Patricia Routledge has died aged 96

Patricia Routledge, a veteran of stage and screen, has died aged 96.

While her profile became globally synonymous with the highly-strung Hyacinth Bucket in the phenomenally successful BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances (1990 to 95), she was a wildly successful stage star.

After her 1952 debut as Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Liverpool Playhouse, early roles included Adriana in a 1956 musical version of The Comedy of Errors and the title role in the West End production of the operetta spoof, Little Mary Sunshine (1962).

She would later star in Leonard Bernstein’s ill-fated 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (1976), a collaboration Bernstein later recalled favourably.

She won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Broadway’s Darling of the Day (1968), as well as an Olivier Award for the same category for her turn in Scottish Opera’s staging of Bernstein’s Candide (1988). She also played Nettie Fowler in the National Theatre’s production of Carousel (1992).

Routledge also spent time with the Royal Shakespeare Company and appeared in Restoration comedies, notably at Chichester Festival Theatre in productions like The Country Wife and The Magistrate (1969).

On screen, beyond Hyacinth, she starred as the pragmatic sleuth in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. She is also appeared in several of Alan Bennett’s poignant Talking Heads monologues.

Justin Audibert, artistic director and Kathy Bourne, executive director of Chichester Festival Theatre, said in a statement: “If Chichester Festival Theatre is particularly renowned as a stage for great actors and great performances, Dame Patricia Routledge DBE was the embodiment of that principle. She was not only a national treasure, she was a Chichester treasure too – a stalwart supporter of the city and community, and of the Festival Theatre whose stage she graced for five decades. As Patron of Chichester Festival Youth Theatre, and President of our fundraising appeal to build our new third space The Nest, she was also enthusiastically involved in the plans for its future.”