Jessie Margaret Matthews OBE (11 March 1907 – 19 August 1981) was an English actress, dancer and singer of the 1920s and 1930s, whose career continued into the post-war period.[1][2] (wikipedia)
When I first began, the technicians, camera and makeup men made me feel so self-conscious that I began to have the biggest inferiority complex about my looks.
I had a flair for comedy and could give a sustained performance.
Victor Saville used to say to me, Darling, you look beautiful. With his magic and the lighting there was no doubt about it, I looked beautiful!
For a London play, rehearsal time would be four weeks for the entire show. In films, I'd spend six weeks on the big dance numbers to get them perfect before the actual shooting.
The songwriters were introduced to me as ordinary human beings; they would play their songs, and sometimes I would start to sing a song with them.
I collaborated on most of my dance numbers, literally 50/50, with the choreographers I worked with.
In films, the fact that you can always do a scene again takes a load off your mind, enabling you to strive for perfection, which I always wanted.
