Who is Hattie Jacques?

Who is Hattie Jacques?

Hattie Jacques (born Josephine Edwina Jaques; 7 February 1922 – 6 October 1980) was an English comedy actress of stage, radio and screen. She is best known as a regular of the Carry On films, where she typically played strict, no-nonsense characters, but was also a prolific television and radio performer.

Jacques started her career in 1944 with an appearance at the Players' Theatre in London, but came to national prominence through her appearances on three highly popular radio series on the BBC: with Tommy Handley on It's That Man Again; with ventriloquist Peter Brough on Educating Archie; and then with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour. After the Second World War Jacques made her cinematic debut in Green for Danger, in which she had a brief, uncredited role. From 1958 to 1974 she appeared in 14 Carry On films, playing various roles including the formidable hospital matron. On television she had a long professional partnership with Eric Sykes, with whom she co-starred in his long-running series Sykes and Sykes and a.... The role endeared her to the public and the two became staples of British television.

In private, Jacques led a turbulent life. She was married to the actor John Le Mesurier from 1949 until their divorce in 1965,[1] a separation caused by her five-year affair with another man. Jacques, who had been overweight since her teenage years, suffered ill-health soon after the separation from Le Mesurier and her weight rose to nearly 20 stone (130 kg). She died of a heart attack on 6 October 1980, at the age of 58. Her biographer, Francis Gray, considers Jacques had a "talent for larger-than-life comedy which never lost its grip on humanity", while she could also display "a broader comic mode" as a result of her "extraordinary versatility".

When the first Carry On film was made in 1958, Jacques formed part of the cast. This series would go on to employ the same group of actors who would collectively become known as the "Carry On team". Jacques appeared in 14 of these films over a 15-year period and like many of her Carry On co-stars, she quickly became typecast. A reoccurring role for Jacques was a no-nonsense matron which she played in five of the films – Carry On Nurse, Carry On Doctor, Carry On Again Doctor, Carry On Camping and Carry On Matron. She became known by the team as a "Mother Hen" figure, and was a close friend to many of her co-stars, including Kenneth Williams and Joan Sims, whom Jacques provided with a great deal of advice and practical help. In return, Sims regarded Jacques as her "greatest friend", and as "both a sister and a mother to me". Jacques would frequently invite Sims, Williams and Hawtrey to her house for Christmas dinner.

Jacques began her association with the Carry On series in March 1958 with the first film in the series, Carry On Sergeant.

On 29 January 1960 Jacques appeared in the first episode of the BBC comedy series Sykes and a..., co-starring with Eric Sykes as a pair of twins; Richard Wattis and Deryck Guyler were also regulars in the cast. Jacques's character—Hattie (Hat) Sykes—was "a middle-class, slightly pretentious lady struggling to keep her dignity as the men made fools of themselves". Sykes and a... went on to run for sixty episodes over nine series during the next five years. they released a comedy album entitled Eric and Hattie and Things!!!, but it failed to chart. In September 1960 she starred in her second television series, Our House, alongside Charles Hawtrey, Bernard Bresslaw and Joan Sims; Jacques played the librarian Georgina Ruddy, who was forced to keep quiet at work and so made up for it by being extremely noisy at home. Later that year she played minor roles in two films: Watch Your Stern, with many of the Carry On regulars, and School for Scoundrels, opposite Ian Carmichael. After these her screen time increased with the part of Nanette Parry in Make Mine Mink in which she co-starred with Terry-Thomas and Athene Seyler. She later described this as her favourite film.

By this time Carry On had become a leading film franchise, with the author Robert Ross describing it as a "phenomenon". That year's film, Carry On Regardless, was the fifth in the series; Jacques received a fee of £100 for the small role of a disgruntled hospital nurse, who appeared briefly on screen alongside the English character actor Kynaston Reeves who played her cantankerous boss. Jacques was initially intended for a major part in the film, but she was unable to commit to a longer role because of ill health. She appeared in her sixth Carry On, Carry On Cabby, in 1963, as "Peggy Hawkins", the emotionally neglected wife of taxi-firm boss "Charlie", played by Sid James. Jacques later named the film as her favourite of the series, as she was allowed to drop her "battleaxe" persona and play the romantic lead opposite James.

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