A chance encounter changed the lives of author Simon McKay and actress Fenella Fielding for ever

In 2011, I met Fenella Fielding at a weekly Pilates class in Shepherd’s Bush. We were chatting. I didn’t recognise her at first, and then the penny dropped: she was the beautiful vamp from Carry On Screaming! But that was decades ago. How could she look so good now? There was lots of energy between us. We went for coffee. I got enchanted. Her stories were wonderful. After a few weeks of coffees, I said, “We have to record your memoirs.” She agreed and said, “Oh, darling, it will be a lark.”

It certainly was, and the beginning of a very close friendship. We’d meet weekly in a café in Chiswick and record hours of her recollections. We visited her childhood home and school in Clapton. We met with her friends. She’d invite me to accompany her to film screenings. We went to parties. We threw parties! I’d go along when she was working – public appearances, recording voice parts in hidden away studios in Soho. We were having the most amazing time.

It turned out Fenella wasn’t really that keen to complete the book though. She was very shy. Loved to act… but that’s not the same as revealing oneself. Instead of a book, I suggested I prepare scripts for her to read onstage. I put together a compilation of themed anecdotes from her childhood and very early career. She liked these – they were less detailed – and read them on stage on a Saturday afternoon at the Phoenix Artist Club. Full house!

Fenella was astonished by that and knew from the audience’s first laugh that she had them in the palm of her hand, as she told them how the older girls at her school tricked her into asking the English teacher if she thought that Rupert Brooke’s poetry was mental masturbation. After the girls taught her how to pronounce it!

We booked many more shows at the Phoenix. Each week, I’d rush to compile new pieces, as Fenella waited eagerly! She was eager too, when I suggested we record the scripts as an audio book. We did this ourselves and released it as a CD set. Fenella’s memoirs! Back to the stage to promote it. Fenella read chapters and I’d come on for the last few minutes and host a Q&A. Fenella had some brilliant, witty responses that even I wasn’t expecting. She was now in her late 80s and still working regularly. Doing fun things. Meeting lovely people. She was very happy and asked me, “Darling, can we just keep working?” I was very happy too, so of course, I said, “Yes.”

We continued with the memoir shows (over time, we did about 50 of them) and also another show I suggested which paired her with actor Stephen Greif to do readings of very speakable translations of Greek classics. This was probably her favourite thing to do in the last 30 years or so of her career. Aside from that, Fenella’s agent, Barry Langford, booked any other work that came in, perhaps a Radio 4 play, and I would accompany her and help things run smoothly on the day.

Aside from working, we would go to events, performances, shows – go shopping, even. On one occasion when we went into Mac and Fenella looked at all the lipsticks displayed together; she was so excited that she let out a small shriek!

At times it was quite a domestic relationship. I’d be at Fenella’s house and we’d sort through some papers, look at photos or she’d read her diaries to me as I made notes. We’d drink coffee, have spicy lentil soup for lunch, always lots of chatting. Sometimes we’d be at my flat listening to records, preparing for the Fenella and Simon internet radio show. We had themed shows and played lots of gospel, soul and jazz music.

I recently found a note I made in 2012: I suggested to Fenella that we might go to the BFI Mediatheque and watch some of their archive material. I added, “So many things to do. So little time.” Fenella said, “Why? Because I’m going to die soon?” “No, because the weeks with you go so quickly.” But there it was. Always hanging over us – this 38 year age difference itself wasn’t any kind of obstacle to our close friendship, but of course it always meant she was very likely to die before me.

Sadly in 2018, three weeks after a devastating stroke, Fenella passed away. She had recently been awarded an OBE but didn’t make it to the Palace for the ceremony. But we did celebrate it by inviting friends to join us in a local restaurant on the morning of the official announcement. They didn’t know why they were coming for brunch, not until they heard the news that day. At that point, and having received the certificate signed by the Queen and Prince Philip, Fenella felt the honour was real. After a lifetime devoted to her 67 year career, not always getting the recognition her skill and talent merited, this meant a lot to her.

In the book, I talk about all kinds of hell Fenella went through in her life and why, at times, she got sidetracked from being a ‘legitimate’ actress and didn’t have the career she’d dreamed of.

But the thing I’ve come to understand, is that in the final years when we spent so much time together, when I was so involved with her work, she came to appreciate more what she had achieved and became much more at ease with herself. I saw a woman who was having a great time, maybe as happy as she had ever been. She just wanted to keep working because she loved it. She wanted to go to events and to meet people, not because she was obliged to, but because that’s what she loved to do. Joyous. Constantly happy. That was my experience of Fenella Fielding.

This is an extract from Dear Fenella… 90 Years, 90 Letters (Quoit Media, £28) by Simon McKay.

Buy a copy here.

Dear Fenella… 90 Years, 90 Letters is a biography of Fenella Fielding written by her close friend, Simon McKay. Since her death in 2018, he has set up the Fenella Fielding Foundation to celebrate her life and career. Recently, he curated an exhibition Fenella Fielding – Onstage, Offstage looking at her life through her personal possessions (ends 14 December).

Read Cathi Unsworth’s review of Dear Fenella in Idler #107 – out 27 December.

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