Kitty Bluett

Australian comedian/actress (stage, radio), singer, dancer (b. Brixton, England 1916 - d. Colchester, England 1994). Kitty Bluett started out performing vaudeville turns in Australia with her father, Fred, before moving in musical comedy and revue – first in the chorus and latter in principal cast roles. Her radio career took off in 1940 when she featured in Jack Davey’s variety shows. She later established herself as one of Australia’s most popular female disc jockeys and became a big star partnering Dick Bentley. Her first husband, Walter Robert Portingale, was a musician who played in Jim Davidson’s band. He also performed with Jim Gerald’s military entertainment shows during WWII. He and Bluett divorced in 1948. After returning to England in 1948 Bluett was accorded household name status through her role as Ted Ray’s wife in the radio comedy series Ray’s a Laugh (1950s). Bluett returned to Australia not long after the birth of her daughter in 1958, and in the early 1960s she appeared on both radio and television (notably in the Delo and Daly Show). Her second husband, an acrobat and variety entertainer, became a successful children’s television producer here. After their divorce she moved back to England again, dying in Colchester in 1994, aged 78.