Biography
Yvonne Arnaud, also credited as Germaine Yvonne Arnaud, was a French-born pianist, singer and actress. Born in Bordeaux, she trained at the Paris Conservatoire and began her career as a concert pianist before moving into musical comedies in London from 1911. She later performed in non-musical comedy and drama, appearing in the Aldwych farce A Cuckoo in the Nest in 1925.
Arnaud made British films from the 1930s onwards and continued acting on stage and screen into the 1950s. Her film roles include appearances in Stormy Weather (1935), The Improper Duchess (1936) and The Ghosts of Berkeley Square (1947). She played Georgette, the housekeeper, in Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle (1958). She was married to actor and theatre manager Hugh McLellan. The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, Surrey, was named in her memory.
