Hattie Jacques
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| Hattie Jacques | |
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| Born | Josephine Edwina Jaques 7 February 1922 Sandgate, Kent, England |
| Died | 6 October 1980 (aged 58) Kensington, London, England |
| Spouse(s) | John Le Mesurier (1949-65) |
Josephine Edwina Jaques (7 February 1922 – 6 October 1980) was a well-known English comedy actress, known by the stage name Hattie Jacques.
Having started her career in the 1940s, Jacques first became famous through her appearances with Tony Hancock in The Tony Hancock Show and Hancock's Half Hour. From 1958 to 1974 she appeared in fourteen Carry On films, often playing the Matron. Hattie Jacques had a long professional partnership with Eric Sykes, with whom she co-starred in Sykes and A..., Sykes and a Big, Big Show and Sykes.
Jacques was married to John Le Mesurier, an actor who would later achieve stardom for playing Sergeant Arthur Wilson in Dad's Army, from 1949 until their divorce in 1965. Hattie Jacques died of a heart attack in 1980, aged 58. Her final appearance on TV was an advert for Asda earlier that year.
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[edit] Early life
Hattie Jacques was born Josephine Edwina Jaques in Sandgate, Kent in 1922.[1] Educated at the Godolphin and Latymer School, she served as a nurse in the Red Cross during the Second World War, as well as working as a welder in a factory in North London.
At the age of 20, she made her theatrical début at the Players' Theatre in London. Almost immediately, she became a firm favourite of the company, appearing in music hall revues and playing the Fairy Queen in their Victorian-style pantomimes.
[edit] Radio
In 1947 she was spotted at the Players by Ted Kavanagh and was invited to join the cast of the radio comedy series It's That Man Again ("ITMA"), playing the greedy schoolgirl Sophie Tuckshop.
By the early 1950s, she was appearing in radio shows like Educating Archie as Agatha Danglebody. It was on this show that she first met Eric Sykes, who was providing scripts for the series.
In 1956, she was asked to join the radio series Hancock's Half Hour, joining regulars Tony Hancock, Sid James, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams. The same year she starred in The Tony Hancock Show on television.
[edit] Carry On films
She was also appearing in films by this time, including a couple of Norman Wisdom comedies - The Square Peg and Follow a Star. However, it wasn't until 1958, when she joined the Carry On team in Carry On Sergeant that her film career really took off.
She appeared in fourteen films in the long-running series and became famous as the no-nonsense Matron in five of the films - Carry On Nurse, Carry On Doctor, Carry On Camping, Carry On Again Doctor and Carry On Matron.
She was known by the team as a warm, kind and endearing lady and was close friends with many of her co-stars, including Kenneth Williams and Joan Sims.
[edit] Eric Sykes
In 1960 she joined Eric Sykes on his long-running BBC comedy series Sykes, in which they played a brother and sister who got into all sorts of comic scrapes. The joke was that they were meant to be twins, but were physically very unalike, Jacques being short and plump, while Sykes was thin and gangly. The show ran from 1960 to 1965 and was revived from 1972 to 1979.
[edit] Personal Life
Hattie Jacques was married to the actor John Le Mesurier from 1949 to 1965.[2] They had two sons. At the time of their divorce, the media were given the impression that the fault was on Le Mesurier's side. It was later revealed that Jacques had been having an affair with a younger man and had left her husband for him. Le Mesurier had gone along with the charade so as not to damage her career.
Hattie Jacques died of a heart attack on 6 October 1980, at the age of 58.[3]
[edit] Radio performances
- ITMA (1948 - 1949), Sophie Tuckshop
- Educating Archie (1951 - 1952)
- Hancock's Half Hour (1956 - 1959), Griselda Pugh
[edit] Television
- Hancock's Half Hour (1956 - 1960), Griselda Pugh
- Sykes (TV series, 1960 - 1965, 1971 - 1979), Hattie
[edit] Selected films
- Carry On Sergeant (1958), Captain Clark
- The Square Peg (1958), Gretchen
- Carry on Nurse (1959), Matron
- The Navy Lark (1959), Fortune Teller
- The Night We Dropped a Clanger (1959), Ada
- Carry On Teacher (1959), Grace Short
- Follow a Star (1959), Dymphna Dobson
- Make Mine Mink (1960), Nanette Parry
- Carry On Constable (1960), Sergeant Laura Moon
- School for Scoundrels (1960), First Instructress
- In the Doghouse (1961), Gudgeon
- Carry On Regardless (1961), Sister
- Carry On Cabby (1963), Peggy
- Carry On Doctor (1967), Matron
- Carry On Again Doctor (1969), Matron
- Monte Carlo or Bust (1969), Lady Journalist
- The Magic Christian (1969), Ginger Horton
- Carry On Camping (1969), Miss Haggerd
- Carry On Loving (1970), Sophie Bliss
- Carry On At Your Convenience (1971), Beatrice Plummer
- Carry On Matron (1971), Matron
- Carry On Abroad (1972), Floella
- Carry On Dick (1974), Martha Hoggett
- Rhubarb Rhubarb (1980), Nanny
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Hattie Jacques at the Internet Movie Database
- Hattie Jacques at Find A Grave
- BFI Screen Online: biography
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| Persondata | |
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| NAME | Jacques, Hattie |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Jacques, Josephine Edwina |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Comedy actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1922-02-07 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sandgate, Kent |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1980-10-06 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | London, England |
