Better known for her heartwarming performance of Nancy in the 1968 film Oliver! As you can tell I am a big fan as I have my nick as her name in the film. Anyway, does anyone know where she is now? Where I can find a fan mail address? Or does anyone have any comments on her? It'd be nice to make this thread big. Thanks!
http://www.musical-theatre.net/html/unsung...haniwallis.htmlNancy Sikes:
Better known for her heartwarming performance of Nancy in the 1968 film Oliver! As you can tell I am a big fan as I have my nick as her name in the film. Anyway, does anyone know where she is now? Where I can find a fan mail address? Or does anyone have any comments on her? It'd be nice to make this thread big. Thanks!
I watched that programme also and I didn't notice if they mentioned Sheila White. She didn't appear on the programme does anyone know what happened to her?
Watched Lionel Bart's marvellous musical "Oliver" again on Channel 5 this evening.
My question is this. How did Shani Wallis manage to ever land the plum role of Nancy over the likes of Georgia Brown who had played the part on stage and a host of other possibly equally talented and higher profile actress/singers at the time? (1968).
I remember that Shani who had a fair amount of stage experience but nothing you could really call first division, was always a pleasant but limited singer who popped up frequently in the mid sixties as second or third billing on variety shows. She was a familiar face but hardly star casting. Prior to "Oliver" I seem to recall she hadnt been seen on TV for a while.
Remarkably she pulled it off and added considerably to the charm of the film.
But again, after that, her star seemed to fade again.
Her part as Nancy in this film was definitely her shining hour.
Funnily enough, the film Oliver! seems to have a bit of a curse about it. All in all, most of the cast didn't do much after it. Oliver Reed was already established as an actor but Jack Wild, Mark Lester and indeed Shani Wallis didn't hit the dizzy heights since. Jack Wild became an alcoholic and died a few years back and even the great Lionel Bart died penniless and a drunk.
Shani Wallis is great. I have a few recordings by her and they're great. Wish there was more available.
Shani moved and worked in America after Oliver as her husband Bernie had told her that that was the only place he would live. I have read she found it hard a lot of the time there as they have always been prejudice with women over a certain age, even more than in Britain. Ridiculous really!
Saying that, she has done a lot of work and has a pretty long filmography overall.
xx
Pleased to see Shani has her own thread here. I have two contributions to make today.
Firstly, in case you missed it at 'Actors We Know Little About', a repost of my capture
from her appearance in Charlie Chaplin's film A King of New York (1957):
To be honest, I thought this was a very embarassing scene. She didn't look great and the song was poor.
No wonder it was cut when eventually released in America, though I'm sorry she was upset about it.
By contrast, ten years later, Shani looked much better AND had better songs to sing in Oliver!.
A nice publicity still, especially for faginsgirl ...
This is from the book Screen Portraits - Glamour Girls and Actresses (1989).
Interesting to discover that she was in one of the later Columbo episodes, Strange Bedfellows (1995)
Thats a great pic of her as Nancy! Thanks CS!
xx
I wish Shani of 1968 vintage was Nancy in the current production of Oliver!
Pleased to see Luke has found an actress he does like rather than criticising Jenny Agutter every other day!Originally Posted by LukeAFB
So you're married to an actress then? How fascinating! Someone we know?
cornershop,
I'm not singularly criticising JA, although as I've already said, ("average, average, average"), I'm pointing out the dangerous obsessiveness of Fellwanderer and others.
I've just come back from Oliver! at the BFI. Shani was absolutely magnificent as Nancy. I know Georgia Brown would have been briliant too but Shani had all the nuances of the character - to see this gem on the big screen was a huge treat.
My mum says they were at the same school together, East End somewhere.
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