Carole Shelley Shares Her Soothing Retreat Backstage at Billy Elliot

Billy Elliot’s feisty Grandma, Carole Shelley, has been making herself at home in Broadway dressing rooms for more than four decades. She created the role of Gwendolyn Pigeon in Neil Simon's The Odd Couple and went on to star in the original productions of The Norman Conquests, The Elephant Man (winning the Best Actress Tony Award as Mrs. Kendal) and many more. This theater stalwart took Broadway.com inside her cozy dressing room at the Imperial Theatre, where she surrounds herself with the sights, sounds and smells that keep her going through eight shows a week. Read on to find out what they are!

Photo by Jenny Anderson for Broadway.com


“This little painting is my baby Lena, a beautiful Russian Blue. It was painted from a photo of my cat by one of the dressers who loves to paint.”


“I love perfume. One is Bond #9 New York City, which seems appropriate, and the other is Eau de Issey Miyake. I know it’s not appropriate for Grandma Elliot to be wearing perfume, but I wear it for me.”


“I love my little radio, and it’s tuned to NPR because I adore classical music.”


“My teapot and cup are very important to me. I shall be making my pot of tea soon.”


“This set of photographs of my mother and me is my favorite thing. It was a contact sheet, and a friend of mine blew it up for me. I was about 18 months old and she’s just gorgeous, very period and elegant to look at.