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Kathleen Harrison (23 February 1892 – 7 December 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, The Huggetts. She later played the charwoman Mrs. Dilber opposite Alastair Sim in the 1951 film Scrooge (US: A Christmas Carol, 1951) and a Cockney charwoman who inherits a fortune in the television series Mrs Thursday (1966–67).
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2019) |
Kathleen Harrison | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 23 February 1892 Blackburn, Lancashire, England |
| Died | 7 December 1995 (aged 103) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1915–79 |
| Spouse | John Henry Back (1916–61, his death) |
| Children | 3 |
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Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, Harrison was brought up in London, her father having become borough engineer for Southwark. She was educated at Clapham High School before training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1914–15).[1] She spent some years living in Argentina and Madeira before making her professional acting debut in the UK in the 1920s.[2]
Harrison made her stage debut as Mrs. Judd in The Constant Flirt at the Pier Theatre, Eastbourne in 1926. The following year she appeared in London's West End for the first time 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—Flare Path, Ducks and Drakes, The Winslow Boy and Watch It Sailor!.
She had already made her film debut with a minor role in Our Boys (1915), when she appeared in the film Hobson's Choice (1931). Another 50 films followed, including Gaslight (1940), In Which We Serve (1942) and Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), before making her name in later films.
Before and during World War II, she played small parts in numerous British films, including The Ghost Train (1941), Temptation Harbour (1947), and Oliver Twist (1948), and had a small but scene-stealing role as Mrs. Dilber in Scrooge (US: A Christmas Carol, 1951).
Harrison also played Kaney in The Ghoul (1933) and the matriarch in Mrs. Gibbons' Boys (1962), as well as two BBC productions of Charles Dickens's novels, Martin Chuzzlewit (1964) and Our Mutual Friend (1976). She later commented that Dickens was her favourite author. As her cinema appearances became more infrequent, Harrison turned to television. She starred on television as Mrs Thursday (1966–67), a charwoman who inherits £10 million and the controlling interest in a major company.
The Huggett family
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 (1948), Vote for Huggett and The Huggetts Abroad (both 1949), as well as a radio series, Meet the Huggetts, which ran from 1953 to 1961.[3] Although disliked by critics, almost immediately it became one of the most popular programmes of its day. Harrison turned down the title role in writer Jeremy Sandford's Play for Today Edna, the Inebriate Woman (1971).
Harrison also starred with Warner in the film Home and Away (1956), about a working-class family that wins the football pools.
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Harrison married John Henry Back in 1916; the couple had three children, two sons, and a daughter. She always pretended to be six years younger than her age, but in 1992 she owned up to reaching 100 and received her telegram from the Queen. Harrison died in 1995 at the age of 103. She was predeceased by her husband, John, and a son.[2]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1931 | Hobson's Choice | Ada Figgins | |
| 1932 | Detective Lloyd | Minor role | Uncredited |
| Aren't We All? | Unspecified | Uncredited | |
| A Blonde Dream | Unspecified | Uncredited | |
| 1933 | The Man from Toronto | Martha | |
| The Ghoul | Kaney | ||
| 1934 | The Great Defender | Agnes Carter – Locke's maid | |
| What Happened Then? | Mrs. Munday | Uncredited | |
| 1935 | Inside the Room | Nurse | Uncredited |
| Dandy Dick | Jane (the maid) | Uncredited | |
| Line Engaged | Maid | ||
| 1936 | Jury's Evidence | ||
| Broken Blossoms | Mrs. Lossy | ||
| The Tenth Man | Confused voter | ||
| Everybody Dance | Lucy | ||
| 1937 | Aren't Men Beasts! | Annie | |
| Wanted! | Belinda | ||
| Night Must Fall | Mrs. Terence | ||
| 1938 | Bank Holiday | May | |
| Jane Steps Out | Bit role | Uncredited | |
| Convict 99 | Mabel | ||
