Patricia Routledge

Having been awarded an OBE in 1993, Routledge was given a CBE in 2004. She died in Sherman Oaks, California following a stroke and was interred in San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. Some Harry Potter fans have suggested Routledge for the role of Dolores Umbridge for the movie Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2006 or 2007). She was the voice of Jane Jetson in the television cartoon series The Jetsons from 1962-1988, and toured in nightclubs and roadshows of plays and musicals. In the United States, in addition to her Tony Award-winning role in Darling of the Day, she appeared in a number of short-lived musicals including the legendary 1976 flop, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. She led a strike by the Radio City Rockettes. Routledge was last seen in the West End in 2004 in The Solid Gold Cadillac. She was active in union affairs and was the first woman president of an AFL-CIO union.

A recent BBC radio dramatisation of Carole Hayman's "Ladies of Letters" sees Patricia playing pensioner Vera Small in a two-hander with Prunella Scales (as Irene Spencer), a gentle, quintessentially British comedy where the two ladies exchange letters (more recently e-mails) full of acerbic comment and ironic asides. Her husband produced a number of these sequels. Singleton dyed her brunette hair blonde for the rest of her life. She has also played several real-life characters on television, including Barbara Pym and Hildegard of Bingen. They repeated their roles on film, and as Dagwood and Blondie Bumstead they proved so popular that a succession of 27 sequels were made from 1938-1950. In 1996, she took the lead in another long-running series, this time a drama, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. She was cast opposite Arthur Lake in a radio show, Blondie, based on the comic strip by Chic Young. It was in 1990 that she first played the comic role of Hyacinth Bucket, an originally working-class woman with social pretensions (for example, she insists on pronouncing her surname "Bouquet"). She appeared as a nightclub dancer in After the Thin Man.

Her numerous television appearances, including roles in Coronation Street and several BBC drama serials, failed to make her a household name until the 1980s, when she appeared, amongst other things, in Victoria Wood's comedy series, and Alan Bennett's Talking Heads series of short plays. Sparks died on July 22, 1963. Around this time, she also acted alongside Sidney Poitier in the film To Sir, With Love. They had one child, a daughter. Her appearance in Darling of the Day won her a Tony Award in 1968 (she shared the honor that year with Leslie Uggams, who also won for Hallelujah, Baby!). She married Robert Sparks in 1941. She appeared in many stage productions, including musicals, and made her Broadway debut in 1966. They had one child, a daughter, and divorced in 1939.

She was born at Birkenhead in Cheshire, and educated at the University of Liverpool, going on to act at the Liverpool Playhouse. She went on to study at the Bristol Old Vic's theatre school. She married a dentist, Lawrence Singleton, in 1937, and moved to Hollywood, where she was first billed as Penny Singleton. Patricia Routledge (born 17 February 1929) is a popular British actress, best known for television roles such as Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances. She sang and danced with Milton Berle and Gene Raymond, and appeared on Broadway in Jack Benny's Great Temptations. She began her show business career as a child by singing at a silent movie theater, and toured in vaudeville as part of an act called The Kiddie Kabaret. Born Mariana Dorothy Agnes Letitia McNulty in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and known as Dorothy McNulty, she was the daughter of a newspaperman Benny McNulty.

Penny Singleton (September 15, 1908 - November 12, 2003) was a Hollywood actress best known for her role in the series of motion pictures based on the comic strip Blondie. Jetsons: The Movie - 1990 (a non-Blondie film). Beware of Blondie - 1950. Blondie's Hero - 1950.

Blondie Hits the Jackpot - 1949. Blondie's Big Deal - 1949. Blondie's Secret - 1948. Blondie's Reward - 1948.

Blondie's Anniversary - 1947. Blondie in the Dough - 1947. Blondie's Holiday - 1947. Blondie's Big Moment - 1947.

Blondie Knows Best - 1946. Blondie's Lucky Day - 1946. Life with Blondie - 1946. Young Widow - 1946 (a non-Blondie film).

Leave It to Blondie - 1945. Footlight Glamour - 1943. It's a Great Life - 1943. Blondie for Victory - 1942.

Blondie's Blessed Event - 1942. Blondie Goes to College - 1942. Go West, Young Lady - 1941 (a non-Blondie film). Blondie in Society - 1941.

Blondie Goes Latin - 1941. Blondie Plays Cupid - 1940. Blondie Has Servant Trouble - 1940. Blondie on a Budget - 1940.

Blondie Brings Up Baby - 1939. Blondie Takes a Vacation - 1939. Blondie Meets the Boss - 1939. Blondie - 1938 - her first appearance on film as Blondie Bumstead.

Hard to Get - 1938. Mad Miss Manton, The - 1938. Garden of the Moon - 1938. Campus Cinderella - 1938.

Secrets of an Actress - 1938. Boy Meets Girl - 1938. Chump - 1938. Mr.