dennis, died in 2000.
During Covid (in 2020), the school was forced to shut down. After the pandemic was over, new rules and regulations came into force, and the decision was made to close Vera’s school permanently, after sixty-five years. “We have neither the time nor financial resources to implement everything that is required.”
Despite her short acting career, Vera had many fans. She was always receiving letters from them and made a point of replying to each and every one.
In an interview, she was asked which actor she had enjoyed working with most. “Without hesitation Arthur Askey was my favourite co-star. I remember we laughed a lot.”
Vera died at home, aged ninety-five.
RIP – Reviews Incredibly Positive
