- Born
- Died
- Birth nameWalter James Groom
- Nickname
- Jimmy
- Steve Conway was born on October 12, 1920 in Bethnal Green, London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Girl on the Pier (1953). He was married to Lilian Doris Butcher. He died on April 19, 1952 in London, England, UK.
- SpouseLilian Doris Butcher(April 12, 1941 - April 19, 1952) (his death, 1 child)
- ChildrenJanice Lilian Groom
- Steve Conway, at the time employed by the brewers Mann, Crossman and Pullin, where he cleaned out the vats, was told by manager Reg Morgan that he would never get anywhere in showbusiness whilst he remained working full-time there. Morgan offered him a contract for £6 a week if he left the brewery; Conway accepted, and gave in his notice.
- Steve Conway suffered with rheumatic fever when he was five years old.
- The family experienced loss whilst Groom was still young: his twin brothers did not survive infancy, while his sister died at the age of five from meningitis.
- He also worked as a porter at Billingsgate Fish Market.
- Whilst still a teenager, a turning point in his life came when he met Lilian Butcher, a local East End girl who worked in a textile factory near where he was living. It has been said that Butcher "was the woman who inspired profound devotion in him and infused his singing with such romantic power." During World War II, Butcher worked in a munitions factory; however, when Conway attempted to enlist in the Royal Navy, he was declared unfit for service, owing to a heart condition which had developed from his earlier rheumatic fever, and damaged his coronary valves. He was not told to seek treatment, and continued working.
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