Patricia Lawlor Hayes (22 December 1909 – 19 September 1998) was an English character actress.
Early life
Patricia Hayes OBE was born in Streatham, London, the daughter of George Frederick Hayes and Florence Alice Hayes. Her father was a clerk in the civil service and her mother was a schoolmistress. As a child, Hayes attended the Sacred Heart School in Hammersmith.
Career
Hayes attended RADA, graduating in 1928. She spent the next 10 years in repertory theatre.
She was featured in many radio and television comedy shows between 1940 and 1996, including Hancock's Half Hour, Ray's a Laugh, The Arthur Askey Show, The Benny Hill Show, Bootsie and Snudge, Hugh and I and Till Death Us Do Part. She played the part of Henry Bones in the BBC Children's Hour radio programme Norman and Henry Bones, the Boy Detectives from 1943 to 1965.
Hayes was cast in supporting roles for films including The Bargee (1964), The NeverEnding Story (1984), A Fish Called Wanda (1988) and was also featured as Fin Raziel in the Ron Howard film Willow (1988).
Her most substantial television appearance was in the title role of Edna, the Inebriate Woman (Play for Today, 1971) for which she won a BAFTA award. She provided the character voice for comedy puppet performances for television and DVDs – e.g. Gran (Woodland Animations, 1982).
She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1972 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.
In April 1975, Hayes was interviewed by Roy Plomley for Desert Island Discs. A sizeable, yet incomplete, extract is available to listen to and download via the programme's website on the BBC.
In 1977, she appeared on the BBC's long running TV variety show The Good Old Days; she had been an early member of the Players' Theatre in London, an old time music hall club, from the 1950s onwards.
In 1985, she starred in the title role of the TV play, Mrs Capper's Birthday, by Noël Coward.
Personal life
She was the mother of British actor Richard O'Callaghan (born Richard Brooke) by her marriage to Valentine Brooke, whom she divorced. She never remarried. She was formerly the head of the British Catholic Stage Guild, which her son later chaired.
She was awarded an OBE in 1987.
Death
Patricia Hayes died in September, 1998 in Puttenham, Surrey, but she appeared posthumously in the 2002 film Crime and Punishment which had been filmed in 1993, but delayed because of a legal case. She is buried at Watts Cemetery, Compton, Surrey.
Television roles
Selected filmography
Broken Blossoms (1936) – Minor role (uncredited) Went the Day Well? (1942) – Daisy When We Are Married (1943) – Ruby Birtle The Dummy Talks (1943) – (uncredited) Hotel Reserve (1944) – Woman Candles at Nine (1944) – Gewndolyn – Maid Great Day (1945) – Mrs. Beadle The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1947) – Phoebe To the Public Danger (1948) – Postmistress Poet's Pub (1949) – Mrs. Lott (uncredited) La Rosa di Bagdad (1949) – Amin (English version, voice) Skimpy in the Navy (1949) – (uncredited) The Enforcer (1951) – Teenager (uncredited) The Love Match (1955) – Emma Binns The Battle of the Sexes (1960) – Jeannie Macdougall Reach for Glory (1962) – Mrs. Freeman Kill or Cure (1962) – Lily – Waitress The Sicilians (1963) – Plane passenger It's All Over Town (1964) – Charlady Saturday Night Out (1964) – Edie's Mother The Bargee (1964) – Onlooker (uncredited) The Terrornauts (1967) – Mrs. Jones A Ghost of a Chance (1968) – Miss Woollie Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969) – Grandma Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969) – Miss Honeybun (uncredited) Carry On Again Doctor (1969) – Mrs. Beasley Fragment of Fear (1970) – Mrs. Baird Raising the Roof (1972) – Aunt Maud Super Bitch (1973) – Mamma the Turk Love Thy Neighbour (1973) – Annie Booth The Best of Benny Hill (1974) – Interviewer ('Words of Comfort') / Marie Quaint Danger on Dartmoor (1980) – Mrs. Green The NeverEnding Story (1984) – Urgl Little Dorrit (1987) – Affery Willow (1988) – Fin Raziel A Fish Called Wanda (1988) – Mrs. Coady War Requiem (1989) – Mother The Fool (1990) – The Dowager Blue Ice (1992) – Old Woman The Steal (1995) – Mrs. Fawkes Crime and Punishment (2002) – Alyonna Ivanovna, old pawnbroker (final film role)