Dame Pat Routledge, who has died at the years of 96, etched her presence on the British psyche as the pretentious Hyacinth Bucket.
Declaring it was "pronounced Bouquet," Hyacinth ran roughshod over her long-suffering husband and confused neighbours in Keeping Up Appearances, one of Britain's most successful comedies in the 1990s.
Acting like a aristocrat while residing in a suburban area, Hyacinth's monstrous social-climbing schemes were in the end destined to failure—while she battled to maintain her dignity.
It was Dame Routledge's best-known part in a professional life that included her win theatrical awards on each side of the ocean, become the star of Alan Bennett's celebrated TV soliloquies, and star as BBC1's crime-busting Mrs. Wainthropp.
Formative Life and Start in Acting
Catherine Pat Routledge was born in Merseyside on 17 February 1929.
Her father was a haberdasher and she later recalled taking cover from German air raids in the cellar of his shop throughout the Second World War.
She studied literature at local the University of Liverpool and intended to become a teacher. Rather, she entered the local theatre prior to studying at the Bristol Old Vic.
Her prosperous stage career took her from the regions to the West End, and finally to New York, where Leonard Bernstein selected her to star in his musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1976.
She had already won a Tony honor for her acting in Darling of the Day.
She could transition effortlessly from comedies to classics.
She progressed from Shakespeare's birthplace, performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and later to the London's national stage in the capital.
At the National, her starring part in the theatre production Carousel featured her singing the inspiring You'll Never Walk Alone.
She also took various supporting movie parts, notably in 1967's To Sir, With Love, and the Jerry Lewis funny film Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River.
Her theatre and broadcast work demonstrated her range and earned her accolades, but it was television that provided Routledge with her best-known roles.
Television Success and Memorable Roles
Initial small-screen appearances featured well-liked shows like Z Cars and Steptoe and Son.
And later, among Britain's esteemed writers, Alan Bennett, penned a series of outstanding Talking Heads TV solos for her.
Routledge conquered her early hesitation to perform his material and excelled as A Woman of No Importance and A Lady of Letters.
She later play a isolated, mid-life department store clerk tipped into a relationship with a unconventional podiatrist in Bennett's Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet.
A humorous performance as the larger-than-life Kitty on The Victoria Wood Show led to the development of Mrs. Bucket.
Routledge remembered being given the scripts by the author, the screenwriter—who had also done Last of the Summer Wine and Open All Hours.
"I opened the pages for a while at one o'clock in the morning," she recalled, "I read straight through and Hyacinth jumped off the page. I recognized that woman, I knew several of that type."
Keeping Up Appearances aired for five series and featured several holiday specials.
In a documentary, she later claimed that admirers had numbered Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and Pope Benedict XVI.
It became BBC Worldwide's most-sold show of all time and ensured Routledge was recognised as far away as Africa.
For her performance on the sitcom, she was voted the UK's all-time favourite actress in 1996, but after half a decade in the part, she felt it was the moment for a change.
"I decided to end it to an end," she said, "and, naturally, the broadcaster didn’t care for very much."
She believed that Roy Clarke was beginning to recycle ideas and recalled a piece of advice from the comedian, Ronnie Barker.
"He always left with people saying, ‘Oh, aren’t you doing any more?’ she recalled, instead of fans remarking, ‘Is that still running?’"
Later Work and Personal Life
Portraying the homely but sharp detective in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates brought her ongoing popularity on television, but she consistently referred to the theatre as "the real challenge."
Years after she ceased appearing regularly on television, Routledge made theatre tours equally in the United Kingdom and abroad.
Whenever interviewers asked the inevitable inquiry, she requested them to write the word withdrawal since, she clarified: "It's not in my lexicon."
She did not married or had kids, but informed interviewers of a couple of great affairs in her younger days, one with a wedded man.
"I felt guilt and an sharp feeling that there would be pain," she confessed. "I guess I convinced myself that it was all right for the time being because his marriage was no a vibrant relationship."
In place of family, she dedicated herself to her craft, serving it with the skill, dedication and commitment that were consistently admired by her peers.
She was scathing about the BBC's choice in 2016 to revive Keeping Up Appearances, but on this occasion set in the 1950s and starring a more youthful version of her role.
Challenging the Corporation's approach of rebooting old comedies she remarked, "Why are they attempting this sort of project, they have to be desperate."
She had previously clashed with the broadcaster over its move not to commission a film she had authored about the writer Beatrix Potter (she was a Patron of the literary group), which eventually aired on Channel 4.
On turning 90, she continued to live quietly in the city, where she occupied herself raising money for the church structure.
In 2017, she became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire but—unlike her character—titles never affect her head.
Lady Routledge often said she thanked her Northern roots and stable background for giving her good sense with her time and her money.
Nonetheless, she admitted that, if any additional cash arrive, she'd definitely spend it on "a case of champagne"—an appreciation of the better pleasures in life that she shared with her best-remembered character.
"I never was theatre-obsessed," she declared. "I'm not stage-struck now. Nobody's more surprised than myself that I have, in fact, devoted my life doing this."
