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Patsy Rowlands

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Patsy Rowlands
Born
Patricia Amy Rowlands

(1931-01-19)19 January 1931
Palmers Green, London, UK
Died22 January 2005(2005-01-22) (aged 74)
Hove, East Sussex, UK
Years active1959–2001
TelevisionBless This House
Hallelujah!
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1962; div. 1967)​
Children1 son

Patricia Amy Rowlands (19 January 1931 – 22 January 2005)[1][2] was an English actress who is best remembered for her roles in the Carry On films series, as Betty Lewis in the ITV Thames sitcom Bless This House, and as Alice Meredith in the Yorkshire Television sitcom Hallelujah!.[3][4]

Early years

She was born in Palmers Green, London and attended the Sacred Heart convent school at Whetstone.[5] While attending, an elocution teacher spotted her potential and encouraged her to pursue a career in acting. She applied for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and won a scholarship aged fifteen.[2]

Early career

Rowlands began her career in the chorus of Annie Get Your Gun, followed by a summer season in Torquay. She then spent several years with the Players' Theatre in London, before making her West End debut in Sandy Wilson's musical Valmouth.[1][6] It was at this time she met her future husband, the composer Malcolm Sircom. They divorced in 1967.[citation needed]

Other West End theatre credits included Semi-Detached with Laurence Olivier and directed by Tony Richardson (with whom she was to work often, appearing in his 1963 film Tom Jones), Shut Your Eyes and Think of England, with Donald Sinden, The Seagull and Ben Travers's The Bed Before Yesterday, both directed by Lindsay Anderson and When We Are Married for Ronald Eyre.[7][5] She also starred in Cameron Mackintosh's revival of Oliver! in the mid-1990s, as well as playing Jack's mother in the original London cast of Sondheim's Into the Woods.[6] Her final appearance was as Mrs Pearce in the National Theatre's production of My Fair Lady which also starred Jonathan Pryce.[8]

Rowlands also appeared quite frequently on television early in her career. Amongst the various series in which she appeared, were several appearances in Gert and Daisy (1959) as Bonnie, as well as appearing in 2 episodes of Danger Man (as different, unrelated characters) and in The Avengers episode "Love All".[9][10][11] Rowlands played the role of a love interest for George called "Beryl" in the 1979 Christmas special and final episode of George and Mildred

From 1969 to 1991

She made her debut in the Carry On films in Carry On Again Doctor in 1969 and soon became a regular member of the repertory company of performers, usually playing the dowdy, put-upon wife or the long-suffering secretary.[4] Between 1969 and 1975 she appeared in nine of the films in increasingly large roles, appearing in Carry On Again Doctor, Carry On Loving, Carry On Henry, Carry On Matron, Carry On Abroad and Carry On Dick - more substantial roles include Carry On At Your Convenience, Carry On Girls and Carry On Behind.[12]

On 7 March 1971, she starred in a single episode (You've Really Landed Me In It This Time) of the ITV sitcom Doctor at Large, with Barry Evans and George Layton, as a nymphomaniac secretary, the kind of role she had played in Carry On Loving.[13][14]

From 1971 to 1976, she played Betty, the feckless neighbour in the ITV sitcom Bless This House, which starred fellow Carry On star Sid James.[12] Her other television credits at this time included a couple of episodes of For the Love of Ada, playing a pregnant woman in the maternity ward also appearances with comedians such as Les Dawson and Dick Emery. In the early 1980s, she appeared with Thora Hird in the sitcom Hallelujah!, in which they played an aunt and niece in The Salvation Army. In 1991, she appeared in an episode of Zorro filmed in Madrid, Spain.[15][16]

Rowlands also appeared in screen versions of two of Frances Hodgson Burnett's books: the television film Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980), as Mrs. Dibble, and a TV dramatisation of A Little Princess (1986) as the baker's wife.[17][18]

Later years

Towards the end of her life, Rowlands appeared in several revivals of major musicals such as Oliver! at the London Palladium and My Fair Lady at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.[19]

Rowlands later television credits include The Cazalets, The Canterbury Tales, The Cater Street Hangman, Get Well Soon, Vanity Fair, Murder Most English, and Bottom for the BBC. In 2002, she was a guest on the paranormal series Most Haunted. Rowlands took part in several DVD audio commentaries along with other surviving stars of the Carry On films in 2003.[20]

