Carole Shelley

An actress since childhood, London native Carole Shelley made her professional bow as Little Nell in a 1950 dramatization of Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop. While attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Shelley supported herself as a milliner. She made her London debut in the 1955 production Simon and Laura, and one year later entered films. In 1965, she made her first Broadway appearance as Gwendolen Pigeon, one of the "coo-coo" Pigeon sisters, in the Neil Simon comedy hit The Odd Couple. She recreated this role for the 1968 film version of Odd Couple, and for the subsequent TV series, which premiered in 1970. Carole and her stage sister Monica "Cecily Pigeon" Evans were reteamed, after a fashion, as voiceover artists in the 1973 Disney animated feature Robin Hood (Evans played Maid Marian, while Shelley was heard as Marian's guardian Lady Kluck). Continuing to pursue her stage career, Shelley won a 1979 Tony award for her performance as Madge Kendal in The Elephant Man. On British television, Shelley was virtually a regular in the popular Brian Rix farces of the 1970s. Carole Shelley's film appearances of the 1990s have included such choice character roles as Mrs. Hookstratten in The Road to Wellville (1994) and Charles Van Doren's (Ralph Fiennes) aunt in Quiz Show (1994).