Ruth Madoc

• Name — Ruth Madoc • Birth Name — Margaret Ruth Llewellyn Baker • Born — 16 April 1943 • Birthplace — Norwich, Norfolk, England • Died — 9 December 2022 • Place of death — Torquay, Devon, England • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1959–2022 • Children — 2

Madoc was born Margaret Ruth Llewellyn Baker on 16 April 1943 in Norwich, daughter of George Baker and Iris (née Williams), who worked in healthcare, her father as an administrator and her mother as a nurse. They ran a "poor law" institution for people with severe learning difficulties. Her parents travelled around Britain for much of her childhood, and she was brought up by her Welsh grandmother Etta Williams and her English grandfather at Llansamlet in Swansea. She later trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.

In 1971, Madoc played Fruma Sarah in the film version of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and appeared as Mrs Dai Bread Two in the film version of Under Milk Wood. She appeared regularly in the entertainment programme Poems and Pints on BBC Wales. She provided one of the alien voices in the Cadbury's Smash commercials in the 1970s, and made a brief appearance in the 1977 film The Prince and the Pauper (aka Crossed Swords). Madoc appeared in many theatre productions, including the stage version of Under Milk Wood, Steel Magnolias, Agatha Christie thrillers (And Then There Were None), the musical Annie, and many pantomime parts. She appeared twice at the Royal Variety Performance, once in 1982 and again in 1986. Madoc was best known for her portrayal of Gladys Pugh, one of the lead roles in the television sitcom Hi-de-Hi! (1980–1988), for which she received a BAFTA TV award nomination for Best Light Entertainment Performance. The comedy was set in the fictional 1950s holiday camp Maplins. Madoc's recurring role centred on her unrequited love for the camp entertainment manager Professor Jeffrey Fairbrother (Simon Cadell), and she was notable for her announcements on the camp tannoy with her signature three notes played on a mini xylophone. In 2004 she appeared in the reality television programme Cariad@Iaith on S4C, in which celebrities went on an intensive course in the Welsh language. In 2005 she appeared as Daffyd Thomas's mother in the second series of BBC sketch show Little Britain. In 2007 Madoc appeared in the fourth series of LivingTV reality show I'm Famous and Frightened!, which she went on to win. Also in 2007 she appeared as a fictional version of herself in episode 2 of the BBC Radio 2 comedy Buy Me Up TV. In 2008 she appeared at the Pavilion Theatre in Rhyl, playing the bad fairy in the pantomime Sleeping Beauty, with Sonia and Rebecca Trehearn. Madoc returned to situation comedy in 2009 and appeared in Big Top on BBC1, alongside Amanda Holden, John Thomson and Tony Robinson. In January 2015, Madoc appeared as the fairy godmother in the pantomime Cinderella at the Palace Theatre, Mansfield. In September 2019 she re-joined the cast in the autumn tour of Calendar Girls: The Musical, after recovering from an injury earlier in the year; the show opened at Bournemouth Pavilion on 17 September and ended on 23 November at Chichester Festival Theatre.

In 2010, Madoc investigated her family history for the BBC Wales programme Coming Home and learned that she was a distant cousin of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George on her father's side. She had starred in The Life and Times of David Lloyd George in 1981. Madoc's first husband was the actor Philip Madoc, with whom she appeared in the 1981 TV serial The Life and Times of David Lloyd George. They had a son and a daughter, and were married for 20 years, but divorced in 1981. In 1982, she married her second husband, John Jackson, with whom she bought a home in Glynneath in 2002. They were married until his death in September 2021. In December 2022, Madoc was set to appear in the pantomime Aladdin at the Princess Theatre, Torquay. However, on 8 December, a statement posted to Madoc's Instagram account confirmed she had suffered a fall earlier in the week and was unable to appear in the production. After undergoing surgery, Madoc died the following day in hospital, at the age of 79.

• Year — Title — Role — Ref. • 1973–1976 — Hunter's Walk — Betty Smith • 1979 — Leave it to Charlie — Myfanwy Morgan • 1980–1988 — Hi-de-Hi! — Gladys Pugh/Dempster • 1981 — The Life and Times of David Lloyd George — Lizzie Davies • 1986 — The Adventure Game — Herself • 1997 — The Pale Horse — Sybil Stamfordis • 2004 — Mine All Mine — Myrtle Jones • 2005 — Little Britain — Daffyd Thomas's Mother • 2009 — Big Top — Georgie • 2014 — Doctors — Alice Swanson • 2015 — Benidorm — Rhiannon • 2015 — Get Your Act Together — Contestant • 2015 — Tinga Tinga Tales — Whale • 2016 — Stella — Mayor Mary Meyer • 2016 — Casualty — Bev Whipsnade-Partridge • 2018 — Doctors — Jean March • 2019 — Casualty — Millie Falconer • 2022 — The Tuckers — Alice • 2023 — Beyond Paradise — Rosie Colbert

The following is established of the heading itself.

The following is established of origins and background. Madoc died in 2022 at Torquay. Recorded at birth as Margaret Ruth Llewellyn Baker. The register further records that ruth Madoc was born in 1943 at Norwich.