She had one of those faces, that every time it popped up on your telly, it somehow energised whatever she was in. Adrienne Posta, for it is her that I write about today,  appeared in many of the seminal 1960s films from the UK , such as ‘To Sir with Love’ and ‘Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush’ . She tended to be cast as a dizzy ‘Dolly Bird’ type, having the perfect look for that genre of part and film both popular in that era, but occasionally when she was allowed to stretch out, you’d see evidence of a very decent actress underneath, such as when playing ‘Rube’ in the backstreet abortion scene, in ‘Up the Junction.’

She was born Adrienne Luanne Poster in March 1949 in Hampstead.  Following up on a love of singing and dancing from a young age, she studied at the Italia Conti School of Theatre Arts, situated on the Goswell Road, London. Her first film role was as ‘Cathy’ in ‘No Time for Tears’ from 1957. She then began a recording career for Decca Records and released singles from 1963 with ‘Only Fifteen,’ being her first record.  A title which today, would give the industry a touch of the vapours to say the very least.

She had a good voice to be fair, though the standard of the material was hardly going to set the charts on fire. She had a decent run of singles, all of which failed to trouble the charts. One side note on her musical career, is that it has rumoured that she sung lead vocal on the 1971 novelty hit ‘Johnny Reggae’ by The Piglets. Listening back today, you can hear why, though the creator of the song, DJ and one time TV presenter Jonathan King, said it was in fact session singer Barbara Kay, who was ‘coached to sound like a teenage scrubber’ – Quite.

Running alongside her pop moments, were the occasional TV appearances in small roles in classic programmes like ‘Hancock’s Half Hour’ and ‘The Human Jungle.’

By 1966, Adrienne had changed her surname to Posta and got her acting career well and truly running, when she appeared as  ‘Moira’ in ‘To Sir With Love’ in 1967and followed that in 1968 as squeaky voiced, snotty nosed Linda in ‘Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush’ and, in the same year, as the aforementioned ‘Rube ‘ in ‘Up The Junction.’

Her film career from then on, was a series of character parts, such as alongside Susan George in ‘Spring and Port Wine’ in 1970, playing ‘Scrubba’ in ‘Up Pompei’ (Titter ye not!) and ‘Maggie’ in ‘Percy,’ with Hywel Bennett, both from 1971. She took over the part of ‘Rita’ from Una Stubbs in the film ‘The Alf Garnett Saga’ in 1972  and then popped up in ‘Carry on Behind’ in 1975.

Back on TV, she played ‘The Salford Stripper’ in an episode of ‘Budgie from 1971 and had a regular guest spot on the ‘It’s Lulu’ show in 1973, her and Lulu having become firm friends since their ‘To Sir with Love’ days. She also did a very nice turn as ‘Lesley,’ sister to ‘Eliot,’ in Jack Rosenthal’s ‘Bar Mitvah Boy’ from 1976.

Other notable TV shows on her CV, include, ‘Minder’ ‘Boon’ ‘The Gentle Touch’ ‘Moody and Pegg’ ‘Get Some In’ ‘Edward the Seventh’ and ‘Red Dwarf.’

One interesting bit of gossip I found whilst in research, is a report that she was considered as the replacement for Goldie Hawn on the ‘Rowan and Martin Laugh In,’ the comedy show in the US. Sadly, that didn’t work out.

Adrienne married the singer Graham Bonnet in 1974 (‘Since You Been Gone’ anyone?) and the couple were said to have owned the original Old English sheep dog that first appeared in the ‘Dulux’ paint adverts. As you do.

The marriage was short lived however and she is now married to Stephen Davis, and going by the name Adrienne Posta Davis, for those looking for her on Twitter.
Now semi-retired, Adrienne is a voice coach and teaches drama locally in the Midlands, where she now lives, and at her old theatre school, the Italia Conti. She is also a familiar voice on many adverts in a very successful career as a voice over artist, which also takes in appearances on ‘Peppa Pig.’

It was lovely to find a lot of love for her on the many sites I visited putting this one together, and I’m certainly adding my name to that list.

 

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