Renée Houston

Renée Houston (24 July 1902 – 9 February 1980) was a Scottish comedy actress and revue performer who worked in television and film. Born Katherina Houston Gribbin in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, she toured music halls and revues with her sister Billie Houston as the “Houston Sisters”. In 1926 the sisters appeared in a short musical film for which Renée wrote the script; it was produced by Lee De Forest using his Phonofilm process that provided a synchronized soundtrack a year before *The Jazz Singer*. Houston married three times; her second husband was actor Pat Aherne, brother of Brian Aherne, and her third husband was actor Donald Stewart. In later years she specialised in “battleaxe” roles, notably playing shop steward Vic Spanner’s (Kenneth Cope) mother in *Carry On at Your Convenience* (1971). She published an autobiography titled *Don’t Fence Me In* in 1974. Houston also appeared in early episodes of the radio series *The Clitheroe Kid* and was a regular guest on the radio panel show *The Petticoat Line*, chaired by Anona Winn. She died in London at age 77 on 9 February 1980.