Vanessa Howard

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Vanessa Howard
Born
Vanessa Tolhurst

(1948-10-10)10 October 1948
Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, England
Died23 November 2010(2010-11-23) (aged 62)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1970; div. 1983)​
[citation needed]
Children1

Vanessa Howard (born Vanessa Tolhurst, 10 October 1948, Shoreham-by-Sea, United Kingdom[1] – 23 November 2010), later known as Vanessa Chartoff, was a British film actress and professional backup singer.

Early life[edit]

Howard was orphaned by the age of three, after which she and her older sister were adopted.[1] Both girls were performers; Vanessa attended the Phildene Stage School,[2][3][4] a co-educational independent school at Chiswick, west London, and her sister attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.[1]

Career[edit]

After leaving school at fifteen, her first professional job was as a dancer and singer at the Welsh seaside resort of Llandudno, for Clarkson Rose's Twinkle company, in a summer revue.[1] Later engagements included the Players' Theatre, in their Old Time Music Hall, and one year with the George Mitchell Singers as a singer and dancer, leading to TV.[1]

In 1966, Howard appeared in On the Level, a musical in the West End.[1] After, she appeared in The Impossible Years, a play, with David Tomlinson.[1]

Howard made her film debut in the “Swinging Sixties” sex comedy Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (1967). In 1967, on Christmas Day, Howard she appeared in Aladdin, a musical, on British television with Cliff Richard.[1]

Howard later starred in exploitation and horror films, including The Blood Beast Terror and Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly. The box-office failure of her later projects resulted in her decision to retire from acting.[citation needed]

Personal life[edit]

Howard married film producer Robert Chartoff in July 1970. At 25, they moved to USA, where they raised their son, Charley Chartoff,[1] and 3 children from Robert's first marriage.[5] The couple divorced some time prior to 1992. Following her divorce, she worked with California programs dedicated to helping recently divorced homemakers reintegrate into the workforce, including the Mission Valley Regional Occupation Center[6] in Fremont, California.[citation needed] She died in Los Angeles on 23 November 2010, of complications from COPD.[7]

Recognition[edit]

A retrospective on her life – assembled by horror journalist Preston Fassel with the cooperation of her family and the assistance of UK blogger Richard Halfhide – appeared in The Dark Side #169[8] and Spring 2014 issue of the horror journal Screem, addressing multiple rumours about her life, career, and the time in between her retirement and death.[7]

Filmography[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Halfhide, Richard (17 June 2013). "In Search of Vanessa Howard". All Slights Deserved.
  2. ^ "Phildene Stage School 2 Rupert Road London W4 Advert - 1968 Cutting". eBay. Archived from the original on 9 September 2022. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  3. ^ "Phildene Stage School in Rupert Road". London Picture Archive. 1969. Retrieved 9 September 2022. Front elevation of a two-storey detached building, The Phildene Stage School at 2 Rupert Road, Hounslow. It is now The Wendy Wisbey Agency.
  4. ^ "Phildene Stage School". The National Archives (United Kingdom). Retrieved 9 September 2022. 1971-1982
  5. ^ "Remembering 'Girly' – Vanessa Howard (1948 – 2010)". Tina Aumonts Eyes. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  6. ^ "Homepage". Mission Valley ROP. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  7. ^ a b Fassel, Preston. Remembering Vanessa Howard. Screem Magazine, Spring 2014
  8. ^ "Issue 169: Twins of Evil". The Dark Side. 12 July 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2022. We talk to Stanley Kubrick's right hand man on The Shining, explore the post-war history of horror and ask: what became of Vanessa Howard?
  9. ^ "Vanessa Howard in 'Sam and Janet' S2 E1". youtube. Retrieved 9 September 2022. This first episode of the second and final series of 'Sam and Janet' was first shown in the Ulster (Northern Ireland) and Rediffusion ITV regions on 23 January 1968. It was then broadcast in the ATV and Grampian regions on 26 January 1968, directly after the first showing on British TV of the Prisoner episode 'Once Upon A Time'... In this one episode only, their two children Patricia and Peter (played by Vanessa Howard and Lee Menzies) added their own share of complications to the couple's elusive search for domestic harmony.
  10. ^ "Sam and Janet - S2 Ep1". youtube. Retrieved 9 September 2022. written by David Cumming

External links[edit]

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