Agnes Bernelle on Stage & Screen

Radio:

In 1943 she began broadcasting to Germany as “Vicky” a “Black Propaganda” radio announcer for Allied Radio Atlantik, famous for demoralizing a German U-Boat Captain into surrendering following one of her broadcasts. This was the subject of the recent BBC Channel 4 documentary “Sex Bomb”. (See more information about the broadcasts in the War Years section).

Other radio performances include:

‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ & ‘The Third Man’, opposite Orson Welles.

British Radio 4 & RTE Radio 1 have both done series’ based on her life. See the Audio page to hear one.

Stage:

Agnes on stage

Oscar Wilde’s Salome
Performed in 1956 she became the first ‘non-stationary nude’ in British theatre, after removing her leotard during the ‘Dance of the Seven Veils’, breaking the Lord Chamberlain’s censorship rule that nudes must remain stationary.

Agnes Bernelle as Salome

Savagery And Delight
First One Woman Show of Weimar-era Brechtian songs, 1963.

Agnes Bernelle Independent Review

Downfall of the Egotist Johann Fatzer, 1978 (read more on Wikipedia)

Agnes in Downfall of the Egotist Johann Fatzer Bernelle in Downfall of the Egotist Johann Fatzer
From “Downfall of the Egotist Johann Fatzer”

Other performances include:

‘The Jocelyn Circle’, ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘Hamlet’, ‘Ruffian on the Stair’, ‘The Mother’, ‘The Blue Macushla’ and ‘Conversations About An Absent Lover’ – her second One Woman Show (written by Pater Hack about Goethe’s mistress).

She had also directed 11 plays including ‘Lulu’ and ‘Archie & Mehitabel’ by 1985.

Agnes in Caesar & Cleopatra
From “Caesar & Cleopatra”

Screen Actress:

  • Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) – uncredited Lady in Waiting
  • Woman to Woman (1946) – Lolo
  • Another Shore (1948) – uncredited
  • But Not in Vain (1948) – Mary Meyer
  • The Missing Princess (1948) – The Baroness
  • Stranger at My Door (1950) – Laura Riordan
  • Let’s Have a Murder (1950)
  • Over the Garden Wall (1950) – Val Westwood
  • The Adventures of Robin Hood (1 episode ‘Dead or Alive’, 1955) – Countess
  • The Good Companions (1957) – Ethel Georgia
  • Armchair Theatre (1 episode ‘His Polyvinyl Girl’, 1961) – Miss Cartright
  • The Quare Fellow (1962) – Meg
  • The Great Train Robbery (1979) – Woman on Platform
  • Caught in a Free State (TV mini-series, 1984) – Medium
  • The Country Girls (TV, 1984) – Joanna
  • The Irish R.M. (1 episode ‘The Muse in Skebawn’, 1985) – Mrs. Maguire
Agnes in Still Life Bernelle in Still Life
From “Still Life”
  • Die Wächter (TV mini-series, 1986)
  • The Fantasist (1986) – Mrs. O’Malley
  • Bluebell (2 episodes, 1986) – Madame Duchamp
  • Corkscrew (1990)
  • The Love She Sought (TV, 1990) – Irish Waitress
  • Hear My Song (1991) – Receptionist
  • An Awfully Big Adventure (1995) – Mrs. Ackerly
  • Giving Tongue (TV, 1996) – Winnie Hawcock
  • Pteranodon (1996) – Housekeeper
  • Newton: A Tale of Two Isaacs (TV, 1997) – Mrs. Billings
  • The Tale of Sweety Barrett (1998) – Mrs. Walsh
  • The Ambassador (1 episode ‘Vacant Possession’, 1999) – Earnest Matron
  • Still Life(1999) – Old woman