Obituary: Dame Thora Hird

By JENNY BOOTH

Character actress. Died aged 91.

Dame Thora Hird's acting career spanned nearly 90 years, from her first stage appearance at the age of 8 months to her success at the Baftas and the Royal Television Society Awards in 1999, where she won Best Actress titles for her monologue in Alan Bennett's Waiting for the Telegram.

Although she had scaled back her acting commitments as she became frail, she remained a familiar figure through television advertisements. In roles in television series ranging from Meet the Wife to Last of the Summer Wine, she came to epitomise the house-proud northern woman, full of warmth and common sense.

BBC chat-show host Michael Parkinson paid tribute. "Dame Thora was a wonderful old lady. As a person she was a rich and wonderful character; as an actor she had few equals.

"She rose through the ranks from the boards - not through training at Rada. She was one of the finest actors and she produced her most lasting work with Alan Bennett.

"She was a lovely, lovely woman and very talented. She was also feisty and a game old gal. She loved performing."

Alan Yentob, the BBC's director of drama, entertainment and children's programmes, said: "Thora Hird was a national treasure. She was universally admired and adored by the British public - and rightly so."

Thora Hird was born in Morecambe, Lancashire, in 1911, and made her first appearance on stage as a baby in the arms of her mother at the Royalty Theatre in Morecambe, where her father, James Hird, was manager.

The family lived next door to the theatre, which she said provided her with a magical childhood, allowing her on stage between performances to practise playing roles.

Her professional career began in 1931 at the Morecambe Repertory Theatre. Her many stage roles varied from the nurse in Romeo and Juliet to the comedy maid in No No Nanette. Her film career included working with Laurence Olivier in The Entertainer, Alan Bates in A Kind of Loving and Marlon Brando in The Nightcomers.

However, it was her roles on the small screen, starting in the 1940s, that made her a household name. One of her earliest successes was Meet the Wife, a series in which she starred with Freddy Frinton for five years. In 1968, she took the lead in a series called First Lady, about the in-fighting and intrigues of town-hall politics. Other family favourites included Ours is a Nice House and In Loving Memory, which ran for 17 years. Later she joined the long-running show, Last of the Summer Wine.

But some of her most acclaimed performances have been alone. Bennett, a close friend, wrote several Talking Heads one-hander plays especially for her. They were screened on national television to rave reviews.

A devout Christian, she presented the BBC religious show Praise Be! for nearly two decades. She was made an OBE for her work in 1983; a decade later she was made a Dame.

Despite her success, Dame Thora never developed pretensions and was often quoted as saying how grateful she was for her good fortune.

Her agent, Felix de Wolfe, announced that she had died at Brinsworth House in southwest London, a retirement home for actors.

He said: "Thora was loved by all. Everyone felt that they knew her through her work."

In 1994, Dame Thora lost her husband of more than 50 years, Jimmy Scott, a musician. She is survived by her daughter and two grandchildren.