Kathleen Harrison

Kathleen Harrison (February 23, 1892 – December 7, 1995) was a prolific English character actress best remembered for her role as Mrs. Huggett (opposite Jack Warner and Petula Clark) in a trio of British post-war comedies about a working class family's misadventures.

Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, Harrison studied at RADA, then spent some years living in Argentina and Madeira before making her professional acting debut in the UK in the 1920s.

Harrison made her stage debut in "The Constant Flirt", playing the character Mrs Judd at the Pier Theatre, Eastbourne in 1926 and appeared in London's West End for the first time in the following year as Winnie in "The Cage" at the Savoy Theatre. Her subsequent West End plays included "A Damsel in Distress", "Happy Families", "The Merchant and Venus", "Lovers' Meeting", "Line Engaged", "Night Must Fall" - also acting in the 1937 film version - "The Winslow Boy" and "Watch It Sailor!".

She had already made her film debut with a minor role in "Our Boys", in 1915, when she appeared in the 1931 movie "Hobson's Choice". Another 50 films followed, including "Gaslight", "In Which We Serve" and "Caesar and Cleopatra", before making her name in later movies.

Before and during World War II, she also played small parts in numerous British films, including "The Ghost Train" (1941), "Temptation Harbour" (1947), "Oliver Twist" (1948), and a small but scene-stealing role as Mrs. Dilber in "Scrooge" (1951) (entitled "A Christmas Carol" in the USA).

The Huggett family made their first appearance in "Holiday Camp" (1947). Harrison played the London East End Charwoman Mrs Huggett. The actress continued with the role, alongside Jack Warner as her screen husband, in "Here Come the Huggetts", "Vote for Huggett" and "The Huggetts Abroad", as wel as a radio serial, "Meet the Huggetts", which ran from 1953 to 1962. The series was criticised by the critics, but viewers loved it and almost immediately it became one of the most popular programmes of the decade. Five years later, Harrison turned down the title role in writer Jeremy Sandford's acclaimed BBC play "Edna, the Inebriate Woman", which later won Patricia Hayes a Best Actress on TV Award.

As her cinema appearances became less frequent, Harrison turned to television. In 1966, she starred on television as "Mrs. Thursday", a charlady who inherited £10 million pound and the controlling interest in a company, with Hugh Manning - who later appeared in the soap opera "Emmerdale Farm".

Harrison also played Kaney in "The Ghoul" (1933) and the matriarch in "Mrs. Gibbons' Boys" (1962), as wll as two BBC productions of Charles Dickens's novels, "Our Mutual Friend" and "Martin Chuzzlewit". She later commentated that Dickens was her favourite author.

In 1992, Kathleen Harrison reached the age of 100, which made her one of Britain's oldest living actresses at that time.She died in 1995 at the age of 103. She had been married to J H Black.

References

* http://britmovie.co.uk/actors/h/019.html

External links

*imdb name|id=0365692|name=Kathleen Harrison