A largIntroer-than-life comic actress best remembered for her role as Matron in the several hospital-themed Carry-On movies, which she played alongside the other actors who made up the franchise. John Le Mesurier, a fellow actor well remembered for playing Sergeant Wilson in the BBC series Dad’s Army, and Hattie were married from 1949 to 1965.
Since the late 1940s, Hattie has had a successful career almost continuously, both inside and outside of the Carry On cast. She appeared in 14 Carry-On movies in total between 1958 and 1974, but she also enjoyed great success in several of Eric Sykes’ TV projects, including 59 episodes of Sykes and a… (1960–65), The Plank (1967), and 68 episodes of Sykes (1972-79). Additionally, she collaborated with Tony Hancock and Frankie Howerd. She also acted in 26 episodes of the Our House (1960–1962) sitcom, which also starred Charles Hawtrey and Norman Rossington and is now largely forgotten.
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Hattie Jacques cause of death
Following the breakup with Le Mesurier, Jacques, who had been overweight since her teenage years, developed health problems and her weight quickly climbed to about 20 stone (280 lb; 130 kg). At the age of 58, she passed away from a heart attack on October 6, 1980.
Hattie Jacques Death Explained
Jacques’s doctor advised her not to go to Greece for a vacation in May 1980, so she went to Ireland instead. She told her friend Bruce Copp on the return ferry ride, “You know I’m not going to live long.” Her health deteriorated further, and insurance companies refused to cover her for film work. Her weight had risen again by October, and she was admitted to Charing Cross Hospital with breathing difficulties. She went home for the weekend from the hospital and returned to Eardley Crescent, where she died on October 6th, aged 58, of a heart attack and kidney failure.
Jacques’s funeral was held at Putney Vale Crematorium, and her ashes were scattered there. Sykes was upset by the exclusion and didn’t understand why he had been barred from attending the funeral because her sons resented the way he had treated her during the stage show. According to Merriman, another notable absentee from the funeral was Joan Sims, who “stayed at home and spent the day drinking, reading old letters from Hattie, and wallowing in self-pity.”
Kenneth Williams was deeply saddened by his friend’s death, writing, “all the chums have died… one is marooned on the shore… the tide is receding and exposing some incongruous wrecks… I fear I am one of them.” Jacques was described as “a remarkable lady… had an aura of love and kindness about her” by John Le Mesurier, and her obituary in The Times stated that “she will be remembered with affection by all who saw her.” A month after the funeral, a memorial service was held at St Paul’s, Covent Garden, also known as the Actors’ Church, and was described as a “joyous occasion” by Le Mesurier.
Early Life
“I know for a fact that John would never have gone for me if there had been any hope of keeping his marriage together,” says Joan herself. He truly adored Hattie because she embodied everything that was feminine.
They all joined in the celebration on the divorce day, and Hattie, John, and Joan remained lifelong friends.
But after a few years, Schofield left Hattie for another woman, so it wasn’t to be a happily ever after for all of them.
Hattie was born Josephine Jaques on February 7th, 1922 in Kent; she added the “c” when she entered show business.
When she was only one and a half years old, tragedy struck when her former RAF officer father perished in a flying accident.
She was raised with a passion for the theatre by her mother, and before the Second World War broke out, Josephine rose to the position of principal ballet dancer at a dance academy.
When war finally broke out, she joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment as a nurse, eerily emulating the profession for which she would later be known. Her British Red Cross Society Divisional Director Vivienne Catlock appeared as one of the guests on This Is Your Life.
She said in an interview with Andrews: “After completing her training in the wards of Hammersmith Hospital, she became a mobile VAD and continued her work there as well as in the air-raid shelters and nearby.