Yvonne Arnaud

Germaine Yvonne Arnaud was a Frenchborn pianist singer and actress who was well known for her career in Britain as well as her native land After beginning a career as a concert pianist as a child Arnaud acted in musical comedies She switched to nonmusical comedy and drama around 1920 and was one of the players in the second of the Aldwych farces A Cuckoo in the Nest a hit in 1925 She also had dramatic roles and made films in the 1930s and 1940s and continued to act into the 1950s She occasionally performed as a pianist later in her career The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre was named in her memory in Guildford Surrey