The daughter of a British army captain and his Dutch wife, Googie Withers was sent to a convent school in London at the age of eight and then attended the Italia Conti dance and drama school. She had her first stage experience at the age of 13 and while appearing in cabaret two years later was spotted by a film producer and given a small part in The Girl in the Crowd (1934). There then began a string of stage appearances and. from the mid-Thirties, roles as darkly glamorous or seductively bitchy ladies in thrillers and comedies. At the height of her career she left Britain to live in Australia with her husband, the actor John McCallum. but returned to take the occasional film and television role. In the mid Seventies she was notably successful as the governor of a women’s prison in UK television series Within These Walls.
Daughter Joanna McCallum is also an actress. Googie’s real name was Georgette Lizette and her stage name Googie dates back to the childhood nickname given to her by her nanny.
Born 12 March 1917 in Karachi, in British India and Died 15 July 2011 in Sydney, Australia.
TV
1953: BBC Sunday Night Theatre: The Public Prosecutor as Theresia Cabarrus
1954: BBC Sunday Night Theatre: The Deep Blue Sea as Hester Collier
1955: Rheingold Theatre: The Dark Lake as Laura
1958: Television World Theatre: Amphitryon as Alkmena
1971: Seasons of the Year: Court Circular Spring 1877 as Lady Rudge
1972: Thirty-Minute Theatre: Knightsbridge as Muriel Stokes
1972: ITV Sunday Night Theatre: Last Year’s Confetti as Rosalind Shpeherd
1972: Boney: Boney and the Reaper as Jane Loftus
1973: Boney: Boney Hunts a Murderess as Diana Thompson
1974: The Cherry Orchard
1974-1975: Within These Walls (Series) as Faye Boswell
1986: Screen Two: Time After Time as Leda Klein
1986: Screen Two: Hotel du Lac as Mrs Pusey
1987: Screen Two: Northanger Abbey as Mrs Allen
1988: Great Performances: Melba as Lady Armstrong
1989: Ending Up as Marigold
FILM
1935: The Girl in the Crowd as Sally
1935: The Love Test as Minnie
1935: Windfall as Dodie
1935: Her Last Affaire as Effie
1935: Dark World as Annie
1936: All at Sea as Daphne Tomkins
1936: She Knew What She Wanted as Dora
1936: Crown v. Stevens as Ella Levine
1936: Crime Over London as Miss Dupres
1936: Accused as Ninette Duval
1937: Action For Slander as Mary
1937: Pearls Bring Tears as Doreen
1937: The Green Cockatoo (uncredited role)
1937: Gaiety Girls as Miki
1938: Paid in Error as Jean Mason
1938: If I Were Boss as Pat
1938: Strange Boarders as Elsie
1938: Convict 99 as Lottie
1938: Queen of Crime as Lady Moya
1938: The Lady Vanishes as Blanche
1938: You’re The Doctor as Helen Firmstone
1939: Murder in the Night as Lola Matthews
1939: Trouble Brewing as Mary Brown
1939: The Amazing Mr Forrest as Alice Forrest
1940: She Couldn’t Say No as Dora
1940: Haunted Honeymoon as Polly
1940: Bulldog Sees It Through as Toots
1941: Jeannie as Laundry Girl
1942: Back-Room Boy as Bobbie
1942: One of Our Aircraft Is Missing as Jo de Vries
1943: The Silver Fleet as Helene van Leyden
1944: On Approval as Helen Hale
1944: They Came To A City as Alice
1945: Dead of Night as Joan Cortland
1945: Pink String and Sealing Wax as Pearl Bond
1947: The Many Loves of Joanna Godden as Joanna Godden
1947: It Always Rains on Sunday as Rose Sandigate
1948: Miranda as Clare Martin
1949: Once Upon A Dream as Carol Gilbert
1950: Night and the City as Helen Nosseross
1950: Traveller’s Joy as Bumble Pemlham
1951: White Corridors as Dr Sophie Dean
1951: Bikini Baby as Susan Foster (Googie was uncredited, appearing as an actress in a clip within the movie)
1951: The Magic Box as Sitter in Bath Studio
1952: Derby Day as Betty Molly
1954: Devil on Horseback as Mrs Cadell
1956: Port of Escape ass Anne Stirling
1971: Nickel Queen as Meg Blake
1994: Country Life
1996: Shine
