Career Highlights: The Neverending Story, Willow, War Requiem
First Major Screen Credit: The Terrornauts (1967)
Biography
Comic British character actress Patricia Hayes specialized in playing shrill Cockney women and though her career spanned 70 years, she primarily appeared on television, where she earned the most acclaim from playing Edna the Inebriate Woman, for which she won an Academy Award from the British Academy of Film & Television Arts in 1972. Hayes made her feature-film debut in 1942, appearing in two films, 48 Hours and When We Are Married. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Her most famous TV appearance was in the title role of the 1971 TV Play Edna, the Inebriate Woman for which she won a BAFTA award. She provided the character voice for comedy puppet performances for television and DVDs - e.g. 'Gran' (Woodland Animations, 1982).
She is the mother of British actor Richard O'Callaghan (born Richard Rooke) by her marriage to the late Valentine Rooke, whom she divorced. She never remarried. She was formerly the head of the (British) Catholic Stage Guild, which her son, Richard, now chairs.
Patricia Hayes died in September 1998 in Surrey[3] but went on to appear posthumously in Crime and Punishment in 2002.