Thora Hird

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.

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.

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. Her most memorable line was, on hearing that her son had been having sex with his girlfriend in her house, "Not on the eiderdown!"

Her tireless work for charity and work on television in spite of old age and ill health had made her an institution. 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?.

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.

She received an OBE in 1983, an honorary DLitt from Lancaster University in 1989, and a DBE (thus becoming a "Dame") in 1993.

She received an OBE in 1983, an honorary DLitt from Lancaster University in 1989, and a DBE (thus becoming a "Dame") in 1993. Following her passsing in 1980, she was interred in the Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, New York. 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. Her last role, The Angel Levine, was in 1970. 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?. However, in 1965, she starred in the movie The Shop on Main Street, and she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her tireless work for charity and work on television in spite of old age and ill health had made her an institution. Her film career was brief, only appearing in four other movies in her entire career.

Her most memorable line was, on hearing that her son had been having sex with his girlfriend in her house, "Not on the eiderdown!". He first movie role was in 1912 in Mirele Efros, with her mother and her sister in other roles in the film. 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. Ida Kaminska began a stage career at the age of five. 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. She is also the brother of musician Josef Kaminska (1903-1972). 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. Born in Odessa, Russia (now Ukraine) she was the daughter of Yiddish stage actress Esther Rachel Kaminska (1870-1925) and stage producer, Avram Izhak Kashe.

Dame Thora Hird'a autobiography, Scene And Hird (1976). Ida Kaminska (September 18, 1899 - May 21, 1980) was a Jewish Russian actress.

Thora Hird

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