Patsy Rowlands

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Patsy Rowlands
Born	Patricia Rowlands 19 January 1934(1934-01-19) Palmers Green, London, England, United Kingdom
Died	22 January 2005 (aged 71) Hove, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom

Patsy Rowlands (19 January 1934 – 22 January 2005) was an English actress who is best remembered for her roles in the Carry On films, as Betty in the popular ITV Thames sitcom Bless This House and as Alice Meredith in the Yorkshire Television sitcom Hallelujah!.

Early years

She was born in Palmers Green, London and attended a succession of convent schools throughout her childhood. At one an elocution teacher spotted her potential and encouraged her to pursue a career in acting. She applied for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and won a scholarship aged just fifteen.

Theatre career

Rowlands began her career in the chorus of Annie Get Your Gun, followed by a summer season in Torquay. She then spent several years with the Players' Theatre in London, before making her West End debut in Sandy Wilson's musical Valmouth. It was at this time she met her future husband, the composer Malcolm Sircom. They divorced in 1967.

Other West End theatre credits included Semi-Detached with Laurence Olivier and directed by Tony Richardson (with whom she was to work often), Shut Your Eyes and Think of England, with Donald Sinden, The Seagull and Ben Travers's The Bed Before Yesterday, both directed by Lindsay Anderson and When We Are Married for Ronald Eyre. She also starred in Cameron Mackintosh's revival of Oliver! in the mid-1990s as well as playing Jack's mother in the original London Cast of Sondheim's Into the Woods alongside Julia McKenzie and Imelda Staunton. One of her final musical appearances in the West End was as Mrs Pearce in the National Theatre's production of My Fair Lady which also starred Jonathan Pryce.

Carry On

She made her debut in the Carry On films in Carry On Again Doctor in 1969 and soon became a regular member of the team, usually playing the dowdy, put-upon wife or the long-suffering secretary. Between 1969 and 1975 she appeared in nine of the films, including Carry On Loving, Carry On At Your Convenience, Carry On Girls and Carry On Behind.

In 1971 (7th March) she starred in a single episode (You've Really Landed Me In It This Time) of popular ITV sitcom Doctor at Large, with Barry Evans and George Layton, as a nymphomaniac secretary, a role she seemed to relish and had played similarly in Carry On Loving.

From 1971 to 1976, she played Betty, the feckless neighbour in the popular ITV sitcom Bless This House, which starred fellow Carry On star Sid James. Her other television credits at this time included appearances with comedians such as Les Dawson and Dick Emery. In the early 1980s, she appeared with Thora Hird in the sitcom Hallelujah!, in which they played an aunt and niece in the Salvation Army.

In 1991 she appeared in an episode of Zorro filmed in Madrid, Spain.

Later years

Towards the end of her life, Rowlands appeared in several revivals of major musicals such as Oliver! at the London Palladium and My Fair Lady at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

Later television credits include The Cazalets, The Canterbury Tales, The Cater Street Hangman, Get Well Soon, Vanity Fair, Murder Most English and Bottom for the BBC.

In 2002 she was a guest on the paranormal series Most Haunted.

Rowlands completed several DVD audio commentaries along with other surviving stars of the Carry On films in 2003.

Illness and death

Rowlands developed breast cancer and had to give up her plans to become an acting teacher and quietly retire. She died of the disease in an East Sussex hospice, aged 71. She was survived by her only son, Alan. Rowlands was described as a 'stalwart' of the Carry On films by national newspaper obituaries.

Television Roles

Selected filmography

• Over the Odds (1961)

References

External links

• Patsy Rowlands at the Internet Movie Database