Gladys Young
Gladys Young (29 April 1887 – 18 August 1975) was an English actress best known for her work with the BBC in radio drama. She was born in Newcastle upon Tyne to William Michael Young and Frances Jane Hocken. Her sister was the novelist E. H. Young. Gladys studied at Sutton High School and later in Bonn, Germany.
As a young woman she joined amateur drama groups with Mabel Constanduros and Leslie Howard. At the start of World War I she acted in The Man Who Stayed at Home, but in 1916 she left to marry Major Algernon Henry Pascoe West.
In 1926, Constanduros encouraged her to audition for radio broadcasting at Savoy Hill. In 1930 she appeared in what is described as the first television play, Luigi Pirandello’s The Man with the Flower in the Mouth, directed by Lance Sieveking; the early TV system used was Baird’s.
Gladys Young joined the BBC Repertory Company in 1939, which moved from Evesham to Manchester. In 1940 she worked in Children’s Hour and Schools programs from Bristol. In 1946 she acted in the film The Courtneys of Curzon Street as Lady Courtney.
She won the Silver Microphone for the best actress in 1949 and again in 1950. In 1951 she received the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.). Gladys Young died on 18 August 1975 in the Eastbourne district of Sussex. The BBC later broadcast a tribute program, Gladys Young – First Lady of the Air.
Over her career she appeared in hundreds of BBC radio programs. The earliest surviving recording is a 1933 trailer for Matinee, which was used in later talks about the development of broadcast drama. The 1970 BBC Sound Archives mention a Matinee entry featuring Gladys Young, including a trailer and the complete play.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 12:53 (CET).