Video: Watch Original OLIVER! Star Shani Wallis Audition for BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT
Wallis played the role of Nancy in the 1968 film adaptation.
After 70 years, Shani Wallis, who starred as Nancy in the 1968 film adaptation of Oliver!, returned to the stage at Blackpool's Winter Gardens for a performance of the musical number "As Long as He Needs Me" for Britain's Got Talent.
Watch as the 92-year-old impresses the judges with the performance of her song, performed by the actress in the 1968 film. Directed by Carol Reed, Oliver! won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Sound, Best Music/Score and Best Art Direction/Set Decoration. In addition to Reed, the film starred Mark Lester as Oliver, Jack Wild as The Artful Dodger, and Ron Moody as Fagin. It is based on the hit stage musical of the same name.
Now largely retired from performing, Wallis made her professional debut in Call Me Madam at the London Coliseum in 1952. Subsequent U.K. credits include Wish You Were Here, Wonderful Down, and Bells Are Ringing, among others. She made her Broadway debut in 1966 in A Time for Singing.
In addition to playing the role of Nancy in Oliver!, other screen credits include Charlie Chaplin's A King in New York, Lady Larken in the 1964 TV version of Once Upon a Mattress, Murder, She Wrote, and voiceover roles in the animated films The Great Mouse Detective and The Pebble and the Penguin.
Watch her original Oliver! performance below:
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