When I arrived at London’s Unity Theatre as an enthusiastic young would-be performer in the mid-1960s, Liz Smith was one of a group of professionals lending their experience to a regular repertoire of drama and entertainment who quickly taught me discipline and stagecraft. We were together in Frank Wagland’s music hall troupe – I remember her Why Am I Always The Bridesmaid? vividly – and I was the juvenile lead to her Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd, with Declan Mulholland as an eccentric demon barber.
Later, when I’d swapped the greasepaint for the producer’s chair in TV and film, I bumped into her occasionally and we cheerfully reminisced.
She was a wonderfully talented actress with a fine sense of comedy and of pathos, often delivered together with great effect.
