For a brief period in the early 50s, Dinah Sheridan was the archetypal English Rose before circumstances took her away from us for too long.
Though she was born in Hampstead Garden Suburb, the English Rose had a Russian father and German mother. They ran a photography business which was patronised by the royal family. Dinah was educated at the Italia Conti stage school and made her professional stage debut in 1932. She was in film from the age of 15 and on TV a year later.
Her first starring role was in Landslide where she played opposite fellow Italia Conti alumnus Jimmy Hanley. Her career pottered along busily if, perhaps, to little effect in undistinguished quota films. She drove an ambulance in the war while working in rep. Her profile was raised by by the patriotic flagwaver Salute John Citizen particularly when she married her co-star Hanley. She did a Formby, a Huggetts and played Steve in a couple of Paul Temples. By the start of the 50s she had two children and a modest reputation in films.
The film that made the difference was Where No Vultures Fly. This was a safari story filmed largely on location and Sheridan was a hurried replacement for the female lead after the original dropped out. It was the Royal Film Performance of its year and a smash hit.
The quality of the films she was offered improved but it was another film for which she was not first choice which really raised her to true stardom: Genevieve. It wasn't expected to do great business but turned out to be one of the 1950s' greatest blockbusters.
At this point, she should have gone on to a fabulous career. However, her marriage to Hanley had ended and she married Rank boss John Davis. He insisted she give up work to be a full time housewife and that was that. She had to walk away at the height of her career.
The marriage ended in 1965 and she resumed her stage and TV career. It was a call from Lionel Jeffries that got her her next film role as the mother in The Railway Children. It was her almost her cinema swansong with only an appearance in the film within a film in the Angela Lansbury Miss Marple The Mirror Crack'd to go. Television kept her busy including the sitcom Don't Wait Up.
She married two more times before her death at the age of 92.
| 1935 | I Give My Heart |
| 1936 | As You Like It |
| 1937 | Landslide |
| 1937 | Behind Your Back |
| 1937 | Father Steps Out |
| 1938 | Merely Mr Hawkins |
| 1938 | Irish and Proud of It |
| 1940 | Full Speed Ahead |
| 1942 | Salute John Citizen |
| 1943 | Get Cracking |
| 1945 | For You Alone |
| 1945 | 29 Acacia Avenue |
| 1945 | Murder in Reverse? |
| 1947 | The Hills of Donegal |
| 1948 | Calling Paul Temple |
| 1949 | The Huggetts Abroad |
| 1949 | Dark Secret |
| 1950 | The Story of Shirley Yorke |
| 1950 | Paul Temple's Triumph |
| 1950 | No Trace |
| 1950 | Blackout |
| 1951 | Where No Vultures Fly |
| 1952 | The Sound Barrier |
| 1953 | The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan |
| 1953 | Appointment in London |
| 1953 | Genevieve |
| 1970 | The Railway Children |
| 1980 | The Mirror Cracked |
