Thora Hird

Dame Thora Hird(28 May 1911 – 15 March 2003) was an English actress. In a career spanning over 70 years,she appeared in more than 100 films, as well as many television roles, becoming a household name and a British institution.
Hird was a three-time winner of theBAFTA TV Award for Best Actress, forTalking Heads: A Cream Cracker Under the Settee(1989),Talking Heads: Waiting for the Telegram(1999) andLost for Words(2000). She also received a BAFTA Special Award in 1994.Her film credits includedThe Love Match(1955),The Entertainer(1960),A Kind of Loving(1962) andThe Nightcomers(1971).
Hird was born on 28 May 1911 in theLancashireseaside town ofMorecambeto 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 theWest 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 localCo-operative storebefore 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 herWest Enddebut in theEsther McCrackenplayNo 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 filmWent the Day Well?(1942, known as48 Hoursin the USA), in which she is shown wielding a rifle to defend a house fromGerman paratroopers.She worked with the British film comedianWill Hayand featured inThe Entertainer(1960), which starredLaurence Olivier, as well asA Kind of Loving(1962) withAlan BatesandJune Ritchie.
Hird gained her highest profile intelevision comedy, notably thesitcomsMeet the Wife(1963–66),In Loving Memory(1979–86),Hallelujah!(1983–84) and, for nearly two decades, as Edie Pegden inLast of the Summer Wine(1986–2003). Hird played a variety of roles, including the nurse inRomeo and Juliet, and wonBAFTABest Actress awards for her roles in two ofAlan Bennett'sTalking Headsmonologues.
Hird starred as Captain Emily Ridley in the sitcomHallelujah!(1983–84) about theSalvation Army, a movement which she supported throughout her life.Hird also portrayed Mrs Speck, the housekeeper of the Mayor ofGloucester, inThe Tailor of Gloucester(1989).
In 1993 she played Annie Longden, mother ofDeric LongdeninWide-Eyed and Legless(known asThe Wedding Giftoutside the UK) and reprised her role in the 1999 TV filmLost for Words, which won her a BAFTA for Best Actress.
Hird was a committed Christian, hosting the religious programmesYour Songs of Praise Choice(1979–1983) andPraise Be!(1984–1993), a spin-off fromSongs of Praiseon theBBC.Her work for charity and on television in spite of old age and ill health made her an institution. Her advertisements for Churchillstairliftsalso kept her in the public eye.
She was invested as anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire(OBE) in the1983 Birthday Honoursand raised to Dame Commander (DBE) in the1993 Birthday Honours. She received an honoraryD.Litt.fromLancaster Universityin 1989.
In December 1998, using awheelchair, Hird played a brief but energetic cameo role as the mother of Dolly onDinnerladies, a sarcastic character who was particularly bitter towards her daughter.
Her final acting work was forBBC Radio 7, which was recorded in 2002 and broadcast some months after her death: a monologue written for her by Alan Bennett entitledThe 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 and politically correct attitudes of her own daughter.
She was the subject ofThis Is Your Lifeon two occasions: in January 1964 when she was surprised byEamonn Andrews, and in December 1996, whenMichael Aspelsurprised her while filming on location forLast of the Summer Wine.
Hird married musician James Scott in 1937. They had a daughter, actressJanette Scott, in 1938. Hird was mother-in-law to jazz singerMel Torméfor eleven years. Hird was widowed in 1994, having been married for 57 years.
Hird underwent a heart bypass operation in 1992. She suffered from severeosteoarthritis, 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 atWestminster Abbeyattended by more than 2,000 people, includingAlan Bennett,Sir David Frost,Melvyn BraggandVictoria 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 theBayswaterhome where she lived for over 50 years.