Patricia Routledge facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dame Patricia Routledge DBE
Routledge in 2023
Born	Katherine Patricia Routledge (1929-02-17) 17 February 1929 (age 96) Tranmere, Cheshire, England
Alma mater	University of Liverpool (BA) Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Occupation	Actress singer
Years active	1952–present

Dame Patricia Routledge (born 17 February 1929) is a famous English actress and singer. She is best known for her funny role as Hyacinth Bucket in the popular BBC TV show Keeping Up Appearances (1990–1995). For this role, she was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award twice.

Patricia Routledge started her acting career on stage in 1952 at the Liverpool Playhouse. She made her first appearance on Broadway in New York City in 1966. She won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1968 for her part in Darling of the Day. Later, in 1988, she won an Olivier Award for her role in Candide. You might also have seen her in films like To Sir, with Love (1967).

On television, Patricia Routledge became very well-known in the 1980s. She starred in special monologues (one-person plays) written by Alan Bennett and Victoria Wood. She was even nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for her role in Talking Heads: A Lady of Letters (1988). She also played Hetty Wainthropp in the British TV series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1990, 1996–1998). In 2017, Queen Elizabeth II made her a "Dame" for her amazing work in entertainment and charity.

Early Life and Education

Patricia Routledge was born on 17 February 1929 in Tranmere, which is in Birkenhead, Cheshire. Her father owned a shop that sold sewing items and men's clothes. She went to Birkenhead High School and then studied at the University of Liverpool. She earned a degree with honors in English Language and Literature.

While at university, she was very active in the drama club. A professor there, Edmund Colledge, encouraged her to become an actress. After graduating, she trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She then returned to Liverpool to start her acting career at the Liverpool Playhouse.

Acting Career

Theatre Performances

Patricia Routledge has had a long and successful career in theatre, especially in musical theatre. She has performed in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Her singing voice is known as a mezzo-soprano or contralto. She has been a member of the famous Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). One of her notable roles with the RSC was in Richard III in 1984.

She has also performed in many West End shows in London. These include Little Mary Sunshine, Noises Off, and The Importance of Being Earnest. She was nominated for an Olivier Award in 1979 for her role in And a Nightingale Sang. As a trained singer, she has also appeared in operettas, like La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein in 1978.

Broadway Successes

Patricia Routledge first appeared on Broadway in 1966 in the play How's the World Treating You?. She returned in 1968 for the musical Darling of the Day. She won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for this role, sharing the award with Leslie Uggams.

In 1980, Routledge played Ruth in a production of The Pirates of Penzance in Central Park in New York City. This show was very popular and later moved to Broadway. A DVD of the Central Park performance with Patricia Routledge was released in 2002.

She won another Laurence Olivier Award in 1988 for her role as the Old Lady in Leonard Bernstein's Candide. Critics praised her performance, saying she was both funny and touching. In 1992, she played Nettie Fowler in the National Theatre production of Carousel. More recently, she played Lady Markby in An Ideal Husband in 2014.

Since 2009, Patricia Routledge has toured with her own show called Facing The Music. In this show, she shares stories and insights from her musical theatre career.

Film and Television Roles

Patricia Routledge has appeared in several films. Her movie roles include To Sir, with Love (1967), Pretty Polly (1967), and Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968).

Early TV Appearances

Her early television work included an episode of Steptoe and Son in 1974, where she played a fortune teller. She also had a role in Coronation Street in 1961. She played Mrs. Jennings in the BBC mini-series Sense and Sensibility (1971).

She became much more famous on television in the 1980s. This was thanks to special monologues written for her by Alan Bennett and Victoria Wood. She first appeared in A Woman of No Importance in 1982. Then, she played the strong-minded Kitty in Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV in 1985. She performed two more monologues in Bennett's Talking Heads in 1988 and 1998. She was nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for her monologue "A Lady of Letters".

Famous TV Series

In 1990, Patricia Routledge took on the main role of Hetty Wainthropp in a mystery drama called Hetty Wainthropp: Missing Persons. The BBC later turned this into a series, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, which ran from 1996 to 1998. She starred alongside Dominic Monaghan, who played her assistant. Monaghan, who later became a Hollywood actor, has said that Routledge was an "amazing teacher" who taught him valuable acting lessons.

Her most famous role came in 1990 when she was cast as Hyacinth Bucket in the comedy series Keeping Up Appearances. She played a woman who tried very hard to seem upper-class, even insisting her last name was pronounced "bouquet." Patricia Routledge enjoyed playing Hyacinth, even though she said she "couldn't stand people like her" in real life. She won a British Comedy Award in 1991 for her performance and was nominated for two BAFTA TV Awards. She decided to leave the show in 1995, even though it was still very popular. She wanted to try other acting roles and felt the writer was repeating ideas.

Patricia Routledge has also played real-life people on television. These include author Barbara Pym and Hildegard of Bingen in a 1994 BBC documentary. In 2001, she starred in Anybody's Nightmare, a true-story drama where she played Sheila Bowler.

In 2016, she presented Beatrix Potter with Patricia Routledge on Channel 4, celebrating the 150th birthday of author Beatrix Potter. In January 2023, Channel 5 aired a special show called Keeping Up Appearances – 30 Years Of Laughs. This documentary featured an interview with Patricia Routledge, who was 93 at the time, sharing her memories of the show.

Radio and Audio Books

Patricia Routledge has also had a busy career in radio. In 1966, she sang in several BBC Radio recordings of Gilbert and Sullivan operas. She was also featured in a 2006 episode of the Stage and Screen series on Radio 3.

Her many radio credits include plays by Alan Bennett. She also starred with Prunella Scales in the BBC dramatisation of Carole Hayman's Ladies of Letters. In this show, they played two retired women who exchange funny letters. A tenth series of Ladies of Letters aired in 2009.

With her unique voice, Patricia Routledge has recorded many audiobooks. These include full readings of Wuthering Heights and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. She also recorded shorter versions of the Hetty Wainthropp series books.

Personal Life

Patricia Routledge has never married and does not have children. She once said that her deep involvement in acting meant that life just turned out that way.

She has lived in Chichester since 2000 and regularly attends Chichester Cathedral. In 2020, she helped raise £10,000 to help repair the cathedral roof.

Patricia Routledge supports several charities. She is a patron of the Beatrix Potter Society and an ambassador for the Royal Voluntary Service. She was also a close friend of Betty Boothroyd, a former Speaker of the House of Commons.

Awards and Honours

Patricia Routledge has received many honours for her contributions to theatre and charity. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1993. She became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2004. In 2017, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).

She has also received several honorary degrees from universities. These include an honorary MA from the University of Chichester in 2001, and honorary Doctor of Letters degrees from Lancaster University in 2008 and the University of Chester in 2019. In 2022, the Royal Academy of Music made her an honorary member.

She is an honorary president of the Association of English Singers & Speakers. She has also sponsored their annual English Song Prize since 2003. On 17 January 2025, she was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Wirral.

Screen and Stage Work

Film

Television

Stage

Discography

Cast Recordings

Studio Albums

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Patricia Routledge para niños