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Who Plays "Aggie" -- the Blonde Maid in Nigel Bruce's Pub?

posted 8 years ago by OldFilmLover
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One of the striking "bit" performances in This Above All is that of "Aggie", the blonde maid who works in Ramsbottom's (Nigel Bruce's) seaside pub. She is in several scenes and has several lines of dialogue. The character looks to be about 22-30 years old (though of the course the actress could be a bit older), and reminds me a bit of "Polly" from Fawlty Towers (not so much in looks as in bouncy efficiency). But I see no "Aggie" in the credits; and further, I see no female character who *could* be Aggie in the credits. Most of the maids, waitresses, etc. listed in the credits are played by actresses born in the 1880s, which would make them about 60 years old in this 1942 film, and there is no way this actress was that old. Does anyone recognize "Aggie" from any other film, or have a suggestion who in the credits might be her? Could she have been accidentally misidentified as one of the WAAF women?

[–] joystar5879 8 years ago

It sounds like you're talking about Silvia Vaughn, who plays "Aggie". She would have been in her late 30's - early 40's at the time. She was the mother of child actress Faye Chaldecott...who played "Little Em'ly" in the 1935 version of DAVID COPPERFIELD.

Silvia had the sort of sweet, plain face that could have been aged either up or down, so it might be her.

Hope this helps.

I do hope he won't upset Henry...

[–] OldFilmLover 8 years ago

Thanks for this suggestion, joystar. I have some doubt, however. Silvia Vaughan would have been 40, and this maid/waitress I am thinking of looked a lot younger than that -- I'm not sure even makeup would account for the difference. In any case, take a look at the IMDb extended credits:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035431/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

You see that Silvia is credited as the tea shop counterwoman, not as a staff member in Nigel Bruce's pub. Now it's possible that one actress could have played two roles in the same film; but if so, it's odd that a very minor, almost invisible role would be recorded whereas a more substantive role would go unmentioned. Presuming that some IMDb fan spotted Silvia as the tea shop counterwoman, the same person couldn't have failed to see her in the larger role.

Alternately, maybe "Aggie" *was* played by Silvia Vaughan, and some IMDb fan simply misidentified another actress (playing the counterwoman) as Silvia. But still, I don't feel the mystery is solved.

One possibility is that someone just hasn't paid attention to the names of characters, and has put the wrong character name in for "Aggie." That can happen even on original screen credits. I have seen things like e.g., a butler called "Jones" named "Jeeves" on the screen credits. So here we might have an error either in the original screen credits, or by an IMDb fan. These things are hard to sort out. Anyhow, if I ever find out for sure, I will report back here. Thanks again.