Jean Alexander

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Jean Alexander as Hilda Ogden

Jean Alexander , actually Jean Mavis Hodgkinson , (born October 11, 1926 in Toxteth , England , † October 14, 2016 in Southport , England) was a British actress .

Life

childhood and education

Jean Alexander came from a humble background. She was born as the daughter of Nell and Archibald Alexander Hodgkinson in the Liverpool borough of Toxteth, one of Liverpool's inner city boroughs. Her parents, who were practicing members of the Scots Presbyterian Church, were British working class. Her father worked as an electrician for the Cunard Line at a shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness . She had an older brother, Kenneth. The family, who lived in a rented row house with the toilet outside the house, were poor and had neither a refrigerator nor a washing machine. Alexander, who chose her later stage name after her father's middle name , also grew up in Toxteth. From an early age, she wanted to be an actress. Her father often took her and her brother to variety and music events at the Pavilion Theater ("The Pivvy") in Liverpool when they were both children.

She attended St. Edmund's College, a girls' school in Princes Park, Toxteth on a scholarship she received, which she left at the age of 15 to become an actress. As a teenager, she joined the Playgoers' Club, an amateur theater group, in 1943, where, in addition to acting, she also learned stage technology , set construction and props . She also took speaking technique and diction lessons once a week for the price of five shillings . To support herself, she worked as a library assistant in Liverpool after leaving school.

Beginnings in the theater

In 1949, after five years working in a Liverpool library, Alexander gave up her secure office job as she had the prospect of a professional engagement as an actress. In 1949 she was engaged at the Adelphi Guild Theater in Macclesfield , where she made her stage debut that same year with the teenage lead role of Florrie in Somerset Maugham's play Sheppey . Your first theater reviews were devastating. Nevertheless, she remained engaged at the Adelphi Guild Theater until 1951, until the ensemble was dissolved.

In the 1950s she was engaged at several repertory theaters in North England in Oldham , Stockport (under the direction of Donald Bodley) and York . Mostly she played smaller roles there, like a village girl in Cinderella (1952, in Stockport) or the shipwife in Anna Christie by Eugene O'Neill ; she also worked as a stage manager and dressmaker during her engagements. With her income she made a decisive contribution to the livelihood of her family.

Television and film

At the end of the 1950s, Alexander, dissatisfied with her work at the theater, went to London , where she initially lived for a total of 18 months with the actor James Beck (who later became Private Walker in the British sitcom Dad's Army ) and his wife. During this time she was registered as an unemployed actress with the Berwick Street Unemployment Office and was receiving unemployment benefits. From 1961 she lived permanently in London. She later moved back to her parents' house, where she lived with her mother in the same household after her father's death.

As a television actress, she was best known for two long-standing series roles: as Hilda Ogden in the British soap Coronation Street (1964–1987) and as Auntie Wainwright in the sitcom Last of the Summer Wine (1988–2010).

She made her television debut in the British television series Deadline Midnight in 1960 , as Mrs. Gibson in the 1961 episode Doggo . Several minor roles followed in various British television series, including a. in Task Force Police (1962/1963), and for the first time, already in Coronation Street (1962), in a small role as Mrs. Webb, where in two episodes she is the landlady of a kidnapper who kidnaps a baby out of desperation over her dead child , played. In 1962 she got a steady series role as Mrs. Wade in the television show Television Club , a mixture of advice and game story.

In 1964 she was invited to an audition for Coronation Street in Manchester , which she completed with Bernard Youens , her future husband in the series, and immediately got the role of Hilda Ogden. As a cleaning lady in the "Rover's Return Inn" with curlers in her hair, a headscarf and her apron, she embodied a typical figure of the British working class. She played this role continuously from July 1964 to December 1987. Alexander enjoyed great popularity with television viewers and was often identified with her role by the public. 1979 was due to their popularity u. a. Founded by Sir John Betjeman , by the writer Willis Hall , the television producer Russell Harty , and by Laurence Olivier and Michael Parkinson even "The British League for Hilda Ogden". Such was her popularity in the UK that she received hundreds of letters of condolence from television viewers and fans of the series on the occasion of the death of her series husband in 1984. She received the Royal Television Society Award in 1985 for her portrayal of the grieving widow, returning home from the hospital after her husband's death, unpacking her husband's personal belongings for the last time, then putting them back in the box and folding his glasses .

Already in 1984, after Youens' death, Alexander thought of leaving the series, but continued to play the role until 1987. Eventually she left this series at her own request. Her final scenes aired on December 25, 1987. With almost 27 million viewers, they achieved the highest audience figures in the history of the series. For her role in Coronation Street , she received a 1987 BAFTA TV Award nomination for Best Actress.

In 1988, Alexander first came across a guest appearance on the long-running British sitcom Last of the Summer Wine as Auntie Wainwright, where she played the greedy owner of a local thrift store. After another guest appearance in 1989, she was part of the regular cast of the series from 1992 and played her role until the series was discontinued in 2010.

