Renée Houston
Renée Houston was a Scottish comedy actress and revue artist who appeared in television and film roles.
Born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, as Katherina Houston Gribbin she toured music halls and revues with her sister Billie Houston as the "Houston Sisters".
In 1926, the sisters made a short musical film, the script of which Renée had written. It was produced by Lee De Forest, whose process, Phonofilm, enabled a soundtrack to be played alongside the film.
Houston married three times, the second was to the actor Pat Aherne, the brother of Brian Aherne. Her third husband was the actor Donald Stewart.
In her later years, she specialised in "battleaxe" roles, notably as shop steward Vic Spanner's formidable mother in Carry On at Your Convenience. She also worked for director Roman Polanski in Repulsion and Cul-de-sac. She published her autobiography in 1974 which was entitled Don't Fence Me In.
Houston was also in early episodes of radio's The Clitheroe Kid, playing his Scottish mother in half a dozen 1958 broadcasts, and was a regular guest on radio panel show Petticoat Line chaired by Anona Winn.
She died in London at the age of 77 on 9 February 1980.Filmography
Film
Television
