Germaine Yvonne Arnaud (20 December 1890 – 20 September 1958) was a French pianist, singer and actress. After beginning a career as a concert pianist as a child, Arnaud acted in musical comedies. She switched to non-musical comedy and drama around 1920 and was one of the players in the second of the Aldwych farces, A Cuckoo in the Nest, a hit in 1925. She also had dramatic roles and made films in the 1930s and 40s, and continued to act into the 1950s. She occasionally performed as a pianist later in her career.

Biographie

In 1920, Arnaud married the actor Hugh McLellan, son of C. M. S. McLellan. She was a president of the League Against Cruel Sports from 1948 to 1951. She was also godmother to the writer Oriel Malet, and was the subject of Malet's book Marraine: a portrait of my godmother (1961).



For many years she lived in Guildford, England, where she died. Her ashes were scattered in St. Martha's churchyard on St. Martha's Hill just south-east of Guildford, and there is a memorial to her on the church grounds. In 1965 the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre was opened in the town.