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Hattie Jacques on stage, radio, screen and record

Hattie Jacques (/dʒeɪks/; born Josephine Edwina Jaques; 1922–1980) was an English actress who appeared in many genres of light entertainment including radio, film, television and stage.[1][2] Jacques's career spanned from 1939 until her death in 1980. She is best remembered for her appearances in fourteen Carry On films and for her professional partnership with Eric Sykes.[1]

In 1939 Jacques became involved in amateur dramatics, appearing as Doris Gow in Noël Coward's short play Fumed Oak.[3] Five years later, after wartime service as a nurse and a welder,[1] she made her professional theatrical debut at the Players' Theatre in the revue Late Joys,[4] a performance that she repeated on television in 1946.[5] From there she became a regular stage performer, appearing in variety shows and Victorian-style pantomimes.[4][6]

After her appearances on radio as Sophie Tuckshop alongside Tommy Handley in the final two series of his signature show It's That Man Again, Jacques came to national prominence.[1] She later appeared on Educating Archie as Agatha Dinglebody, where she worked with Tony Hancock;[7] in 1956 she joined Hancock in the cast of the BBC radio show Hancock's Half Hour, playing Griselda Pugh, Hancock's secretary.[8] She made her film debut in an uncredited role in Green for Danger in 1946,[9] before working in a number of minor roles in a series of Dickens adaptations.[1] From 1958 to 1974 she appeared in fourteen Carry On films,[10] where she was "usually cast as formidable hospital matrons (at least four) or man-devouring predators".[11]

Jacques had a long professional partnership with Eric Sykes, with whom she co-starred in two long-running television series, Sykes and a... and Sykes. The couple also produced an album and a single in 1962; a stage show followed between 1976 and 1979, A Hatful of Sykes.[1] Jacques was married to the actor John Le Mesurier in November 1949, but their marriage was dissolved in 1965.[12] Jacques died suddenly in October 1980 from heart failure.[1]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Gray 2004.
  2. ^ Merriman 2007, p. 3.
  3. ^ Merriman 2007, p. 16.
  4. ^ a b Merriman 2007, p. 222.
  5. ^ Merriman 2007, p. 224.
  6. ^ Merriman 2007, pp. 75–76.
  7. ^ Foster & Furst 1999, p. 128.
  8. ^ Merriman 2007, p. 84.
  9. ^ Merriman 2007, p. 55.
  10. ^ Merriman 2007, pp. 92 & 164.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference BFI: Screenonline was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Merriman 2007, p. 136.

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