Playing a never-ending roster of headmistresses, matrons and disappointed virgins, the outsize actress became a national symbol of shocked propriety. He moved into the master bedroom and Le Mesurier uncomplainingly retreated to the attic a Joe Orton set-up. But we remained friends and my second husband Victor and I would go and visit him and Hattie.. [73][h] As well as recording in series five of Educating Archie, she was also cast as Mrs Leathers for 18 episodes of Mrs Dale's Diary between February and April 1955. She appeared in 16 episodes from November 1956 to February 1957, alongside Hancock and regulars Sidney James, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams. At the end of her act, to great applause, she leapt in the air, finishing in the splits, landing as softly as a snowflake in July". Find the best deals on Small Appliances from your favorite brands. May 7, 2017 - Image result for John Schofield Hattie Jacques. [107] Because of the success, Jacques and Sykes "became embedded in the public mind as a priceless comic partnership";[108] to capitalise, they released a comedy album entitled Eric and Hattie and Things!! In July 1930 Jacques started her secondary schooling at the Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith,[10][11] and also attended a local dance school, the Dean Sisters Academy, where she was a principal dancer in the academy's shows. As it took him 10 years to get around to organising a honeymoon, even Jacques grew impatient with his sloth, his disinclination to put himself out. . Ever the gentleman, he had admitted adultery with Joan to save Hatties reputation. [1] First broadcast in January 2011, it became the most watched programme on BBC Four ever and defeated biopic The Curse of Steptoe, which had held the record since 2008. These are the best Fashion deals youll find online. Deals and discounts in Tablets you dont want to miss. [166] Her health remained poor, and insurance companies refused to insure her for film work. These are the best Kitchen Linens deals youll find online. John did the crossword every day, his widow said after placing a death notice in the newspaper, said a close friend. On the day of the divorce, they all celebrated together and Hattie, John and Joan remained lifelong friends. Shop the best selection of deals on Fitness now. [136], Jacques started 1968 by appearing with Spike Milligan and Frank Thornton in thirteen episodes of the sketch show The World of Beachcomber, based on the Beachcomber column in the Daily Express newspaper and broadcast on the BBC from January to April. Hattie would play Sykes small-screen sister for 19 years after her big break had come in 1950s BBC radio comedies Its That Man Again, Educating Archie and Hancocks Half Hour. . she wrote in her diary, her desire off the leash. She then served as an arc welder in the Holloway Road, making pontoon bridges and tanks. [30] While engaged at the Players' in June 1947, Jacques was introduced to the actor John Le Mesurier and the two began a relationship. The couple became romantically involved after the driver gave her the attention and support that Le Mesurier did not. [106] According to the media historian Graham McCann, the show was "one of the best-natured, least pretentious and most successful British sitcoms of the 1960s". . Save up to 50% on Smart Home when you shop now. After all, we ran an open house with friends popping in unannounced and not infrequently staying with us for days or weeks on end. Joan herself says: I know for a fact that John would never have gone for me if there had been any hope of keeping his marriage intact. Get a weekly round-up of stories from The Sunday Post: Something went wrong - please try again later. She was raised above an uncles pawnshop in Chelsea and dressed up in the unredeemed shawls and velvet cloaks. Today. He always does something wrong so he wont be asked to do it again, she noticed. In 1966, Schofield ran off with an Italian heiress. Her confidence knocked, Jacques raided the fridge and her weight ballooned to 20st. No, no, matron, I was once a weak man, implores the weedy Williams, recoiling from her elephantine yearnings. In Sykes her performance had to be a foil for the main character; in the Carry Ons she blossomed". Tragedy struck when her former RAF officer dad was killed in a flying accident when she was just one and a half. Morwenna Banks and Amanda Swift consider Jacques to have been "unimaginatively cast as the 'fat person'" in ITMA,[193] while in Sykes, her weight was rarely referred toand Jacques said that Sykes "hardly ever made jokes about my size which was a refreshing change". On a Friday in May, 1965, John and Hattie's marriage was dissolved at the same time, and in the same courtroom, as Joan's marriage to her husband, Mark. British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Hattie Jacques on stage, radio, screen and record, "Ruth Jones stars in BBC Four drama Hattie", "Ruth has captured my mum Hattie perfectly", "Jacques, Josephine Edwina (Hattie) (19221980)", "Handley, Thomas Reginald (Tommy) (18921949)", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hattie_Jacques&oldid=1147667622, This page was last edited on 1 April 2023, at 12:05. Describing Schofield as a very handsome man with lots of charm, Le Mesuriers third wife Joan says: He gave Hattie the undivided attention and support that John, working away from home so frequently, was unable to do. [138] She continued her busy schedule with appearances in six films for 1969,[n] including another with Sellers, The Magic Christian. [Hattie meets John Schofield for the first time when he drives up in a red E-Type Jaguar sports car] John Schofield : Are you all right here, or do you need to sit in the back like the Queen? [1], Jacques was born Josephine Edwina Jaques on 7 February 1922 at 125 Sandgate High Street, Sandgate, Kent. [164][t], In May 1980 Jacques's doctor advised her against travelling to Greece on holiday as planned, so she visited Ireland instead. Find the best deals on More Pets Supplies from your favorite brands. She slimmed down and placed a lonely hearts advertisement in a magazine, but she was destined to remain alone. Hattie had married the Dads Army star in 1949 but after 14 years, she fell in love with someone new, Cockney car dealer John Schofield. [41] Jacques later remarked that Handley was "one of the greatest radio performers we have ever known. Besotted: Hattie and John during the Sixties, with their affair in full swing. Find out where to watch online amongst 45+ services including Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video. Before the Carry Ons steered Hattie down the almost purely comedy route, she had impressed in several dramatic roles including a number of Dickens adaptations. Deals and discounts in Womens Active Shoes & Sneakers you dont want to miss. But it was not to last. The BBC Four show, Hattie, focuses on Jacques' affair with car dealer John Schofield while she was married to Dad's Army star John Le Mesurier. She became later a target for those jokes in the Carry Ons because the writer, Talbot Rothwell, was a joke writer. [95] She played the small role of Captain Clark, a "battleaxe medical officer"[96] who fails to believe the fabricated ailments of the hypochondriac Private Horace Strong, played by Kenneth Connor. The couples marriage had been widely viewed as one of the most secure in showbusiness and, for a while, Le Mesurier was oblivious to the affair going on under his nose. Visiting her in hospital to tell her their relationship was over, Schofield flung a gold medallion she had given him, inscribed with the words I love you on to her hospital bed and stormed out, neglecting to collect his possessions from Eardley Crescent or even to say goodbye to her sons. [2] She was the youngest child of Robin Rochester Jaques (18971923), a serviceman in the British Army and later the Royal Air Force, and Mary Jaques (ne Thorn), a nurse who served in the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD). Carry On Loving: John Le Mesurier with Hattie Jacques before their divorce in 1965 But it was not to last. Cause of death: Heart attack. We want Hattie! roared the crowd. Though, in the words of the producer Ernest Maxin, a wonderfully sexy comedienne, in matters of the heart Jacquess life was not plain sailing. [7][8] Upon his death, Mary, Jacques and her elder brother Robin moved from Newton in Lincolnshire to London,[9] where Jacques was sent to the Lady Margaret primary school in Chelsea. The truth was that she had been in a fight with Schofield he was jealous of Hatties visits to me and felt threatened.. She said that she had bumped into something and given herself a black eye. [50] It was on this programme that she first worked with Eric Sykes, who was providing scripts for the series. Her mother instilled in her a love of the theatre, and the young Josephine would become principal ballet dancer at a dance school before the outbreak of the Second World War. Eleven times Wonderful! She said that she had bumped into something and given herself a black eye. [36], For much of 1948 Jacques continued to record episodes of ITMA for half the week, while spending evenings in the Players' Theatre; she also found time during the spring to record the role of Flora in No, No, Nanette for the BBC[37] and appear at the Whitehall Theatre in Bates Wharf with the Under Thirty Theatre Group. He was seven years her junior and on the verge of separating from his wife Brenda. . [93][92] Jacques would frequently invite Sims, Williams and Hawtrey to her house for Christmas dinner. He used to say, Ill just check the obituaries to start to see if Im still here. He had a wicked sense of humour and I knew hed enjoy the joke. [62], Jacques became pregnant in 1952, but worked through most of her pregnancy, appearing in the Players' revue The Bells of St Martins between August and November 1952: she slid down the table and did the splits at the end[63]something The Times thought was "especially good",[64] although The Manchester Guardian considered that she was "monumental of person but surprisingly