Annette Andre (Birth name Annette Christine Andreallo) is best-known for her work on British television throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
She began as a ballet dancer, moving on to radio, theatre and TV work in Australia, before filming small roles in “Cleopatra” and “Panic Button” in Italy and then settling in London. She immediately found work in the stage musical, “Vanity Fair”, at the Queen’s Theatre in London’s West End. Her first film in the UK was This Is My Street (1964).
Probably her most memorable role was starring as Marty Hopkirk’s widow, “Jeannie Hopkirk”, in the late 1960s ITV classic, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969).
Andre also made many guest appearances on popular shows, such as Whiplash (1960), The Avengers (1961), The Saint (1962), The Prisoner (1967), Adam Adamant Lives! (1966), The Troubleshooters (1965), The Baron (1966) and many others.
She starred with Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers, Michael Crawford and Buster Keaton, in the 1966 film version of the Broadway musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966). She played “Philia”, the virgin. The 1960s also brought her several more film roles, including Up Jumped a Swagman (1965), Mister Ten Per Cent (1967) and He Who Rides a Tiger (1965).
During the 1970s, Andre guest-starred in episodes of The Persuaders! (1971), The New Avengers (1976) and Return of the Saint (1978). In the 1980s, she appeared on the soap opera, Crossroads: Kings Oak (1964), as well as returning to Australia to play “Jennifer Brent” in Taurus Rising (1982) and “Camilla Wells” in Prisoner: Cell Block H (1979), Cell Block H.
In 1971, she returned to the London stage to play “Miranda” in “The Collector”, at the King’s Head, and the same role, again, the following year, to open the Bush Theatre in Hammersmith. She continued mainly in theatre for the next two decades, starring in “Suddenly at Home”, Fortune Theatre, West End, and many national tours, including “Come Blow Your Horn”, “Party to Murder”, “Signpost to Murder”, “The Bride Makes Three”, “Streetcar Named Desire”, “Shock”, “There Goes The Bride”, among others.
In 1981, she played “Dr. Scott” in “Whose Life Is It, Anyway?” on a National tour around Australia. And, in 1984, she starred with Richard Todd in the long-running play, “The Business of Murder”, at the West End Mayfair Theatre in London. In 1988, she played a cameo role in the TV film, Maigret (1988), starring Richard Harris. The film was written and produced by Arthur Weingarten, whom she married a year later.
Andre is now semi-retired from acting, and devotes her time to animal welfare issues with her husband, both having worked closely with Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna of the “Born Free Foundation”. She has begun painting in oils, has sold several works and has been offered a solo show in the near future. She has made rare appearances at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in Aberdeen, Maryland in 2007, the Memorabilia Show in Birmingham, England in March 2011 and the New York Memorabilia Show in May 2011.
Andre is currently writing her autobiography for publication next year.
She and her husband live in upstate New York, and she loves to spend time in London with her daughter, Anouska, and her two wonderful grandchildren, Jake and Nia.
