Hattie Jacques - more...
Prior to entering show business, Hattie had trained as a hairdresser. During the war she worked first as a Red Cross nurse and then as an arc welder at a North London factory, and it was there that she discovered her talent for making people laugh.
She started her acting career in 1944 with an appearance at the Players' Theatre in London, and came to national prominence through her appearances on three highly popular radio series on the BBC: with Tommy Handley on It's That Man Again; with ventriloquist Peter Brough on Educating Archie; and then with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour. It was around this time the spelling was changed to Jacques.
From 1958 to 1974 she appeared in 14 Carry On films, playing various roles including the formidable hospital matron. On television she had a long professional partnership with Eric Sykes, with whom she co-starred in his long-running television series.
She got the name Hattie while at the Players when, as part of her act, she sang a negro song. This was just after the film Gone with the Wind (1939), which featured the well-built black actress Hattie McDaniel, had been released.
She was married to the actor John Le Mesurier (well known for his role in Dad’s Army) from 1949 until their divorce in 1965, and died of a heart attack on 6 October 1980, at the age of 58. Her biographer, Frances Gray, considers Jacques had a "talent for larger-than-life comedy which never lost its grip on humanity", while she could also display "a broader comic mode" as a result of her "extraordinary versatility".
I am indebted indeed to Janet Tayler of Worcester, whose husband was Hattie's cousin once removed, for identifying this link.
Biographical material & photo by courtesy of Wikipedia, and also the IMDB website.
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