Her cinema roles included Mrs. Keeler, mother of prostitute Christine Keeler ( Joanne Whalley-Kilmer ), in the British feature film Scandal (1989) about the so-called Profumo affair and the nanny in Willie's War (1994). Alexander voiced her voice to Mrs Santa in Hooves of Fire (1999) in the UK Robbie the Reindeer film series. She also played Lily in the children's series Phoenix, the Magic Bird (1997) and starred alongside Patricia Hodge and Lionel Jeffries in the comedy series Rich Tea and Sympathy (1991).

In 2005 she was voted "Greatest Soap Opera Star of All Time" in a poll by the British television magazine TV Times . In December 2010, Alexander spoke again about her role as Hilda Ogden in a telephone interview on the ITV television program This Morning on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the series .

Private

Alexander was unmarried. According to her own statements, her career as an actress was more important to her than a private life. She stated that she was too ambitious and busy in her career. She must have had contacts with men. However, her feelings were never deep enough to be in a lasting relationship with a man. She confessed that she had never really been in love in her life; she also never had sexual intercourse in her life . However, until his death in 1984, she had a lifelong friendship with Bernard Youens, her husband from Coronation Street . In 1989 she published her autobiography The Other Side of the Street: The Autobiography of Jean Alexander .

Alexander later lived for many years in Southport , County Merseyside , Lancashire ; She regularly visited the "Southport Flower Show" there. She supported retirement homes, schools and the local Southport theater scene. In 2009 she was one of the supporters of a campaign for a makeshift library after the main library on Lord Street had to be closed for several years due to renovation work. In 2012, two years after her last television appearance, Alexander withdrew from the public. Her work as an actress spanned almost 60 years. In June 2014 she suffered a slight stroke and has lived in a nursing home since then. She celebrated her 90th birthday on October 11, 2016. On the same day, feeling unwell, she was admitted to Southport Hospital, where she died three days after her birthday.

Filmography (selection)

  • 1961: Deadline Midnight (TV series; an episode)
  • 1962: Jacks and Knaves (TV series; an episode)
  • 1962: The Largest Theater in the World: Heart to Heart (TV movie)
  • 1962: Emergency-Ward 10 (TV series; two episodes)
  • 1962: The Adventures of Captain Grant (Movie; Original Title: In Search of the Castaways )
  • 1962: Coronation Street (TV series; two episodes, as Mrs. Webb)
  • 1962–1963: Television Club (television series; series role)
  • 1962; 1963: Task Force Police (TV series; four episodes in different roles)
  • 1963: Maupassant (mini-series; one episode)
  • 1963: First Night (TV series; one episode)
  • 1963–1964: Badger's Bend (TV series; series role)
  • 1964: Mary Barton (TV series; two episodes)
  • 1964–1987: Coronation Street (TV series; series role as Hilda Ogden)
  • 1972: The Intruder (TV series; three episodes)
  • 1988; 1989; 1992–2010: Last of the Summer Wine (TV series; series role)
  • 1989: Scandal (movie)
  • 1990: Woof! (TV series; an episode)
  • 1991: Rich Tea and Sympathy (TV series; series role)
  • 1992: The Good Guys (TV series; an episode)
  • 1993: I, Lovett (TV series; an episode)
  • 1993: Cluedo (TV series; one episode)
  • 1994: Willie's War (feature film)
  • 1995: Harry (TV series; one episode)
  • 1997: Adam's Family Tree (TV series; an episode)
  • 1997: Phoenix, the magic bird (mini series; series role)
  • 1999: Hooves of Fire (TV short film; voice)
  • 2000; 2002: Barbara (TV series; two episodes)
  • 2000; 2002: Where The Heart Is (TV series; four episodes)
  • 2001; 2003: Heartbeat (TV series; two episodes)
  • 2004: The Afternoon Play (TV series; one episode)
  • 2006: To the sea again (short film)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jean M. Hodgkinson . Birth dates atifindmypast.co.uk. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Jean Alexander, Hilda Ogden in 'Coronation Street' - obituary . Obituary. In: The Daily Telegraph, October 15, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Jean Alexander obituary . Obituary. In: The Guardian, October 15, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Jean Alexander never fell in love or had sex - but preferred the company of her cats . In: Daily Mirror October 15, 2016. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h Obituary: Jean Alexander Obituary. BBC News of October 15, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  6. ↑ Jean Alexander admits she still tunes into Coronation Street in last interview with Holly Willoughby on This Morning . In: Daily Mirror October 14, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  7. ↑ a b c d RIP Hilda Ogden: Coronation Street actress Jean Alexander dies three days after 90th birthday . In: Daily Mirror October 15, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  8. ↑ a b c d Jean Alexander - local people reveal why she was so loved in Southport . In: The Southport Visiter, October 15, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Alexander, Jean
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hodgkinson, Jean Mavis (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actress
DATE OF BIRTH October 11, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Toxteth , England , UK
DATE OF DEATH October 14, 2016
Place of death Southport , England , UK