Gracie Fields

Gracie Fields
Gene Kornman

Stars

Gracie Fields
Radio: South side of the 6100 block of Hollywood Boulevard
Comedian | Singer
Born Grace Stansfield on Jan. 9, 1898 in Rochdale, United Kingdom
Died 1979 of pneumonia in Capri, Italy

Born Grace Stansfield over a fish-and-chip shop in the drab industrial city of Rochdale, England, she made millions of dollars singing "Sally" and "The Biggest Aspidistra in the World" in a croaky dialect that many thought would be her ruin on stage. But she turned it into an asset that made her known to millions of Britons as simply "Our Gracie."

After her second marriage to Italian-born film producer Monty Banks (Mario Bianchi) in 1940, during World War II, she left England for the United States so he could escape internment as an enemy alien. When she was criticized for deserting her country, Fields responded by traveling thousands of miles to entertain the troops and raising more than $2 million for wartime charities.

— Times wire service Sept. 28, 1979

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