Diana Chesney

Diana Chesney (17 November 1916 – 7 May 2004) was a British-American character actress whose career spanned British cinema, American television, and stage productions over five decades. She is best known for playing Sybil Finch on the CBS sitcom Fair Exchange (1962–1963), and for voicing Mrs. Judson in Disney’s The Great Mouse Detective (1986).^[1]

Chesney was born in Mandalay, British Burma, where her father served as a British Army major.^[1] She moved to England during childhood and began acting after attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). She joined a touring musical comedy troupe during World War II and performed for Allied troops in Egypt, Iraq, and Libya. After surviving a Luftwaffe bombing of a train she was riding, she refused to travel by train again.^[1]

Chesney began acting on the British stage in the 1940s, debuting in a touring production of Show Boat.^[1] Her British screen credits included over 40 television shows and films, including Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, In the Doghouse, Mark Saber, Gideon’s Way, and The King and I, where she appeared alongside Yul Brynner.^[2]

In 1961, Chesney was cast in the CBS sitcom Fair Exchange, one of the first hour-long comedy series on U.S. television were she played Sybil Finch, the British mother in a family who swapped daughters with an American family.^[3][4][5] The show filmed in Los Angeles and aired for one season before being shortened and ultimately canceled.^[6] She once recounted that she was cast after an unexpected audition in London set up by actor Victor Maddern, her friend and co-star.^[7]

She also appearing twice Bewitched, first in 1965 as Aunt Hagatha and later 1971 ad Aunt Enchantra.^[8]

Chesney was often described as “supercharged with energy—witty, opinionated, talkative,” praising her insight into American and British cultural differences.^[9]

Chesney settled in Malibu before relocating to Topanga Canyon in the early 1970s. A noted automobile enthusiast, she brought her vintage 1932 Rolls-Royce from England and later bought a Cadillac for daily use.^[7][1]

Diana Chesney died of cancer at age 87 on 7 May 2004, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, at the MPTF retirement home.^[1]

• Diana Chesney at IMDb