It only took a moment for the Britain’s Got Talent judges to realise who was standing before them.
“I was here on this stage 70 years ago,” the woman in her nineties declared, “but you will probably remember me as the female star of the Academy award-winning motion picture Oliver!”
“Nancy!” Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden, judges on the ITV talent show, almost immediately shouted. “What an honour,” Dixon added.
Shani Wallis, who recently turned 93, played the heroine in the 1968 film alongside Oliver Reed, who played Bill Sikes. Almost 60 years later, she proceeded to deliver a pitch-perfect, theatrical rendition of her character’s iconic song, As Long as He Needs Me, to a standing ovation from the auditorium.
A clip of her audition, in Blackpool’s Winter Gardens on March 10, has now had nearly 1 million views on YouTube. Wallis received four yeses from the judges, putting her through to the next round in the competition. The ultimate winner secures a place to appear at the Royal Variety Performance in November.
Wallis said the moment, which surprisingly didn’t make the cut for ITV’s main show but was broadcast on its spin-off programme Britain’s Got Talent: Unseen, was set up by her showbusiness friend, Gregor Gee.
The actress, who was born in Tottenham, north London, but has lived in America since 1962, said returning to the UK brought up feelings of nostalgia. “When I went back it hit me like a ton of bricks. The people are so warm and welcoming and they know me. Here [in the US] you get lost in the traffic,” she said.
“The guys didn’t know me [Simon Cowell and KSI]. But what was so exciting was that the whole audience did … It was really very exciting to go back,” she said.
Wallis and Oliver Reed read The Times in Oliver! Romulus/Warwick/Kobal/Shutterstock
Wallis, who was in her early thirties when she played the tenacious Nancy who ultimately saves Oliver’s life, reflected on her fellow Oliver! cast: “There are not too many people in the movie left.”
“I was mad about Sir Carol Reed [the director] and Johnny Green who did the music,” she added. Reed died from a heart attack in 1976 at the age of 69, Green died aged 80 in 1989.
“So many of the people in the show that have gone but they were all monumental. Giant people. Wonderful people.”
Wallis in 1959Shutterstock Editorial
But Wallis still speaks to the actor who played Oliver, Mark Lester. “We did a podcast a very short time ago. Maybe about four months ago,” she said.
The same year the film was released, Wallis married her American agent, Bernie Rich, and they were together until his death in 2016. “We were married for 50 years and spent a lot of years together in Vegas. He travelled with me,” she said.
With her grandchildren McKenna and Sienna Shani Wallis
The couple grew their expansive family, which included three of his children from a previous marriage and a daughter together, Rebecca Rich, who is 54. “My husband was married before and I met all three of his children. I’ve loved them for ever, they are fantastic. They always say ‘love you Shani’… it’s everything,” she said.
She said her family helps her to stay vibrant even in her nineties. Her daughter is the managing director of a pharmaceutical company in Texas. Wallis also has two granddaughters: McKenna, 24, who works in sales in Texas, and Sienna, 18, who is at college in California studying to become a dermatologist. “I have been blessed. I’ve been blessed so much in my life. With grandchildren, with a beautiful daughter, with stepchildren,” she said.
As well as playing Nancy in the 1968 film, which won six Oscars, including Best Picture, Wallis performed in television roles in America including in Charlie’s Angels and Columbo. She also toured, performing on stage with Frank Sinatra and the pianist and singer Liberace.
As Nancy with Fagin (Ron Moody) and Bill Sikes (Oliver Reed) in the 1968 film Oliver!Alamy
“I’ve worked hard all my life. I love theatre. I love Vegas. A lot of years. Big names. Jack Benny. Liberace. All the big names in Vegas. They all taught me wonderful things. I always had good teachers, I mean, I did two years at Rada. But nevertheless it’s experience that teaches you,” she said.
Wallis grew up in a musical household and her brother, Leon, was a drummer — her greengrocer father was deaf so didn’t mind them practising loudly. “Music is the spice of life. It is glorious,” she said, adding that her love for music helps her stay vibrant and energised. She has played piano all her life.
The actress, who unwinds with a glass of wine every evening and enjoys looking after her garden and going for walks, is now writing a memoir, titled It’s a Fine Life.
Peter Robertson
So what’s her secret to her long and healthy life? Not complaining. “I just enjoy [life], you know, what’s the point? People they come over and they say, ‘I’ve got a pain in my side. My ribs hurt’. And who wants to know? You know what I’m saying?”
As she looks toward the possibility of appearing at the Royal Variety Performance, Wallis remains very grateful. “I enjoy my life, I do, it is so fun. But look, we only get one, we only get one life. If you don’t enjoy this one, you don’t get a second, you don’t get a second chance.”