Cecelia Doidge Ripper, 66, noted costume designer working in theatre, ballet and television for 30 years [thestage.co.uk]
Hoodoo
Cecelia will be deeply missed. I, for one, have lost a special friend.
She was a true light in my life which has been taken away - but she will
continue to shine in my heart forever.
Published Friday 4 June 2010 at 13:14
by Derek Pykett
http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/obituaries/feature.php/28474/obituary-cecelia-doidge-ripper
Cecelia Doidge Ripper was for three decades a noted costume designer
working in theatre, ballet and television.
Born in Hersham, Surrey on May 16, 1943, Cecelia trained at the
Guildford School of Art and then the Wimbledon Art School, where she
studied under designer Richard Negri. This was followed by being awarded
a scholarship and Arts Council bursary to study as designer at Die
Hochschule fur bildende Kunste in West Berlin.
In 1964 she joined the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury and included among
her productions there as designer was A Streetcar Named Desire.
After this she assisted on a new ballet for the Western Theatre Ballet -
Sun Into Darkness - which was presented at the Sadler’s Wells.
Many stage productions followed, including Present Laughter and The
Glass Menagerie at the Palace Theatre, Watford, and designing both sets
and costumes for The Importance Of Being Ernest, The Crucible and Henry
V at the Library Theatre, Manchester. She also designed several
productions at The Young Vic, including The Two Gentleman of Verona with
Derek Fowlds and Judy Geeson.
Returning to ballet, she designed The Four Seasons and Celebrations for
The Northern Ballet Theatre, and created set and costume for the
Australian Ballet Company (season 1974/75). She also worked for the
Dance Theatre of Harlem (USA), and designed a production of Carmina
Burana at the King’s Hall, Belfast in 1991.
Cecelia first worked for television in the late 1960’s, working in the
wardrobe department at the BBC. This would be followed from the early
1970’s onwards by extensive credits as a costume designer and supervisor
on many noted television productions. These included A Family At War
(Granada Television); Sunday Night At The London Palladium; The Piano
Player (Yorkshire Television) with Clive Revill; Sir Yellow (Yorkshire
Television) with Jimmy Edwards; You’re Only Young Twice (Yorkshire
Television) with Peggy Mount and Pat Coombs; Nearly A Happy Ending
(Independent TV) with Julie Walters and Victoria Wood; several episodes
of Tales of the Unexpected; the gameshow 3-2-1, and The Witches and the
Grinnygog (TVS) with Patricia Hayes.
Always modest about her design career, Cecelia, gave it up in the early
1990’s to care for her husband, the film character actor, Michael Ripper
(1913-2000) who was suffering from Alzheimer’s. Her devotion to him in
his final years was both heart-warming and often quite moving.
It was during this period that she took on a second career working at
the Family Records Office (National Archives), and organised several
important exhibitions for them, including one about the actor, Sir Henry
Irving.
For those of us that knew, Cecelia, she was kind, generous, thoughtful,
funny (with a wicked sense of humour), and always thought more of others
than she did of herself. She was also a tireless supporter of the
Alzheimer’s Society, and helped them regularly with charity events.
It was with great sadness then that in 2001, Cecelia, was diagnosed with
cancer and would bravely fight a nine year battle with the disease, and
even though living alone, never once during this time did she complain
or moan to others. She remained, as she always was, a strong independent
woman, never allowing her illness to stop her living her life and doing
the things she wanted to do. Her strength as an individual was something
to be admired, and to learn from.
She passed away peacefully aged 66 on April 29 at the Eden Hall Hospice
in Hampstead. A funeral service took place at the Portchester
Crematorium, Hampshire on May 11.
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