Thora Hird

She also received a BAFTA Special Award in 1994. Her film credits included The Love Match (1955), The Entertainer (1960), A Kind of Loving (1962) and The Nightcomers (1971).

• Honorific Prefix — Dame • Name — Thora Hird • Born — 28 May 1911 • Birthplace — Morecambe, Lancashire, England • Occupation — Actress • Television — Last of the Summer Wine In Loving Memory Hallelujah! • Notable Works — See here • Died — 15 March 2003 • Place of death — Twickenham, London, England • Years Active — 1931–2003 • Children — Janette Scott • Resting Place — Chichester Crematorium and Garden of Remembrance, Chichester, West Sussex, England

Hird was born on 28 May 1911 in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe to James Henry Hird and Jane Mary (née Mayor). Her family background was largely theatrical: her mother had been an actress, while her father managed a number of entertainment venues in Morecambe, including the Royalty Theatre, where Hird made her first appearance, and the West End Pier. Thora first appeared on stage in 1911 at the age of two months in a play her father was managing, carried on stage in her mother's arms. She worked at the local Co-operative store before joining the Morecambe Repertory Theatre. Hird often described her father, who initially did not want her to be an actress, as her sternest critic and attributed much of her talent as an actress and comedian to his guidance. In 1944 she made her West End debut in the Esther McCracken play No Medals. Although Hird left Morecambe in the late 1940s, she retained her affection for the town, referring to herself as a "sand grown 'un", the colloquial term for anyone born in Morecambe. Initially, Hird made regular appearances in films, including the wartime propaganda film Went the Day Well? (1942, known as 48 Hours in the USA), in which she is shown wielding a rifle to defend a house from German paratroopers. She worked with the British film comedian Will Hay and featured in The Entertainer (1960), which starred Laurence Olivier, as well as A Kind of Loving (1962) with Alan Bates and June Ritchie. Hird gained her highest profile in television comedy, notably the sitcoms Meet the Wife (1963–66), In Loving Memory (1979–86), Hallelujah! (1983–84) and, for nearly two decades, as Edie Pegden in Last of the Summer Wine (1986–2003). Hird played a variety of roles, including the nurse in Romeo and Juliet, and won BAFTA Best Actress awards for her roles in two of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads monologues. Hird starred as Captain Emily Ridley in the sitcom Hallelujah! (1983–84) about the Salvation Army, a movement which she supported throughout her life. Hird also portrayed Mrs Speck, the housekeeper of the Mayor of Gloucester, in The Tailor of Gloucester (1989). In 1993 she played Annie Longden, mother of Deric Longden in Wide-Eyed and Legless (known as The Wedding Gift outside the UK) and reprised her role in the 1999 TV film Lost for Words, which won her a BAFTA for Best Actress.

Hird was a committed Christian, hosting the religious programmes Your Songs of Praise Choice (1979–1983) and Praise Be! (1984–1993), a spin-off from Songs of Praise on the BBC. Her work for charity and on television in spite of old age and ill health made her an institution. Her advertisements for Churchill stairlifts also kept her in the public eye.

In December 1998, using a wheelchair, Hird played a brief but energetic cameo role as the mother of Dolly on Dinnerladies, a sarcastic character who was particularly bitter towards her daughter. Her final acting work was for BBC Radio 7, which was recorded in 2002 and broadcast some months after her death: a monologue written for her by Alan Bennett entitled The Last of the Sun, in which she played a forthright, broad-minded woman, immobile in an old people's home but still able to take a stand against the censorious attitude of her own daughter.

She was the subject of This Is Your Life on two occasions: in January 1964 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews, and in December 1996, when Michael Aspel surprised her while filming on location for Last of the Summer Wine.

Hird married musician James Scott in 1937. They had a daughter, actress Janette Scott, in 1938. Hird was mother-in-law to jazz singer Mel Tormé for eleven years. Hird was widowed in 1994, having been married for 57 years. Hird underwent a heart bypass operation in 1992. She suffered from severe osteoarthritis, had repeated hip replacements and used a wheelchair in her later life.

