Vivienne Martin, a renowned New Zealand-born character actress, was celebrated for her versatility in comedy roles. Her illustrious career spanned multiple decades, beginning with her stage debut in London in 1955.
Martin's early success came with her portrayal of Nancy, a member of Fagin's gang and victim of Bill Sikes, in Oliver! at London's New Theatre between 1960 and 1963. After headlining in several unsuccessful musical comedy West End productions during the mid-1960s, she refocused her career on radio and television.
She had lengthy tenures on the radio sitcoms King Street Junior and It Sticks Out Half a Mile, a sequel to TV's Dad's Army, alongside John Le Mesurier and Ian Lavender reprising their original roles as Wilson and Pike.
Martin made her screen debut as the delinquent Arabella, daughter of bookie Clarence Fritton, in the classic screwball comedy The Belles of St. Trinian's in 1954. She later portrayed the self-absorbed and perpetually annoying younger sister Lydia Bennet in an early BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice in 1958.
By the late 1960s, Martin's recurring roles were mostly in sitcoms, comedies with a domestic setting such as Sam and Janet in 1967 and Keep It in the Family in 1971. She also appeared in the school farce Please Sir! in 1968 as teacher Miss Petting, and in High & Dry in 1985, a television adaptation of It Sticks Out Half a Mile, reprising her earlier role as bank secretary Miss Baxter.
Martin's other notable roles include appearances as diverse characters in sketches of The Dick Emery Show in 1963, and as secretary Gwen Flack in the sitcom As Time Goes By in 1992.
In her personal life, Martin married London-born actor John Burgess in 1976, but the couple later divorced. Martin passed away in early 2023 due to natural causes, leaving behind a legacy of her remarkable work in the entertainment industry.