thin of voice". [145] In the same year she completed another series with Sykes, Sykes and a Big, Big Show, a music and sketch programme which had six episodes, broadcast between February and April. [47] The film critic Geoff Mayer considered that Jacques had "the best scene in the film with her mock seductive dance in front of an angry [Niall] MacGinnis". [85], When the first Carry On film was made in 1958, Jacques formed part of the cast. [126][m], Jacques went to Rome in 1966 to film The Bobo with Peter Sellers; before this she went on a strict diet and lost five stone (32kg), although she was disappointed that so few people noticed. But in 1958, she starred in the first Carry On film and the first of 14 she would appear in and she was typecast from the off by playing a battleaxe medical officer in Carry On Sergeant. Williams is wrestled upside down as Jacquess long-suppressed desires break forth. In 1962, unbeknown to John, Hattie began a relationship with chauffeur John Schofield. Robin's father, actor John Le Mesurier, and his mother, buxom Carry On star Hattie Jacques, had been married happily for 13 years before a handsome young stranger destroyed the idyll. Subscribe for only 5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica. I think she hated being overweight.. During those early years Robin. [78][79][i] Jacques's arrival on Hancock "provided an additional boost to the series", according to television historian Richard Webber. I preferred her role as Eric Sykes sister because her weight was never referred to. [141] Although 1969 had been busy, 1970 was relatively quiet in terms of her professional output: apart from an episode of Catweazle,[142] she appeared alongside Willoughby Goddard in a six-episode series of Charley's Grants. [34] Jacques started her run in ITMA in September 1947, at the beginning of series eleven, which ran for 38 episodes,[35] and was paid ten guineas per episode. The flop that ruined James Corden in Britain: was Lesbian Vampire Killers really so bad? [155][r] Later that year, while filming the third series of Sykes, she suffered a cancer scare and lost a considerable amount of weight. One of her lodgers had arrested Herbert von Karajan after the war for being a Nazi. Although Jacques confirmed this version of the origin of her name, another story was that the dancer and singer Josephine Gordon named Jacques as such after the musical, Her other appearances included on radio, with, The series was split into two parts: 18 September 1952 12 February 1953 and 21 May 26 June 1953, The programme was also the first collaboration between the two writers. (film) Hattie is a television film about the life of British comic actress Hattie Jacques, played by Ruth Jones, her marriage to John Le Mesurier ( Robert Bathurst) and her affair with their lodger John Schofield ( Aidan Turner ). [137] Shortly after the series finished, she appeared alongside Frankie Howerd in his sketch show, Howerd's Hour, on ITV. Hattie had pathos. When Eamonn Andrews ambushed her in the BBC television studios in Shepherds Bush in 1963, while she was rehearsing Sykes And A, Hattie looked somewhat uncomfortable throughout the whole experience. [46] Chance of a Lifetime is a social and industrial relations drama based in a plough factory whose manager cedes control to the workforce. Joan Le Mesurier said: Hattie was wonderful and uninhibited on stage but in her private life, it was as if she was holding something back all the time. Another more modestly survived by making curtains. Instead of sex, Jacques would have to learn to reconcile herself to a career of put-downs from Bernard Bresslaw and his ilk. Save up to 50% on Trending when you shop now. James Corden is going home but does Britain want him back? But again, the mockery: Blimey, good job Adolf hasnt got a bomb that size! Her salvation was to join the Players Theatre, a music hall situated under the arches of Charing Cross, notorious for its rowdy patrons, who harked back to an era of mutton-chop whiskers, hot pies and rum punch. Hatties close pal Bob Monkhouse once recalled: I wasnt surprised by the speed of her success because it was so hard to find women at that time, particularly in radio and almost immediately in TV, who could do what Hattie could do. Her brother also changed his name at the same time. Even then he thought the affair would blow over, hoping against the odds that he could save his marriage. From 1958 to 1974 she appeared in 14 Carry On films, playing various roles including the formidable hospital matron. [188] After complaints about the NHS in 2008, the Western Morning News suggested the government should "clone a Hattie Jacques-type matron to run a tight ship everywhere". She will be remembered, however, not only for her nagging shrews and bombastic scolds, but for all her incongruous flirting. [27] In December that year, she joined the Young Vic Theatre Company and played Smeraldina in The King Stag. [1] Sykes and a went on to run for sixty episodes over nine series during the next five years. She started an affair with