Actors - Noele Gordon

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	Actors - Noele Gordon

Noele Gordon (December 25, 1923 - April 14, 1985) was a British film and television actress. She was born in East Ham in London.

She was credited as the first woman to be seen on colour television sets, as she took part in the BBC's early tests in colour broadcasting in the 1940s. Noele appeared in two movies in the 1940s, produced in Britain and then distributed to the United States (29 Acacia Avenue and Lisbon Story
). Her acting career came to a halt in 1955 when she joined Associated TeleVision as Head of Lifestyle programmes. She studied the television medium in America and upon her return helped Reg Watson and Ned Sherrin launch a new station, ATV Midlands. This was a spin-off station from the already established ATV London. As well as being a producer, Noele also turned her hand to presenting. Tea With Noele Gordon was one of the first ITV chat shows. She then moved on to present a daily live entertainment show, Lunchbox.

In the summer of 1964 Lunchbox came to an end after over 2000 episodes. It was axed to make way for a new daily soap, Noele would move onto the new programme where she took the role of motel manageress Meg Richardson on the soap opera Crossroads. She stayed with the programme until the producers sensationally sacked her in 1981, as they were hoping to go for a new look with Ronald Allen and Sue Lloyd who took over as leads until 1985 when Jane Rossington and Tony Adams became the Central figures.

During the 1970s, she won the TV Times award for most popular television actress on no fewer than eight separate occasions, such was her popularity in the show. In 1980 she was voted best dressed female by the TV Times, and also won numerous newspaper awards, including most popular person on TV, as voted by The Sun readers.

After her sacking, she appeared in an unsuccessful revival of Irving Berlin's musical Call Me Madam at the Victoria Palace Theatre. She returned to her role of Meg Mortimer in Crossroads in August 1983, but only for a couple of special episodes surrounding her daughter's wedding and honeymoon.

In an interview she gave the TV Times in 1981 she announced she may, once her stage work had come to an end, take up the offer of returning to presenting. The broadcaster TV-am was said to be interested in bringing Noele on board to present some of their breakfast programmes. However she fell ill, and this venture wasn't to be.

She retired to her home in Birmingham, where she died in 1985 of cancer.

At the time of her death she had recently signed a new 3 month contract to return to Crossroads as Meg to help relaunch the new look version of the soap.

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