Dorothy Ward

Alternate Names

     Her married name was Glenville. Her married name was Browne.

Birth, Marriage and Death information

     Dorothy Ward was born on 26 April 1890 at Birmingham, WAR, ENG; daughter of Edwin War and Eliza nee Millichamp.
     She married Shaun Glenville, son of Brabazon Henry Browne and Mary Lynch, circa May 1911 at St George Hanover Square registered, MDX, ENG, Shaun marrying as Shaun G Browne.
     She died on 30 March 1987 (when age calculated as 96); Obituary Daily Telegraph 1 Apr 1987:
Dorothy Ward who has died aged 96 was one of the greatest Principal Boys in the history of that peculiar British institution, The Pantomime.

Even after her retirement in 1957, Miss Ward’s name remained synonymous with “Panto”: its doublets and hose, sheer silk stockings, chorus numbers and the inevitable duets between “Boy” and “Girl”.

But she was equally at home in variety, musical comedy, revue and the occasional operetta. With her striking red-orange coloured hair, expansive smile and exquisitely shaped legs, Miss Ward would make superb “star” entrances. Audiences rejoiced at her instructions to stand up and sing.

Legion of Admirers

Among her legion of admirers were such celebrities as Lloyd George, The Duke of Westminster and Winston Churchill. The Crazy Gang paid tribute to “The lovely Dorothy Ward” in their celebrated number “Principal Boys”.

During the 1939-45 war, she toured for E.N.S.A and was known to the adoring soldiery as “Mademoiselle From The Maginot Line” (the title of one of her best known numbers).

Born and brought up in Birmingham, Dorothy Ward made her first appearance at the age of 15 as Zenobia in “Bluebeard”” at the Alexandra Theatre Birmingham. The following year she made her debut in the West End as Betty in “The Dairymaids” at the Apollo, and soon there was no stopping her.

Perhaps her most spectacular triumph was as Jack in “Jack and The Beanstalk” at the London Hippodrome in 1922. She took over from Clarice Mayne at short notice in a role that contained all the best ingredients of pantomime: handsome hero, adventure, melodrama, heroine in distress and comic pathos.

The comic pathos was particularly to the fore as she was playing opposite the legendary George Robey as Dame Trott. In his autobiography, Robey recalled that Dorothy Ward “not only looked the part finely, but showed an infectious jollity and, where necessary, quite a pretty gift of emotional acting”.

Out of pantomime Miss Ward’s best known musical performance was when she played opposite Carl Brisson in “The Apache” at the London Palladium in 1925. (sic 1927)

In her heyday as a “headliner” between the wars Dorothy Ward was constantly touring in variety both in Britain and abroad. She would crown the end of each performance by bringing on a troupe of diminutive, prettily dressed young children, known as “Dorothy Ward’s Tiny Tots”. The “Tiny Tots” would aid and abet the star as the chorus in song and dance numbers, enjoying enormous success.

Dorothy Ward made recordings of such popular numbers as “Take me back to dear old blighty”, “The Sheik of Araby”, “A Shanty in Old Shanty Town”, “Let The Rest Of The World Go By” and several others with her husband, Shaun Glenville.

She and Glenville would often act in pantomime together as “boy” and “Dame” respectively. Their son, Peter Glenville became a distinguished stage and film director.

When Miss Ward made her last stage appearance, shortly before her 70th birthday, it was only fitting that the farewell should have been at a provincial theatre (the Old Pavilion, Liverpool) in the role of a pantomime Principal Boy.