| Almost a Gentleman | Mrs. Barker | ||
| The Terror | Parlor maid | Uncredited | |
| I've Got a Horse | Mabel | ||
| The Outsider | Mrs. Coates | ||
| 1939 | A Girl Must Live | Penelope | |
| Home from Home | Mabel | ||
| Who Is Guilty | Polly | ||
| Discoveries | Kitchen maid | ||
| 1940 | Mad Men of Europe | Bit role | |
| They Came by Night | Mrs. Lightbody | ||
| Gaslight | Bit role | Uncredited | |
| Tilly of Bloomsbury | Mrs. Welwyn | ||
| The Girl in the News | Cook | ||
| The Flying Squad | Mrs. Schiffan | ||
| Salvage with a Smile | The Housekeeper | Short | |
| A Call for Arms | Mrs. James | Short | |
| 1941 | The Ghost Train | Miss Bourne | |
| Major Barbara | Mrs. Price | ||
| The Remarkable Mr. Kipps | Customer | Uncredited | |
| Once a Crook | Auntie | ||
| I Thank You | Cook | ||
| A Letter from Home | The Maid | Short | |
| 1942 | The Big Blockade | Bit Role | Uncredited |
| In Which We Serve | Mrs. Blake | ||
| Much Too Shy | Amelia Peabody | ||
| 1943 | Dear Octopus | Mrs. Glossop | |
| The New Lot | Keith's Mother | Short – Uncredited | |
| 1944 | It Happened One Sunday | Mrs. Purkiss | |
| 1945 | Waterloo Road | Bit role | Uncredited |
| Meet Sexton Blake! | Mrs. Bardell | ||
| Great Day | Pub customer | ||
| Caesar and Cleopatra | Egyptian woman | Uncredited | |
| 1946 | Wanted for Murder | Florrie | |
| I See a Dark Stranger | Waitress | Uncredited | |
| Carnival | Bit role | Uncredited | |
| 1947 | Temptation Harbour | Mrs. Slater | |
| Code of Scotland Yard | Mrs. Catt | ||
| Holiday Camp | Mrs. Huggett | ||
| 1948 | Oliver Twist | Mrs. Sowerberry | |
| Bond Street | Ethel Brawn | ||
| The Winslow Boy | Violet – the maid | ||
| Here Come the Huggetts | Ethel Huggett | ||
| The Day Begins Early | Mrs. Huggett | Short | |
| Vote for Huggett | Ethel Huggett | ||
| 1949 | Now Barabbas | Mrs. Brown | |
| The Huggetts Abroad | Ethel Huggett | ||
| Landfall | Mona's mother | ||
| The Gay Adventure | Isobel | ||
| 1950 | Double Confession | Kate | |
| Waterfront | Mrs. McCabe | ||
| Trio | Emma Brown Foreman | ||
| 1951 | The Magic Box | Mother in Family Group | |
| Scrooge | Mrs. Dilber | ||
| 1952 | The Happy Family | Lillian Lord | |
| The Pickwick Papers | Rachel Wardle | ||
| 1953 | Turn the Key Softly | Granny Quilliam | |
| The Dog and the Diamonds | Mrs. Fossett | ||
| 1954 | Let's Make Up | Kate | |
| 1955 | Where There's a Will | Annie Yeo | |
| Cast a Dark Shadow | Emmie | ||
| All for Mary | Nannie Cartwright | ||
| 1956 | It's a Wonderful World | Miss Gilly | |
| Home and Away | Elsie | ||
| The Big Money | Mrs. Frith | ||
| 1957 | Seven Thunders | Mme. Abou | |
| 1958 | A Cry from the Streets | Mrs. Farrer | |
| Alive and Kicking | Rosie | ||
| 1961 | On the Fiddle | Mrs. Cooksley | |
| 1962 | Mrs. Gibbons' Boys | Mrs. Gibbons | |
| The Fast Lady | Mrs. Staggers | ||
| 1963 | West 11 | Mrs. Beckett | |
| 1969 | Lock Up Your Daughters! | Lady Clumsey | |
| 1979 | The Omega Connection | Elderly lady | |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | All for Mary | Nannie Cartwright | TV movie |
| 1956 | Rheingold Theatre | Mrs. Mintern | Episode: Treasure in Store |
| 1956 | Nude with Violin | Cherry May Waterton | TV movie |
| 1959 | BBC Sunday Night Theatre | Mrs. Ashworth | Episode: Waters of the Moon |
| 1959–1960 | Theatre Night | Emma Hornett/Gladys Pudney | Episodes: Watch It, Sailor!/How Say You? |
| 1963 | Comedy Playhouse | Woman | Episode: Shamrot |
| 1964 | Martin Chuzzlewit | Mrs. Prig | TV series |
| 1964 | Laughter from the Whitehall | Nannie Cartwright | Episode: All for Mary |
| 1966–1967 | Mrs Thursday | Alice Thursday | TV series |
| 1968 | Dixon of Dock Green | Kitty Putnam | TV series |
| 1968 | BBC Play of the Month | Mrs. Ashworth | Episode: Waters of the Moon |
| 1969 | NBC Experiment in Television | Voice | Episode: Pinter People |
| 1973 | ITV Sunday Night Theatre | Rose | Episode: The Coffee Lace |
| 1973 | Spring & Autumn | Daisy/Ice Cream Vendor | |
| 1973 | Stars on Sundays | Mrs. Wardle | Episode: Glories of Christmas |
| 1974 | Charles Dickens' World of Christmas | TV movie | |
| 1976 | Shades of Greene | Mrs. Salmon | Episode: The Case for the Defence |
| 1976 | Our Mutual Friend | Henrietty Boffin | TV mini-series |
| 1979 | Danger UXB | Mrs. Dollery | Episode: The Quiet Weekend |
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