Death

Rowlands developed breast cancer and had to abandon her plans to become an acting teacher, and quietly retire. She died of the disease in an East Sussex hospice, three days after her 74th birthday. She was survived by her only son, Alan (born 1963).[5]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1960 Stuff and Nonsense June Pimble TV movie
1961 One Way Pendulum Sylvia Groomkirby TV movie
1961 The Final Test Cora TV movie
1961 On the Fiddle Evie
1961 Over the Odds Marilyn
1962 A Kind of Loving Dorothy
1962 The Amazing Dr Clitterhouse Daisy TV movie
1962 In the Doghouse Barmaid
1962 The Brain Young Woman at Dance Hall Uncredited
1962 Not At All Mrs Chass TV movie
1963 Tom Jones Honor
1963 A Stitch in Time Amy
1964 Love and Maud Carver Maud Carver
1965 Dateline Diamonds Mrs Edgecomb
1966 Take A Sapphire Leopoldina TV movie
1969 Carry On Again Doctor Miss Fosdick
1970 Carry On Loving Miss Dempsey
1971 Carry On Henry Ex-Queen
1971 Please Sir! Angela Cutforth
1971 Carry On At Your Convenience Hortence Withering
1972 Carry On Matron Miss Banks
1972 Bless This House Betty Lewis
1972 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Cook
1972 Carry On Abroad Miss Dobbs
1973 Carry On Girls Mildred Bumble
1974 Carry On Dick Mrs Giles
1975 Carry On Behind Linda Upmore
1977 Joseph Andrews Gammer Andrews
1978 Sammy's Super T-Shirt Mum
1979 Tess The Landlady
1980 Little Lord Fauntleroy Mrs Dibble TV movie
1981 Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective Madame Tarantella TV movie
1987 When We Are Married Lottie Grady TV movie
1990 Crimestrike Madame Tepinski
1992 In Dreams Royalist Housewife TV movie
1998 The Cater Street Hangman Mrs Dumphy TV movie
2002 The Princess and the Pea Sasha Voice

Television roles

Comedy

Year Title Role Notes
1959 Gert and Daisy Bonnie
1961 Danger Man Mrs. Harkness
1964 Danger Man Mrs. Farebrother Episode: The Ubiquitous Mr Lovegrove
1964 The Massingham Affair Georgina Deverel
1968-1970 Inside George Webley Rosemary Webley
1971 Doctor at Large Liz Hickle
1971-1976 Bless This House Betty Lewis
1974-1977 The Squirrels Susan
1975 Not on Your Nellie Clarissa Cholmondeley-Burnside Season 2 Episode 2 "High Society"
1979 3 2 1 Herself
1979 George and Mildred Beryl, the barmaid
1980 The Nesbitts Are Coming WPC Naylor
1981 Kinvig Netta Kinvig
1981 The Incredible Mr Tanner Martha
1982-1986 In Loving Memory Tiger-Lilly Longstaff
1989 Never the Twain Pamela Davenport
1983-1984 Hallelujah! Alice Meredith
1992 Bottom Lil Potato
1997 Get Well Soon Mrs Clapton

Children's

Year Title Role Notes
1970 Jackanory Narrator 5 episodes
1971-1972 Tottering Towers Miss Twitty
1975 The Basil Brush Show Guest
1987-1992 Rainbow Auntie

Drama

Year Title Role Notes
1961 Danger Man Mrs. Harkness
1964 Danger Man Mrs. Farebrother
1965 Out of the Unknown - Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come...? Anne Lovejoy
1969 The Avengers Thelma Episode: "Love All"
1976 Cinema Fire Safety Short Film : ' Fire Doors Save Lives '. Ada : Tealady Now listed under IMDB's Working Title Public Information Film , & , in Rowland's IMDB's Filmography.
2001 The Cazalets The Governess

References

  1. ^ a b "BBC News - Carry On Star Patsy Rowlands dies". 24 January 2005. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Patsy Rowlands - Obituaries - The Independent". 24 January 2005. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  3. ^ "Patsy Rowlands - British actress". Britannica.com.
  4. ^ a b "Patsy Rowlands - Obituaries - The Stage". Thestage.co.uk. 1 February 2005.
  5. ^ a b c Barker, Dennis (26 January 2005). "Patsy Rowlands". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  6. ^ a b "Patsy Rowlands - Theatricalia". Theatricalia.com.
  7. ^ "Patsy Rowlands, Actress in the 'Carry On' Comedies, Dies at 71". The New York Times. 30 January 2005. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  8. ^ Wolf, Matt (21 March 2001). "Review: 'My Fair Lady'". Variety.com.
  9. ^ "Patsy Rowlands". Bfi.org.uk.
  10. ^ "The Danger Man Website". Danger-man.co.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  11. ^ "Avengers: Love All (1969) - Peter Sykes - Cast and Crew - AllMovie". AllMovie.
  12. ^ a b "Patsy Rowlands". Aveleyman.com.
  13. ^ "You've Really Landed Me in It This Time (1971)". Bfi.org.uk.
  14. ^ "Patsy Rowlands: Her Carry On Story". Carryonfan.blogspot.co.uk. 19 January 2017.
  15. ^ "Miracle of the Pueblo". IMDb.com. 8 December 1991.
  16. ^ "New World Zorro Production Notes". Newworldzorro.com.
  17. ^ "Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980)". Bfi.org.uk.
  18. ^ "A Little Princess Part 5 (1987)". Bfi.org.uk.
  19. ^ "Patsy Rowlands". Scotsman.com.
  20. ^ "Robert Ross DVD". Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
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