a younger man, John Schofield, and for a while all three lived in the same house. But she was an actress of far greater range than she was ever allowed to employ.. You cant see her. Here she portrayed a character named Ginger, who was described as a "grotesque figure", with an "insatiable lust for bestsellers on the atrocities of World War Two". She concentrated on the script and its interpretation instead of winning easy laughs by playing 'the fattie'. Schofield was earthy, sexy and rough and made her feel young again.. He sabotaged her performance by stepping on her lines, reducing her to tears. SAS troops are told to shave after a photo emerged of soldiers sporting beards and baseball caps with their uniform following training session, 'Just really awesome': Olivia Dunne thanks golfer Paige Spiranac for standing up for her and criticizing the New York Times for saying the LSU gymnast, 20, was using her sexuality to make millions, REVEALED: America's top 10 cities for homebuyers and they're all in the Midwest, Should you buy or sell your home on the 'secret' property market? Right here at FameChain. John Le Mesurier and Hattie Jacques present a united front on This Is Your Life. [39] In the latter performance, The Times commented that Jacques "must surely be among the funniest fairies" in her role as the Fairy Queen Antedotawhich was one of her favourite parts. He married the other woman his private secretary Anne Spencer, who was 14 years his junior at St Pancras Register Office, on June 18, 1969, and tried to settle down to a quieter life. Gerald Thomas. Legendary comic actors Hattie Jacques and John LeMesurier seem the perfect couple, married with two young sons. [124], In 1964, as well as recording four episodes of the radio show Housewives' Choice, Jacques starred in her own television series, Miss Adventure, as the private investigator Stacey Smith. Because a dressing room was arranged that avoided her needing to use stairs, Sykes accused her of receiving special treatment. [12] She continued intermittently with amateur theatricals, and in May 1939 appeared with the Curtain Club in Barnes in productions of Fumed Oak and Borgia. For his part, Schofield concentrated on his career as a music manager, signing the rock band East Of Eden, which went on to have a Top 10 hit with Jig A Jig. [1], Private turmoil; new acting ventures: 19631967, Robin was born into relative affluence in, The VAD mobile units, based in communal air raid shelters and. When the war did break out, she became a nurse with the Voluntary Aid Detachment eerily echoing a role with which shed later become synonymous and one of the guests on This Is Your Life was her British Red Cross Society Divisional Director Vivienne Catlock. And no wonder. Ted thought the laughs would come on the size gags but, being radio, and coupled with the fact my voice didn't have the timbre of a 'heavy', that didn't really work out A large lady with a little voice hit the spot, so 'Sophie Tuckshop' was bornthe terrible child who never stopped eating". [118] When Jacques decided to move Schofield into the family home, Le Mesurier moved into a separate room. Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to create a feed. I hate being the size I am with all my heart and soul, she once confessed. One of the most shocking revelations was about star John Le Mesurier and his wives Joan Malin and Hattie Jacques. 'Schofield was earthy, sexy and rough and made her feel young again., The atmosphere was heavy to say the least. Meet the savvy buyers snapping up their dream homes before they are even listed - and find out how you can do it too, Saboteurs wreck Russian train cut power cables 37mi from Ukraine, Moment large saltwater crocodile snatches pet dog off beach in QLD, 'We're not your enemies!' It is far too easy to throw mud at a dead man, the friend added. Now, speaking for the first time, Brenda, 76, says: John was not a good dad he was never cut out to be a father but he was a charismatic personality and he broke a few hearts in those days. [38] Later that year she appeared as a singer at the Three Cripples tavern in the David Lean film Oliver Twist. Once a weeks enough for any man, she responds reasonably. Hattie quickly became besotted with him and, being so unconfident about her own looks, couldnt believe that someone so stunningly attractive could find her equally seductive., Carry On: Ruth Jones as Hattie in the new BBC drama. Find the best deals on Fragrance from your favorite brands. A chance introduction at The Establishment, a drinking club owned by comedian Peter Cook, was to pave the way for Le Mesurier and Hatties divorce. She became close to Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey and Joan Sims, whom she provided with a great deal of practical advice and help, and would often invite the trio to her house for Christmas dinner. [150] In February 1972 Jacques was at home with her son Robin to watch Le Mesurier win the British Academy of Film and Television Arts "Best Television Actor" award for his portrayal of a "boozy