Sheila Bernette (occasionally Burnette) is an English singer and character actress on film, television and radio.

Bernette also appeared as herself in many television productions, and is remembered as one of the regular practical jokers in the UK version of Candid Camera.^[1]

Very petite, she usually wore her hair up to increase her height. A competent singer she was a regular on variety shows such as the Good Old Days and The Black and White Minstrel Show and appeared in the Royal Variety Performance show of 1970.^[2]

Life

see^[3]

She was born Sheila Poncini on 30 March 1931 in the Marylebone district of London. Her parents were of Italian descent.

Bernette entered television in 1955 and was popular and appeared as herself from 1968 in multiple UK television shows. Largely appearing in comedy roles she was a regular sidekick to many stars including Dick Emery and Leslie Crowther.

Over and above her film and television roles she was a regular performer at the Players' Theatre in Covent Garden.

In her Royal Variety Performance she was introduced by Leslie Crowther as a Russian defector ballerina "Natalia Nokemova" and performed the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy with Crowther playing a ballet/cricketer Freddie Trumanov.^[4]

Her final film role was in Driving Aphrodite in 2009, ironically repeated her 1961 role as the goddess Dorcas.^[5] Her final TV role was in Hotel Trubble in 2011. In the latter she appeared in every episode from 2008 to 2011 as the long-term hotel resident, Mrs Poshington.^[6]

Bernette lives in North London.

Television roles

see^[7][8]

• Fabian of the Yard (1955)
• Arthur's Treasured Volumes (1960) with Arthur Askey as Agnes Barrett
• The Angry Gods (1961) as Dorcas
• Harpers West One (1962) as Pat Williams
• Hancock (1963) as canteen lady with Tony Hancock
• Walter and Connie (1963) as Janet
• Hugh and I (1963 to 1966) as Jimmy's mother with Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd
• Dave's Kingdom (1964)
• Crowther Takes a Look (1965) with Leslie Crowther
• Beggar My Neighbour (1967) as Olive
• BBC Show of the Week (1968) as herself
• Two of a Kind (1968) three episodes as herself with Morecambe and Wise
• The Good Old Days (1968 to 1983) regular performer
• The Black and White Minstrel Show (1967-1969) as a regular singer
• The Morecambe and Wise Show (1968)
• The Saturday Crowd (1969) as singer in all 28 episodes
• Sandler and Young's Kraft Music Hall (1970) as singer
• From a Bird's Eye View (1970) as Mrs Cake
• Crowther's Back in Town (1970) with Leslie Crowther
• The Leslie Crowther Show (1971) as herself
• Tarbuck's Luck (1972) with Jimmy Tarbuck
• The Dick Emery Show (1972) in 4 episodes
• Shut That Door! (1973) with Larry Grayson
• Coronation Street (1973) as Sister Delaney
• Candid Camera (1974) 29 episodes as the female joker
• Nobody Does it Like Marti (1976) with Marti Caine
• The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1977) as Gladys
• Cooper, Just Like That (1978) as Tommy Cooper's stage assistant
• Butterflies (1979) as keep-fit instructor
• The Ballyskillen Opera House (1981) as Annie O'Kelly
• Saturday Night at the Mill (1981) as performer
• Punchlines! (1983) as herself
• The Little and Large Show (1987-1990)
• Virtual Murder (1992) as Mrs Hall
• Uncle Jack and the Dark Side of the Moon (1992) as Miss Fortune
• Agony Again (1995) as Faygey
• The Queen's Nose (2001) as Gran's sister
• Hotel Trubble (2008-2011) all 39 episodes as Mrs Poshington

Film roles

see^[9]

• Sons and Lovers (1960) as Polly
• Ticket to Paradise (1961) as Clarice
• Daft as a Brush (1967) TV movie
• The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971) as Mrs Spencer
• Eskimo Nell (1975) as casting girl
• Three for All (1975) as Rhoda
• What's Up Nurse (1978) as Mrs Garrard
• Car Trouble (1986)
• Kin of the Castle (1987) TV movie,
• Driving Aphrodite (2009) as Dorcas

Documentaries

• A Little of What You Fancy (1968)
• This Is Your Life (1994) - episode on Leslie Crowther
• Smile... This Was Candid Camera (2010)

References