Carmen Silvera
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Stage & Allo TV Star Carmen Silvera Dies Aged 80

'Allo 'Allo star Carmen Silvera (pictured) passed away on Saturday, 3 August 2002, months after being diagnosed with lung cancer. She was 80.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on 2 June 1923, Silvera was raised in Coventry and made her career as an actress in this country. She is best known to television audiences for the long-running 1980s sitcom 'Allo 'Allo, which centred on a group of French resistance fighters during the Second World War.

Though she found fame with on television, Silvera also had a successful stage career. She was seen most recently in the West End in the 1997 production of The School for Wives, directed by Sir Peter Hall.

Her other recent theatre credits included Why Me?, You Only Live Twice, And Then There Were None, Two of a Kind, Cemetery Club, The Importance of Being Earnest and Rebecca.

Gordon Kaye - who played Silvera's husband 'Allo 'Allo and saw her at the actors' retirement home Denville Hall in west London days before her death - commented: "Carmen was a lovely lady. She was ditzy - she always left her spectacles all over the place. She was clumsy - you had to be careful not to sit next to her during a black tie dinner. She was fun - she had a wicked sense of humour." He added: "We expected this, but not quite so soon. It's going to be a difficult time ahead. She was a good friend."

After being diagnosed with cancer in April 2002, Silvera decided to fight the disease without chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

- by Sarah Beaumont

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