Lady Patricia Routledge, who has died at the age of 96, etched her presence on the British psyche as the pretentious Mrs. Bouquet.
Declaring it was "said Bouquet," the character trampled over her patient husband and bewildered neighbours in Keeping Up Appearances, among Britain's best-loved sitcoms in the 1990s.
Acting like a duchess while residing in a suburb, Hyacinth's monstrous social-climbing schemes were in the end destined to failure—while she struggled to maintain her dignity.
It was Lady Routledge's most famous part in a professional life that included her win theatrical awards on each side of the ocean, emerge as the lead of Alan Bennett's famous TV soliloquies, and star as BBC1's investigative Mrs. Wainthropp.
Early Years and Start in Acting
Catherine Pat Routledge was born in Birkenhead on February 17 1929.
Her dad was a clothier and she remembered taking cover from German bombs in the basement of his shop during the war.
She studied literature at nearby the University of Liverpool and planned to become a teacher. Rather, she joined the local theatre prior to studying at the Bristol drama school.
Her prosperous acting career took her from the provinces to the London theatre district, and finally to New York, where the composer selected her to star in his stage production 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1976.
She had already won a Tony honor for her acting in Darling of the Day.
She could transition effortlessly from lighthearted plays to classics.
She went from Stratford-upon-Avon, performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and later to the London's national stage in London.
At the National, her starring role in the stage musical Carousel featured her singing the rousing You'll Never Walk Alone.
She also took several supporting film roles, notably in 1967's To Sir, With Love, and the Jerry Lewis comedy outing Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River.
Her stage and radio work demonstrated her range and won her accolades, but it was the small screen that provided Routledge with her best-known characters.
Television Success and Memorable Characters
Early small-screen appearances featured well-liked shows like Z Cars and Steptoe and Son.
And later, one of Britain's most respected writers, the dramatist, penned a set of remarkable Talking Heads TV solos for her.
Routledge conquered her initial reluctance to perform his scripts and shone as A Woman of No Importance and A Lady of Letters.
She went onto play a lonely, middle-aged shop clerk tipped into a relationship with a unconventional podiatrist in Bennett's Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet.
A humorous turn as the larger-than-life Kitty on The Victoria Wood Show resulted in the creation of Hyacinth Bouquet.
Routledge remembered being given the episodes by the writer, Roy Clarke—known for Last of the Summer Wine and Open All Hours.
"I opened the script for a while at one o'clock in the morning," she said, "I read straight through and Hyacinth jumped off the page. I knew that lady, I knew a few of that type."
Keeping Up Appearances aired for five seasons and featured several Christmas episodes.
In a documentary, she later claimed that fans had numbered Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and the pontiff.
It turned into BBC Worldwide's most exported programme of all time and ensured Routledge was known as distant as Botswana.
For her work on the comedy, she was voted the UK's all-time best-loved actress in 1996, but following five years in the role, she felt it was the moment for a change.
"I brought it to an close," she explained, "which, naturally, the broadcaster didn’t care for at all."
She thought that the writer was starting to recycle ideas and mentioned a piece of guidance from the performer, Ronnie Barker.
"He made sure to finish with people saying, ‘Oh, aren’t you doing any more?’ she said, instead of fans saying, ‘Is that still running?’"
Later Work and Personal Reflections
Portraying the unassuming but astute sleuth in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates gave her continued popularity on TV, but she consistently called the stage as "the test."
Long after she ceased appearing regularly on screen, Routledge made theatre tours both in the UK and overseas.
Whenever journalists posed the predictable inquiry, she asked them to spell out the word retirement because, she explained: "It isn't in my lexicon."
She did not married or raised kids, but informed the press of two significant affairs in her younger days, one with a married man.
"I felt remorse and an sharp feeling that there would be pain," she confessed. "I suppose I convinced myself that it was acceptable for the time being because his union was not a vibrant relationship."
In place of family, she devoted herself to her craft, serving it with the skill, discipline and commitment that were consistently respected by her peers.
She was critical about the BBC's choice in 2016 to bring back Keeping Up Appearances, but on this occasion placed in the 1950s and starring a more youthful version of her role.
Questioning the Corporation's approach of resurrecting old sitcoms she said, "Why are they doing this sort of thing, they have to be desperate."
She had previously clashed with the broadcaster over their move not to commission a documentary she had written about the writer the children's author (she was a Patron of the literary group), which eventually broadcast on another network.
Upon reaching 90, she persisted to live peacefully in the city, where she occupied herself raising money for the cathedral roof.
In 2017, she became a Dame of the Order of the British Empire but—unlike Hyacinth—honors never affect her mind.
Dame Routledge often said she credited her Northern upbringing and stable family for providing her good sense with her life and her finances.
Nonetheless, she admitted that, should any extra cash arrive, she'd certainly use it on "a case of sparkling wine"—an love of the finer pleasures in life that she had in common with her best-remembered creation.
"I never was theatre-obsessed," she declared. "I am not stage-struck now. Nobody's as amazed than I am that I have, actually, spent my career doing this."
