From the Daily Telegraph:
Dame Thora Hird, one of Britain’s best-loved character actresses, died yesterday at the age of 91. She had suffered a stroke last weekend. Dame Thora’s acting career spanned nearly 90 years, from her first stage appearance at the age of eight months to her success at the Baftas and the Royal Television Society Awards in 1999, where she won Best Actress titles for her monologue in Alan Bennett’s Waiting for the Telegram. Although she had scaled back her acting commitments as she became frail, she remained a familiar figure through television advertisements. In roles in television series ranging from Meet the Wife to Last of the Summer Wine, she came to epitomise the houseproud northern woman, full of warmth and common sense.
Thora Hird was born in Morecambe, Lancashire, in 1911, and made her first appearance on stage as a baby in the arms of her mother at the Royalty Theatre in Morecambe, where her father, James Hird, was manager. The family lived next door to the theatre, which she said provided her with “a magical childhood”, allowing her on stage between performances to practise playing roles. . . . However, it was her roles on the small screen, starting in the 1940s, that made her a household name. One of her earliest successes was Meet the Wife, a series in which she starred with Freddy Frinton for five years. In 1968, she took the lead in a series called First Lady, about the in-fighting and intrigues of town-hall politics. Other family favourites included Ours is a Nice House, and In Loving Memory, which ran for 17 years. Later she joined the long-running show, Last of the Summer Wine. Some of her most acclaimed performances, however, have been alone. Bennett, a close friend, wrote several Talking Heads one-hander plays especially for her. They were screened on national television to rave reviews.
Despite her success, Dame Thora never developed pretensions and was often quoted as saying how grateful she was for her good fortune.
Oh no!She will be sadly missed by me at least