# Patricia Hayes

Patricia Lawlor Hayes (22 December 1909 – 19 September 1998) was an English character actress. She is best known for playing the titular Edna in the Play for Today, Edna, the Inebriate Woman (1971), for which she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress.

## Early life

Patricia Lawlor Hayes was born in Streatham, 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.
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 programmes such as Gran (Woodland Animations, 1982).
In April 1975, Hayes was interviewed by Roy Plomley for Desert Island Discs. A sizeable, but incomplete, extract is available to listen to and download via the programme's website on the BBC.
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 1978, Hayes was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for playing Rosalina in Filumena at The National Theatre.
In 1985, she starred in the title role of the TV play Mrs Capper's Birthday by Noël Coward.
Hayes played Miss. Willow, in one episode of the 1991 radio show, The Secret Life of Rosewood Avenue.

## 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.

## Death

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

## Television roles

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1938 | When We Are Married | Ruby Birtle | |
| 1957 to March 14, 1979 | The Benny Hill Show | Various | (TV series) |
| 1957 to 1958 | Educated Evans | Joe's Mother | |
| 1958 to 1960 | Hancock | Mrs. Cravatte | |
| 1962 to 1966 | Hugh and I | Griselda Wormold | |
| 1963 | Maigret | Didine Gulot | "The Judge's House" (Series 4, Episode 9) |
| 1967 to 1969 | The Very Merry Widow | Katie | |
| 1967 to 1975 | Till Death Us Do Part | Mrs Evans | |
| 1968 to 1969 | According To Dora | Various | |
| 1968 to 1969 | The World of Beachcomber | Various | |
| 1969 | Catweazle | Mrs. Skinner | ("The wisdom of Solomon") |
| 1971 | Grasshopper Island | Lupus | |
| 1971 | Edna, the Inebriate Woman | Edna | |
| 1971 | The Trouble With Lilian | Lilian | |
| 1971 to 1972 | The Last of the Baskets | Mrs Basket | |
| 1972 | The Goodies | Hazel, or "Hecate, Queen of Necromancy" | "That Old Black Magic" (ep 3.4) |
| 1974 | Holiday With Strings | Air Hostess | |
| 1977 | London Belongs To Me | Connie Coke | |
| 1980 | Juliet Bravo | Doris Latham | |
| 1980 to 1982 | Spooner's Patch | Mrs Cantaford | |
| 1981 | Till Death... | Min Reed | |
| 1983 | The Witches and the Grinnygog | Miss Bendybones | |
| 1983 | Gran | Gran, Narrator | |
| 1983 to 1984 | The Lady Is a Tramp | Old Pat | |
| 1984 | Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense | Gran Waters | "And the Walls Came Tumbling Down" |
| 1985 | Marjorie and Men | Alice Tripp | |
| 1986 | In Sickness and in Health | Min Reed | |
| 1993 | Lovejoy | Lady Alfreston | (Series 5, Episode 3) |
| 1995 | Heartbeat | Flo | (Series 5, Episode 2) |

## Selected filmography

* Broken Blossoms (1936) – Minor role (uncredited)
* Went the Day Well? (1942) – Daisy
* When We Are Married (1943) – Ruby Birtle
* The Dummy Talks (1943) – (uncredited)
* Hotel Reserve (1944) – Woman
* Candles at Nine (1944) – Gewndolyn – Maid
* Great Day (1945) – Mrs. Beadle
* The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947) – Phoebe
* To the Public Danger (1948) – Postmistress
* Poet's Pub (1949) – Mrs. Lott (uncredited)
* La Rosa di Bagdad (1949) – Amin (English version, voice)
* Skimpy in the Navy (1949) – (uncredited)
* The Enforcer (1951) – Teenager (uncredited)
* The Love Match (1955) – Emma Binns
* The Battle of the Sexes (1960) – Jeannie Macdougall
* Reach for Glory (1962) – Mrs. Freeman
* Kill or Cure (1962) – Lily – Waitress
* The Sicilians (1963) – Plane passenger
* It's All Over Town (1964) – Charlady
* Saturday Night Out (1964) – Edie's Mother
* The Bargee (1964) – Onlooker (uncredited)
* The Terrornauts (1967) – Mrs. Jones
* A Ghost of a Chance (1968) – Miss Woollie
* Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969) – Grandma
* Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) – Miss Honeybun (uncredited)
* Carry On Again Doctor (1969) – Mrs. Beasley
* Fragment of Fear (1970) – Mrs. Baird
* Raising the Roof (1972) – Aunt Maud
* Super Bitch (1973) – Mamma the Turk
* Love Thy Neighbour (1973) – Annie Booth
* The Best of Benny Hill (1974) – Interviewer ('Words of Comfort') / Marie Quaint
* Danger on Dartmoor (1980) – Mrs. Green
* The NeverEnding Story (1984) – Urgl
* Little Dorrit (1987) – Affery
* Willow (1988) – Fin Raziel
* A Fish Called Wanda (1988) – Mrs. Coady
* War Requiem (1989) – Mother
* The Fool (1990) – The Dowager
* Blue Ice (1992) – Old Woman
* The Steal (1995) – Mrs. Fawkes
* Crime and Punishment (2002) – Alyonna Ivanovna, old pawnbroker (final film role; released posthumously)