Dame Felicity Ann DahlDBE (néeD'Abreu; born 12 December 1938) is a British film producer who married the author Roald Dahl in 1983. She was previously married to Charles Reginald Hugh Crosland. The quietly spoken Dahl gave a rare interview in November 2008 to publicise the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize and reflect on her years with the late author.[1]
Early life
In December 1938, Felicity D'Abreu was born in Llandaff, a district in the north of Cardiff, in Wales. It was coincidentally the birthplace of her future husband Roald Dahl in 1916.
Her name "Liccy Dahl" was used as inspiration for the doll owned by Miss Honey in the 1996 Matilda film adaptation.
Charity work
Felicity Dahl founded the Roald Dahl Foundation in 1991 which helped young people with brain, blood and literacy problems.[2] This organisation became Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity in 2010, focusing on supporting seriously ill children. She is co-president and an active supporter even after retiring as a trustee in the mid 2010s. She also founded the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Great Missenden, opened in 2005, which is devoted to storytelling and literacy.
Personal life
In 1959, Felicity D'Abreu married Charles Reginald Hugh Crosland. They had three daughters. In 1971, she divorced Crosland.
She met Roald Dahl in 1972 while she was working as a set designer on an advert for Maxim coffee with the author's then-wife, American actress Patricia Neal. Soon after the pair were introduced, they began an 11-year affair.[3] They wed after his divorce in 1983, at Brixton Town Hall in South London.[2] Dahl gave up her job and moved into Gipsy House, in Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire, which had been Roald Dahl's home since 1954. He died seven years later in 1990, at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital.
In 1991, she published Memories with Food at Gipsy House, a collection of anecdotes and recipes that she had written with her late husband.
On 14 September 2009 the first blue plaque in Roald Dahl's honour was unveiled at a sweet shop in Llandaff. Dahl was present for the unveiling of the plaque dedicated to her late husband.[4]