39 Facts About Stephanie Deste

Stephanie Deste was an Australian actor, dancer, radio broadcaster, and beautician.

Stephanie Deste was a resident of Melbourne from 1936 to her death in 1996; with her flamboyant dress and mannerisms and a conspicuous public presence, Deste was considered to be one of the great characters of Melbourne.

Stephanie Deste was born into a Jewish family in Belgium but settled in England as a child after the death of her father.

Stephanie Deste studied acting and dance and found regular work in London theatrical productions.

In 1925, Stephanie Deste was engaged to play the Indigenous Canadian temptress Wanda in JC Williamson's Australian production of Rose-Marie, which proved to be highly successful, running for two years.

Stephanie Deste returned to Australia in 1936 and settled in Melbourne where she operated and managed successful beauty clinics, made regular radio broadcasts and occasionally returned to the stage.

Stephanie Deste was well known in Melbourne due to a high public profile and her ostentatious and exuberant personal style.

Stephanie Deste was born Fanny Rosine Deitz on 22 January 1901 at Liege in Belgium, the daughter of Isidore Deitz, a linen merchant from a Sephardic Jewish family, and Christine Manheim, a musician from a Dutch family of goldsmiths and musicians.

Stephanie Deste found work with the Marion Wilcox Company on Long Island.

Stephanie Deste offered the role of Wanda to D'Este, to start the following afternoon.

Stephanie Deste accepted; as she later described, she "learnt the lines all night in a cafeteria", adding "I faked the dancing".

Stephanie Deste D'Este arrived in Australia in February 1926 aboard the Sierra from San Francisco.

Stephanie Deste captured the attention of the audience "with her exotic looks and sensuous dancing".

Stephanie Deste's character performed the 'Totem Tom-Tom' song, which introduced the spectacular 'Totem Pole' ballet.

In late March 1927 Stephanie Deste was broadcast on Radio 3LO from her dressing room prior to a performance of Rose-Marie.

An article in May 1927 of forthcoming highlights on 3LO extolled Stephanie Deste's "exceptional elocutionary gift", adding that "to hear her recite with a fine succession of pathos, tenderness, and fierce indignation was a revelation of dramatic art".

In May 1928, Stephanie Deste presented recitals on Radio 2FC in Sydney, including Biblical extracts and The Song of Hiawatha.

Stephanie Deste's performance featured "her famous fan dance" from Rose-Marie.

Stephanie Deste was engaged for the role of the sensuous 'Azuri' in J C Williamson's Australian production of the operetta The Desert Song, which premiered on 15 September 1928 at His Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne.

Stephanie Deste designed the dresses, engaged the cast, rehearsed and produced the play in conjunction with the ballet mistress and stage manager from His Majesty's Theatre on London, using the scenery and properties from the long-running original London version of the play.

Stephanie Deste studied at the Antoine School and attained a degree "as a practitioner of medical electricity", which involved her attendance at clinics in dermatology and plastic surgery at the Laennec Hospital.

Stephanie Deste returned to Australia in August 1936 after five years in Europe.

Stephanie Deste initially gave all the treatments at the new establishment, with the assistance of an apprentice.

From September 1937, Stephanie Deste presented a segment on "Modern Make Up" and "Beauty Hints" on Radio 3KZ.

Mid-way through 1938 Stephanie Deste told her partner she intended to take the role of Wanda in the Melbourne performances of a revival of Rose-Marie, maintaining "that the publicity she would gain would assist the business".

Rourke "agreed reluctantly", but stipulated that Stephanie Deste should teach her assistant the electrolysis treatment and attend the business no later than 10 am each day during the period of the performances.

Doris Rourke later claimed that Stephanie Deste "frequently arrived at the business premises in an exhausted condition" and did not provided adequate supervision of the staff.

Stephanie Deste countered by claiming that during this period Rourke "attempted to usurp" her position of manager of her clinic "by giving orders to the staff in the presence of customers".

Stephanie Deste continued to operate from that location until at least September 1947.

Stephanie Deste was buried in the Melbourne Cemetery at Carlton.

In February 1945, Stephanie Deste appeared on the stage at His Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne in a revival of the role of Azuri in The Desert Song.

From March 1949 until the late 1960s, Stephanie Deste presented regular sessions of 'Beauty Talk' on 3DB as part of that station's morning program.

Stephanie Deste made regular television appearances on the HSV7 television station.

In March 1973, Stephanie Deste returned to the stage for a brief season of Facade, a production by the Victorian Opera Company at the Comedy Theatre in Melbourne.

Stephanie Deste was a woman of striking features well into old age, known as one of Melbourne's "great personalities, an elegantly dressed, immaculately coiffured figure known to several generations for her stage and radio work and for her famous beauty salons".

Stephanie Deste died on 14 April 1996 in the Cabrini Hospital in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern, aged 95 years.

Stephanie Deste herself provided encouragement and advice to the young dancer, reputedly teaching Helpmann "the circular splits" and loaning him "her costume and fan".

Barry Humphries claimed that Stephanie Deste was one of the inspirations behind his most famous character, Dame Edna Everage, most particularly in regard to Dame Edna's flamboyant spectacle frames.

Stephanie Deste confirmed that Humphries had copied Edna Everage's glasses from her own characteristic diamante-studded winged spectacles.