My friend Valerie Lester, who has died aged 75, was an actor with an unusual career path, finding fame in cold war East Germany, and in later life became an English teacher in Argentina.
She was born in Leicester but grew up in Coventry, the daughter of Brenda (nee Harris), a housewife, and her husband, John Lester, who worked in the car industry. Her childhood was not easy and she received only a very basic schooling at Stoke secondary modern school. There, however, she had an inspirational English teacher, my mother, Marguerite, who persuaded her to follow her dream and go into the theatre. Valerie won a place at the Birmingham Theatre School and after completing her studies she went to London, where most of the work was. There she collaborated with several leading figures of the theatre, among them Joan Littlewood and Charles Marowitz.
In 1964 she ventured further afield, deciding to explore life behind the iron curtain in East Berlin, despite having not a word of German. Serendipitously, after her arrival GDR television began a new series of English language courses for schools, English for You. She was offered one of the lead acting roles, and this turned her into a minor star and popular personality in East Germany. After the series was completed, in 1966, she returned to Coventry, where she worked with the Belgrade theatre in its theatre in education group.
In 1972 she married Stan Wilkes and had a son, Joe, born in 1974. They moved to Birmingham, where Stan had been Birmingham secretary of the Communist party. Those early years of married life were hard. Her husband was blacklisted because of his work as a party official, and money was short. But they survived by fostering difficult-to-place children, many of whom were already psychologically traumatised, and helped integrate them into family life.
After the death of both Stan and her younger sister Hazel in 1984, Valerie became seriously depressed but managed to overcome it. In 1995, back on her feet and at the age of 50, she decided to learn Spanish, and soon afterwards moved to Buenos Aires. For the next 15 years she built a new life there teaching English. In 2015 she returned to Britain after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. The diagnosis and treatment again brought out her courage and determination to live life to the full, and she survived a further five years.
Her life was committed to social justice. She had an unshakeable belief in people’s inner goodness and in a socialist society that would encourage and promote that. In her last years she threw herself into working for the Labour party in Coventry, where she had grown up.
She will be remembered by her friends as loyal and generous and as someone who radiated an irrepressible joie de vivre.
She is survived by Joe, and by her sisters, Marilyn and Jennifer, and brother, Graham.