British aristocrat who became a spy for the Soviets"[151][152] in Dennis Potter's television play Traitor. Schofield slept on the sofa when Le Mesurier was at home and shared Hatties bed when her husband was away on location. Shop our favorite Bath & Body finds at great prices. While Sykes and the Carry Ons kept her in the public eye, privately, Hatties weight was becoming a problem. [14] After a reorganisation in the VAD,[b] Jacques sought new work and, in the summer of 1943, she became a welder in a factory in north London,[16] a job that lasted until the end of the year. [10][c], In 1944, after being auditioned by Leonard Sachs,[20] Jacques made her professional theatrical debut as Josephine Jacques[21]adding a "c" to her birth name as she did so[22][d]at the Players' Theatre, London in a revue called Late Joys. After she died in 1980, his comment was: You couldnt say we had a lot in common. Unsurprisingly, the family barred Sykes from Jacquess funeral and memorial service. In the same week that the two boys appeared in court, she received official notification of the intention to appoint her as an OBE. [154], In 1974 Jacques's sons were arrested for possession of cannabis, and her house was searched by police. In the end, I just realised that he was not there when I wanted him to be, so we separated. I knew better. [6] Robin Rochester Jaques, who attained the rank of flight lieutenant with the RAF, was a keen sportsman and became a semi-professional footballer. Worse still, the stars didnt get on. Hattie is a television film about the life of British comic actress Hattie Jacques, played by Ruth Jones, her marriage to John Le Mesurier (Robert Bathurst) and her affair with their lodger John Schofield (Aidan Turner). In private, Jacques led a turbulent life. Hattie arrived one morning with some mail and magazines. May 7, 2017 - Image result for John Schofield Hattie Jacques. [112][l] By this time Carry On had become a leading film franchise, with the author Robert Ross describing it as a "phenomenon". Hattie was born Josephine Jaques she added the c when she went into showbiz on February 7 1922 in Kent. I learned so much from him". [158] From 1976 onwards Sykes and Jacques appeared together in the stage play A Hatful of Sykes, both in the UK and internationally. However in 1962, aged 40 and at the height of her Carry On fame, Hattie met John Schofield, after he wrote to her inviting her to become patron of the Leukaemia Research fund. But it would have been foolish not to know that this was different. As Hattie left, she blew a kiss to. [175], In 2011 Jacques and Le Mesurier's marriage was the subject of a BBC Four biographical film called Hattie, which focused on Jacques's affair with John Schofield. marijuana. As . It never occurred to her to go ex-directory. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. It was as if Jacques feared being alone, for then elements of self-loathing closed in. But she grew up in London after her RAF officer father was killed in a flying accident and her mother moved to live with. [160] While appearing in Blackpool in 1977 Jacques's health became problematic as she suffered from arthritis and ulcerated legs, which required daily dressing. Jacques went to Godolphin and Latymer (later to produce Nigella Lawson and Davina McCall), and because her puppy fat failed to melt, she was teased for her bulk just as in later life shed regularly receive obscene phone calls from men who liked large ladies. But he fell ill on his arrival and ended up in hospital in Gibraltar with a collapsed lung, pneumonia and jaundice after trying to make his way back home. The greatest clinch in British cinema is Jacques and Williams in Carry On Doctor. [119] He later commented about this period: "I could have walked out, but, whatever my feelings, I loved Hattie and the children and I was certainI had to be certainthat we could repair the damage". Schofield, a driver for the Harlem Globetrotters, was looking for a distraction. [191] Neville Phillips thought she was a "complete revelation", adding "although she was a large lady (very large, in fact), her movements were dainty, light and graceful, and she had a way of playing comedy that put me in mind of the great Beatrice Lillie a subtle, sophisticated actress". John Schofield. [146][o], Two further Carry On films followed for Jacques in 1972: Carry On Matron, for which she was engaged in the title role,[91] and Carry On Abroad, as Floella, the fiery Spanish cook at a half-finished hotel. May 7, 2017 - Image result for John Schofield Hattie Jacques. These are the best Smartphones deals youll find online. Please review our, You need to be a subscriber to join the conversation. [177] Jones was thrilled at playing Jacques whom she considered to be her comedy heroine, describing her as an "incredibly talented and fascinating woman both on and off screen".[178][179]. After the Second World War Jacques made her cinematic debut in Green for Danger (1946), in which she had a brief, uncredited role.

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