Grace Fields

Lore & Background

Fields was born Grace Stansfield over a fish and chip shop in Rochdale, Lancashire. She made her first stage appearance in 1905 and her professional debut in variety at the Rochdale Hippodrome in 1910. She met comedian Archie Pitt, who managed her career and whom she married in 1923. Her first record, 'My Blue Heaven', sold 500,000 copies in 1928. In 1933, His Master's Voice produced the four millionth Fields record. She set up the Gracie Fields Children's Home and Orphanage at Peacehaven, Sussex, in 1933. During World War II, she entertained troops with ENSA and later moved to North America with her second husband, Monty Banks. After the war, she headlined the London Palladium in 1948 and had her own BBC radio show, 'Our Gracie's Working Party', in 1947.

Reader's Guide

Fields' most famous song, 'Sally', was written for her first film, 'Sally in Our Alley' (1931). She made films in Britain and later in the United States, though she found film-making boring. She was made an Officer of the Venerable Order of St John (OStJ) for her charity work and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1938 New Year Honours. She was granted the Freedom of the Borough of Rochdale in 1937. In 1939, she became seriously ill with cervical cancer and retired to Capri to recuperate. She donated her house in The Bishops Avenue to an orphanage after her marriage to Pitt broke down.

Did You Know?

• Fields' first record, 'My Blue Heaven', sold 500,000 copies in 1928.
• She was considered the highest-paid film star in the world in 1937.
• She set up the Gracie Fields Children's Home and Orphanage in 1933.
• During World War II, she paid for all servicemen and women to travel free on public transport within Rochdale.