Patricia Routledge was born on February 17, 1929, in Birkenhead, Cheshire. She attended Birkenhead High School and then the University of Liverpool. After graduating with a degree in English language and literature, she trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She began her professional career at the Liverpool Playhouse in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1952. She made her television debut in an episode of BBC Sunday-Night Theatre in 1954. During the Fifties, she appeared on stage in productions of The Duenna at the Bristol Old Vic and Westminster Theatre, The Comedy of Errors at the Arts Theatre in London, Zuleika at the Saville Theatre in London, The Love Doctor at the Piccadilly Theatre in London, and Follow That Girl at the Vaudeville Theatre in London. She appeared on television in the shows Theatre Night and BBC Sunday-Night Play.
In the Sixties, she provided the voice of Sara Harbuck in Wait Until Dark (1967). She appeared in the films To Sir, with Love (1967), Pretty Polly (1967), 30 is a Dangerous Age, Cynthia (1968), The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (1968), Lock Up Your Daughters! (1969). and If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium (1969). She appeared on television on Coronation Street; Z Cars; Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life; No Hiding Place; Gaslight Theatre; ITV Play of the Week; NET Playhouse; Thirty-Minute Theatre; Seven Deadly Sins; ITV Saturday Night Theatre; Armchair Theatre; and ITV Playhouse. She appeared on stage in such productions as Come as You Are at the Guilford, Out of My Mind at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith; Little Mary Sunshine at the Comedy Theatre in London, Virtue in Danger at the Mermaid Theatre and Strand Theatre in London, How's the World Treating You? at the Arts Theatre and Wyndham's Theatre in London and the Music Box Theatre, New York City, Darling of the Day at the George Abbott Theatre, and Love Match at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, The Caucasian Chalk Circle.
In the Seventies, Patricia Routledge appeared in the mini-sties Sense and Sensibility, David Copperfield, and Nicholas Nickleby. She appeared on the TV shows Doctor at Large, His and Hers Ooh La La!, Affairs of the Heart, Steptoe and Son, ...And Mother Makes Five, BBC Play of the Month, Jubilee, The Cost of Living, BBC2 Play of the Week, Crown Court, and Play for Today. She appeared in the movie Girl Stroke Boy (1971). She appeared on stage in such productions as First Impressions at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The Cherry Orchard at the Bristol Old Vic, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue at the Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York City, The Rivals at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, and The Pirates of Penzance at the Delacorte Theatre in New York City.
It was in 1990 that Patricia Routledge began playing Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances. During the Eighties, she also stared on Marjorie and Men and had a recurring role on Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV. She appeared on the TV shows Objects of Affection, The Two Ronnies, Tales of the Unexpected, Sophia and Constance, Let's Face the Music, and Alias Smith & Jones. She appeared in the mini-series Talking Heads. She appeared on stage in such productions as Noises Off at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith and the Savoy Theatre in London, Richard III and Henry V with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Candide at the Old Vic in London.
In the Nineties, Patrica Routledge continued to appear on Keeping Up Appearances. She played the lead role in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, a role she had originated in the 1990 TV movie Missing Persons. She appeared on the TV shows Bookmark, Noel's House Party, and Talking Heads 2. She appeared on stage in such productions as Carousel at the National Theatre in London, The Rivals at the Chichester Festival Theatre and Albery Theatre in London, and Beatrix at the Minerva Theatre in Chichester.
In the Naughts, she narrated the children's show Blips. She appeared in the TV movies Anybody's Nightmare and she narrated In Search of the Brontës. She appeared on stage in such productions as The Solid Gold Cadillac at the Garrick Theatre in London, The Best of Friends at the Hampstead Theatre and on tour, and Crown Matrimonial on tour.
I have to think that Patricia Routledge will always be bets remembered as Hyacinth on Keeping Up Appearances, and with good reason. She fully realized the character of Hyacinth, the domineering social-climber who is nonetheless from a lower class background. It is because of her that Keeping Up Appearances was BBC Worldwide's most exported programme ever. Of course, Hyacinth was not the only role Patricia Routledge ever played. She also played Hetty Wainthropp, the housewife-turned-detective with a penchant for solving mysteries and a good deal of common sense. In To Sir, With Love, she played the supportive, experienced teacher Clinty Clintridge. She appeared briefly as tour guide Mrs. Featherstone in If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium. In the Tales of Unexpected episode "The Verger," she played the sharp-witted wife of a verger dismissed from his job. In the Steptoe and Son episode "Seance in a Wet Rag and Bone Yard," she played the dodgy medium Madame Fontana. Patrica Routledge was an incredibly talented actress with a particularly impressive career.
