Bertice Reading; Singer and Actress

LONDON — Bertice Reading, the corpulent singer and actress who left her native America to become a star on London stages and in European cabarets, has died after suffering a stroke. She was 58.

Miss Reading, who was only 5 feet tall but weighed as much as 250 pounds, collapsed during rehearsals for “Notre Dame,” a new musical based on “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” that is due to open later this month in Oxford.

She died Saturday, said a spokeswoman at King’s College Hospital.

Born in Chester, Pa., Miss Reading began her career dancing at age 3 with Bill (Bojangles) Robinson. She later won a hometown talent contest that led to a singing job with Lionel Hampton’s band.

She moved to Britain in the mid-1950s and appeared in “Jazz Train,” a 1957 production of “Requiem for a Nun” and a 1958 musical, “Valmouth.”

She received a 1959 Tony nomination for best supporting actress when “Requiem” moved to Broadway, having earlier secured her reputation as an actress in a production of William Faulkner’s “Sanctuary.”

She also toured in her own revue, “Every Inch a Lady.”