Agnes Bernelle (76) dies in Dublin

On Tuesday, February 16th, the actress and singer Agnes Bernelle died in Dublin, aged 76. She was born in Berlin in 1923, daughter of a renowned Jewish-Hungarian theatre impressario who gave Marlene Dietrich her first job. The family fled to London in 1933, and Agnes started her career in wartime refugee cabaret in the West End in London. In 1963 she moved to Ireland. In later years she performed with Phil Chevron and Marc Almond, and continued to stage one-woman shows in Dublin. Agnes was familiar with the Virgin Prunes through her daughter. She appeared in Gavin’s Blue Jaysus cabaret in 1987 and performed alongside him in London in 1990. Agnes published the first part of her memoires, The Fun Palace, in 1996. Gavin and Maurice will perform a song at her funeral in Dublin today.