Phyllis Flax

Although Phyllis Flax came late to movies and television, she had been acting and performing since the age of five when she performed for the League of Nations. As she was quite under age when she started, Phyllis was taken under the wing of comedian and impresario Vic Oliver and his wife Sarah Churchill, daughter of Winston Churchill. The Olivers became her legal guardians, and for a time she was known as Phyllis Oliver. Phyllis studied at the Royal Academy of Drama and Arts in London and later studied dance at the Portland School of Dance. She became the principal dancer at the London Palladium and between 1935 and 1937 she gave three Royal Command performances before King George V and Queen Mary. After serving in World War II as an ambulance driver, Phyllis moved to the States, married, and subsequently moved with her family to Palm Springs, California where she was active in social activities and amateur dramatics, including the Palm Springs Playhouse. After her husband's death, Flax moved to the Los Angeles area to "work her craft".