Hird died on 15 March 2003 aged 91, following a stroke. A memorial service was held on 15 September 2003 at Westminster Abbey attended by more than 2,000 people, including Alan Bennett, Sir David Frost, Melvyn Bragg and Victoria Wood. In July 2019, a commemorative blue plaque to Thora Hird was installed by The Theatre and Film Guild of Great Britain and America, at the Bayswater home where she lived for over 50 years.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1947 — Mary Rose — Mrs. Otery — TV film • 1949 — The — Violet — TV film • 1951 — Sunday Night Theatre — Anna Priashkina — Episode: "The Bachelor" • 1951 — What Happens to Love — Mrs. Rowbotham — TV film • 1955 — The — Emmie Slee — TV film • 1955 — The — Ada — Episode: "A Husband for Marian" • 1956 — Armchair Theatre — Momma Brodsky — Episode: "The Same Sky" • 1958 — Saturday Playhouse — Aggie Thompson — Episode: "So Many Children" • 1959 — Blackpool Show Parade — Mrs. McTaggart — Episode: "Happy Days" • 1960 — Bootsie and Snudge — Emily — Episode: "Johnson's Retirement" • 1961 — ITV Playhouse — Helen Curvis — Episode: "Hi Diddle Diddle" • 1963 — Z-Cars — Mrs. Edwards — Episode: "Nothing Serious" • 1963 — Drama 61-67 — Mrs. Hope — Episode: "Drama '63: Albert Hope" • 1963 — Comedy Playhouse — Thora Blacklock — Episode: "The Bed" • 1964–1966 — Meet the Wife — Thora Blacklock — Main role • 1964 — First Night — Queenie — Episode: "All Things Bright and Beautiful" • 1964 — Festival — Mrs. Baines — Episode: "Say Nothing" • 1965 — My Perfect Husband — Thora — TV film • 1966 — The — Blanche Hoskins — Episode: "Who's a Good Boy Then?" • 1966 — Dixon of Dock Green — Alice Leggett — Episode: "Face at the Window" • 1966 — Jackanory — Storyteller — 5 episodes • 1967, 1975 — Play of the Month — Nurse, Clara Soppitt — Episodes: "Romeo and Juliet", "When We Are Married" • 1968–69 — The — Sarah Danby — Main role • 1969 — ITV Sunday Night Theatre — Mrs. Ogden — Episode: "It Calls for a Great Deal of Love" • 1969–70 — Ours Is a Nice House — Thora Parker — TV series • 1971 — Seasons of the Year — Widow Butley — Episode: "The Three Graces" • 1971 — Stage 2 — Mrs. Hardcastle — Episode: "She Stoops to Conquer" • 1971–72, 1977, 1982 — Play for Today — Gwen, Doris, Olive Major, Aunty Kitty — Episodes: "The Fox Trot", "The Villa Maroc", "The Mayor's Charity", "Intensive Care" • 1974 — Billy Liar — Miss Duggins — Episode: "Billy and the Bed-Sit" • 1975 — Softly, Softly: Task Force — Mary Meegan — Episode: "Dorothy's Birthday" • 1977 — The — Mrs. Battley — TV short • 1977 — Young at Heart — Ethel Collyer — Episode: "Pilot" • 1978 — Me! I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf — Mrs. Hopkins — TV film • 1979 — Thomas & Sarah — Mrs. Entwistle — Episode: "Made in Heaven" • 1979–86 — In Loving Memory — Ivy Unsworth — Main role • 1980–82 — Flesh and Blood — Mabel Brassington — TV series • 1983 — Objects of Affection — Elizabeth Mary Rhodes — Episode: "Say Something Happened" • 1983–84 — Hallelujah! — Capt. Emily Ridley — Main role • 1986–2003 — Last of the Summer Wine — Edie Pegden — Regular role • 1988, 1998 — Talking Heads — Doris, Violet — Episodes: "A Cream Cracker Under the Settee", "Waiting for the Telegram" • 1989 — The — Mrs. Speck — TV film • 1989–90 — All Creatures Great and Small — Mrs. Clarke — Episodes: "The Best Time", "Promises to Keep" • 1990 — The — Old Betsy — TV film • 1991 — Perfect Scoundrels — Martha — Episode: "Grandmother's Footsteps" • 1992 — The — Edna Wood — Episode: "Her Finest Hour" • 1992 — Memento Mori — Jean Taylor — Screen Two series 8 • 1993 — Wide-Eyed and Legless (known as The Wedding Gift outside the UK) — Annie Longden • 1993 — Goggle Eyes — Mrs. Harrington — Episode: "1.1" • 1994 — Pat and Margaret — Jim's mother • 1994 — Under the Hammer — Nanny Tucker — Episode: "The Spectre at the Feast" • 1994 — Heartbeat — Hannah Stockdale — Episode: "Lost and Found" • 1995, 1999 — The — Postmistress — Episodes: "1.1", "1.4", "Harmony's Return" • 1998 — Dinnerladies — Enid — Episode: "Moods" • 1999 — The — Ida — Episode: "Philosophy of a Hairdresser" • 1999 — Hilltop Hospital — Gracey Greyshell — Episode: "Gracey Greyshell's Last Day" • 1999 — Lost for Words — Annie Longden — TV film

The canonical record carries the following identifying particulars.

On origins, the institutional record states the following. Born in 1911 at Morecambe. It is also recorded that thora Hird died in 2003 at Royal Variety Charity.