Patricia Hayes


Patricia Lawlor Hayes was an English character actress. She is best known for playing the titular Edna in the Play for Today, Edna, the Inebriate Woman, for which she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress.

Early life

Patricia Lawlor Hayes 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 High School, 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, The NeverEnding Story, A Fish Called Wanda and was also featured as Fin Raziel in the Ron Howard film Willow.
Her most substantial television appearance was in the title role of Edna, the Inebriate Woman for which she won a BAFTA award. She provided the character voice for comedy puppet performances for television programmes such as Gran.
In April 1975, Hayes was interviewed by Roy Plomley for Desert Island Discs. A sizeable, but 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 1978, Hayes was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for playing Rosalina in Filumena at The National Theatre.
In 1985, she starred in the title role of the TV play Mrs Capper's Birthday by Noël Coward.
Hayes played Miss. Willow, in one episode of the 1991 radio show, The Secret Life of Rosewood Avenue.

Personal life

She was the mother of British actor Richard O'Callaghan by her marriage to Valentine Brooke, whom she divorced. She also had a daughter, Gemma Brooke, born in 1948. 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. 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 the Watts Cemetery Chapel, Compton, Surrey.

Selected filmography

Broken Blossoms – Minor role Went the Day Well? – DaisyWhen We Are Married – Ruby BirtleThe Dummy Talks – Hotel Reserve – WomanCandles at Nine – Gewndolyn – MaidGreat Day – Mrs. BeadleThe Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby – PhoebeTo the Public Danger – PostmistressPoet's Pub – Mrs. Lott La Rosa di Bagdad – Amin Skimpy in the Navy – The Enforcer – Teenager The Love Match – Emma BinnsThe Battle of the Sexes – Jeannie MacdougallReach for Glory – Mrs. FreemanKill or Cure – Lily – WaitressThe Sicilians – Plane passengerIt's All Over Town – CharladySaturday Night Out – Edie's MotherThe Bargee – Onlooker A Ghost of a Chance – Miss WoollieThe Terrornauts – Mrs. JonesCan Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? – GrandmaGoodbye, Mr. Chips – Miss Honeybun Carry On Again Doctor – Mrs. BeasleyFragment of Fear – Mrs. BairdRaising the Roof – Aunt MaudSuper Bitch – Mamma the TurkLove Thy Neighbour – Annie BoothThe Best of Benny Hill – Interviewer / Marie QuaintDanger on Dartmoor – Mrs. GreenThe NeverEnding Story – UrglLittle Dorrit – AfferyWillow – Fin RazielA Fish Called Wanda – Mrs. CoadyWar Requiem – MotherThe Fool – The DowagerBlue Ice – Old WomanThe Steal – Mrs. FawkesCrime and Punishment – Alyonna Ivanovna, old pawnbroker