Deidre Hall

Hall played herself in the movie. She received an OBE in 1983, an honorary DLitt from Lancaster University in 1989, and a DBE (thus becoming a "Dame") in 1993. Hall and Sohmer became parents via surrogacy, and the conception of their first child was chronicled in the autobiographical TV-movie Never Say Never: The Deidre Hall Story. Thora Hird's energy and resilience were such that, even following the news that she had suffered a stroke, BBC bosses were still hoping that she would recover in order to appear in the next series of Last of the Summer Wine. Deidre Hall is married to network executive Steve Sohmer. Although in recent years she had been thought of as a stereotypical old woman (with many jokes about her sideline advertising stairlifts), some of her youthful film work still survives, including her 1942 appearance in the classic wartime propaganda film Went the Day Well?. She also portrayed Jessica Witherspoon on the nighttime drama Our House from 1986 to 1988. Her tireless work for charity and work on television in spite of old age and ill health had made her an institution.

Hall's first big role was as the superhero Electra Woman in the 1976 series Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. Her most memorable line was, on hearing that her son had been having sex with his girlfriend in her house, "Not on the eiderdown!". In 2004, it was revealed that Marlena was Salem's latest serial killer, only for the show to later reveal that the murders were hoaxes. Dame Thora's talent for comedy was shown to good effect in her performance as the potential battleaxe mother-in-law to Victoria Wood's character in the TV film Pat and Margaret. In 1995, Marlena was possessed by the devil and had to be exorcised. Thora Hird was mainly associated with television comedy, notably the sitcoms Meet the Wife (a 1960s classic) and later series of Last of the Summer Wine. However, she played a variety of roles, including the nurse in Romeo and Juliet, and won a BAFTA Best Actress award for her role in one of Alan Bennett's monologues. A serial killer seemed to have murdered Marlena in 1982, but a fan uproar caused the producers to reveal that Marlena's twin sister Samantha had actually died. Dame Thora Hird (May 28, 1911 - March 15, 2003) was a veteran British actress born in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe. She was the mother of the actress Janette Scott, and thus formerly the mother-in-law of the singer Mel Tormé.

Marlena has been at the center of many of the show's most controversial storylines. Dame Thora Hird'a autobiography, Scene And Hird (1976). She is the twin sister of former actress Andrea Hall, who portrayed Samantha Evans on the serial from 1977 to 1982. She played the role originally from 1976 to 1987, and returned to the show in 1991. Marlena Evans on the American soap opera Days of Our Lives.

Deidre Hall (born October 31, 1947) is an actress who is best known for her portrayal of Dr.