Patricia Hayes

OBE
Born
Patricia Lawlor Hayes

(1909-12-22)22 December 1909
Streatham, London, England
Died19 September 1998(1998-09-19) (aged 88)
Puttenham, Surrey, England
Resting placeWatts Cemetery Chapel, Compton, Surrey, England
OccupationActress
Years active1936–1996
Spouse
Valentine Brooke
​
​
(m. 1939; div. 1951)​
Children3, including Richard O'Callaghan

Patricia Lawlor Hayes OBE (22 December 1909 – 19 September 1998) was an English character actress.

Early life

Patricia Hayes OBE was born in Streatham,[1] London, the daughter of George Frederick Hayes and Florence Alice Hayes. Her father was a clerk in the civil service and her mother was a schoolmistress. As a child, Hayes attended the Sacred Heart School in Hammersmith.

Career

Hayes attended RADA, graduating in 1928. She spent the next 10 years in repertory theatre.[2]

She was featured in many radio and television comedy shows between 1940 and 1996, including Hancock's Half Hour, Ray's a Laugh, The Arthur Askey Show, The Benny Hill Show, Bootsie and Snudge, Hugh and I and Till Death Us Do Part. She played the part of Henry Bones in the BBC Children's Hour radio programme Norman and Henry Bones, the Boy Detectives from 1943 to 1965.

Hayes was cast in supporting roles for films including The Bargee (1964), The NeverEnding Story (1984), A Fish Called Wanda (1988) and was also featured as Fin Raziel in the Ron Howard film Willow (1988).

Her most substantial television appearance was in the title role of Edna, the Inebriate Woman (Play for Today, 1971) for which she won a BAFTA award. She provided the character voice for comedy puppet performances for television and DVDs – e.g. Gran (Woodland Animations, 1982).

She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1972 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.

In April 1975, Hayes was interviewed by Roy Plomley for Desert Island Discs. A sizeable, yet incomplete, extract is available to listen to and download via the programme's website on the BBC.[3]

In 1977, she appeared on the BBC's long running TV variety show The Good Old Days; she had been an early member of the Players' Theatre in London, an old time music hall club, from the 1950s onwards.

In 1985, she starred in the title role of the TV play, Mrs Capper's Birthday, by Noël Coward.

Personal life

She was the mother of British actor Richard O'Callaghan (born Richard Brooke) by her marriage to Valentine Brooke, whom she divorced. She never remarried. She was formerly the head of the British Catholic Stage Guild, which her son later chaired.

She was awarded an OBE in 1987.[2]

Death

Patricia Hayes died in September, 1998 in Puttenham, Surrey,[1] but she appeared posthumously in the 2002 film Crime and Punishment which had been filmed in 1993, but delayed because of a legal case.[4] She is buried at Watts Cemetery, Compton, Surrey.[5]

Television roles

YearTitleRoleNotes
1938When We Are MarriedRuby Birtle
1957 to March 14, 1979The Benny Hill ShowVarious(TV series)
1957 to 1958Educated EvansJoe's Mother
1958 to 1960HancockMrs. Cravatte
1962 to 1966Hugh and IGriselda Wormold
1963MaigretDidine Gulot"The Judge's House" (Series 4, Episode 9)
1967 to 1969The Very Merry WidowKatie
1967 to 1975Till Death Us Do PartMrs Evans
1968 to 1969According To DoraVarious
1968 to 1969The World of BeachcomberVarious
1969CatweazleMrs. Skinner("The wisdom of Solomon")
1971Grasshopper IslandLupus
1971Edna, the Inebriate WomanEdna
1971The Trouble With LilianLilian
1971 to 1972The Last of the BasketsMrs Basket
1972The GoodiesHazel, or "Hecate, Queen of Necromancy""That Old Black Magic" (ep 3.4)
1974Holiday With StringsAir Hostess
1977London Belongs To MeConnie Coke
1980Juliet BravoDoris Latham
1980 to 1982Spooner's PatchMrs Cantaford
1981Till Death...Min Reed
1983The Witches and the GrinnygogMiss Bendybones
1983 to 1984The Lady Is a TrampOld Pat
1984Hammer House of Mystery and SuspenseGran Waters"And the Walls Came Tumbling Down"
1985Marjorie and MenAlice Tripp
1986In Sickness and in HealthMin Reed
1993LovejoyLady Alfreston(Series 5, Episode 3)
1995HeartbeatFlo(Series 5, Episode 2)

Selected filmography

References

  1. 1 2 Dennis Barker, "Hayes, Patricia Lawlor (1909–1998)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004 available online. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  2. 1 2 "BBC News | Entertainment | Star Patricia Hayes dies at 88".
  3. ↑ BBC Radio 4: Desert Island Discs http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009n6qn
  4. ↑ Paul, Louis (2007). Tales from the cult film trenches: interviews with 36 actors from horror, science fiction and exploitation cinema. McFarland.
  5. ↑ Monumental inscription.
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