Personal Info
Birth date
1911-05-28 (114 Years)
Day of death
2003-03-15
Gender
Female
Known for
Acting
Place of birth
Morecambe, Lancashire, England, UK
Also known as
Dame Thora Hird
Thora Hird
Biography
Dame Thora Hird, DBE was an English actress and comedian of stage and screen, presenter and writer. In a career spanning over 70 years, she appeared in more than 100 film and television roles, becoming a household name and a British institution.
Filmography
Last of the Summer Wine
7.1
Overview:
Unencumbered by wives, jobs or any other responsibilities, three senior citizens who've never really grown up explore their world in the Yorkshire Dales. They spend their days speculating about their fellow townsfolk and thinking up adventures not usually favored by the elderly. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse in 1973. The show ran for 295 episodes until 2010. It is the longest running comedy Britain has produced and the longest running sitcom in the world.Blankety Blank
4.6
Overview:
Blankety Blank is a British comedy game show based on the 1977–1979 Australian game show Blankety Blanks. The British version ran from 18 January 1979 to 12 March 1990 on BBC One, hosted first by Terry Wogan and later by Les Dawson. Regular members of the celebrity panel on this version included Kenny Everett, Lorraine Chase, Gareth Hunt, Gary Davies, and Cheryl Baker. A revival fronted by Lily Savage was produced by the BBC from 26 December 1997 to 28 December 1999, followed by ITV from 7 January 2001 to 10 August 2002. This version was produced by Grundy, then Thames.Play for Today
6.333
Overview:
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.Z-Cars
7
Overview:
Z-Cars or Z Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.BBC Play of the Month
5
Overview:
Play of the Month is a BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983; the producer most associated with the Play of the Month was Cedric Messina. Some of the 121 episodes are missing from the archives, having been junked in the 1960s and 1970s. Unless stated otherwise, the indication that the play is "lost" is taken from the lostshows.com website page as of 25 May 2013.The BAFTA Awards
10
Overview:
BAFTA presents awards for film, television and games, including children's entertainment, at a number of annual ceremonies across the UK and in Los Angeles, USA.The Adventures of Robin Hood
6.1
Overview:
The legendary character Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding vicinity. While some episodes dramatised the traditional Robin Hood tales, most episodes were original dramas created by the show's writers and producers.Heartbeat
7.125
Overview:
Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.All Creatures Great and Small
7.7
Overview:
The trials and misadventures of the staff at a country veterinary office in Yorkshire. James Herriot, a young animal surgeon, moves to a small Yorkshire town to begin his first job.The Wednesday Play
4.5
Overview:
An anthology series of television plays which aired on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured.Dixon of Dock Green
5.3
Overview:
Created by Ted Willis. Dixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series following the activities of police officers at a fictional Metropolitan Police station in the East End of London from 1955 to 1976. Some episodes were later remade as a BBC radio series in 2005 and 2006.The First Lady
NYR
Overview:
The series starred Thora Hird as crusading local councillor Sarah Danby and was set around the fictional borough of Furness in Lancashire. Capitalising on the popularity of its lead actress, The First Lady was a down-to-earth series exploring the inner workings of local government.In Loving Memory
6.8
Overview:
In Loving Memory is a British period sitcom set in an undertakers business that starred Thora Hird and Christopher Beeny. A pilot was transmitted in 1969 by Thames Television who rejected the idea before it was finally accepted by Yorkshire Television in 1979 where it further ran for five series between until 1986.dinnerladies
7.4
Overview:
Dinnerladies is a BBC sitcom written by and starring Victoria Wood that chronicles the antics of a group of workers in a canteen in the north of England. Bren tries to maintain a semblance of order in amongst the chaos, while dealing with the canteen supervisor, slightly sex-obsessed cancer sufferer Tony. Dolly and Jean are the bickering menopausal older women, always at odds but best friends beneath it all. Then there's thick-as-two-short-planks Anita, and the terminally uninterested Twinkle, more concerned with having a good time than anything else. Making up the motley crew are military man handyman Stan, all rules and regulations, and ditzy Philippa, who never seems to get anything right.ITV Christmas Comedy
NYR
Overview:
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the special edition of your favourtie comedy show to fill the gap between the staggeringly huge Christmas dinner and the Queen's speech, and the ITV network have rolled hours of Christmas's into one with their latest DVD set of ITV comedy. With almost ten hours of classic, festive merriment featuring some of the channel's most memorable Christmas specials the whole family can relive the joys of Christmas past.Perfect Scoundrels
6
Overview:
Perfect Scoundrels first broadcast in 1990 on British television. A comedy-drama following two con-men doing their best to separate various people from their moneyGoggle Eyes
NYR
Overview:
Kitty struggles to accept her divorced mother embarking upon a new relationship; her attempts to thwart this relationship are hampered by her younger sister's acceptance of this "new dad" in their lives.Hallelujah!
6
Overview:
Hallelujah! was a British sitcom made by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network and was broadcast from April 1983 to December 1984. The series was set in a Salvation Army citadel in the fictional Yorkshire town of Brigthorpe during series 1. Captain Emily Ridley has been posted there, having been an active member of the Salvation Army for 42 years. Despite the town and residents being seemingly pleasant, Emily is determined to flush out sin from behind the net curtains. Assisting Emily are her niece Alice Meredith. The programme was a repeat collaboration between Hird and the creator Dick Sharples, having worked together on the comedy series In Loving Memory between 1979 and 1986. The show even featured guest appearances from guest stars like Hird's Last of the Summer Wine co-star actor Michael Aldridge and television presenter & Countdown Legend Richard Whiteley Himself.Meet the Wife
6
Overview:
Meet the Wife is a 1960s BBC situation comedy written by Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe, which featured Freddie Frinton as Freddie Blacklock with Thora Hird as his tyrannical wife, Thora. It ran to five series. The series was based on a 1963 BBC television Comedy Playhouse production, "The Bed". The theme tune was by Russ Conway and incidental music by Norman Percival and later Dennis Wilson. The producers were John Paddy Carstairs and later Robin Nash. The Beatles song "Good Morning, Good Morning" on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band includes the lyric "It's time for tea and Meet the Wife".Talking Heads
6.2
Overview:
A series of dramatic monologues written for BBC television by the acclaimed British playwright Alan Bennett.The Quatermass Xperiment
6.554
Overview:
The first manned spacecraft, fired from an English launchpad, is first lost from radar, then roars back to Earth and crashes in a farmer's field, and is found to contain only one of the three men who took off in it; and he is unable to talk but appears to be undergoing a torturous physical and mental metamorphosis.Went the Day Well?
7.167
Overview:
The quiet village of Bramley End is taken over by German troops posing as Royal Engineers. Their task is to disrupt England's radar network in preparation for a full scale German invasion. Once the villagers discover the true identity of the troops, they do whatever they can to thwart the Nazis plans.Acting
TBAEmma and Grandpa as Narrator (UK)
2000The Nearly Complete and Utter History of Everything (2 Episodes) as Unknown
1999Lost for Words as Annie Longden
1999Julie and the Cadillacs as Julie's grandmother
1998dinnerladies (1 Episode) as Enid
1998Talking Heads 2 as Unknown
1998Parkinson (1 Episode) as Self
1995Queen's Nose (2 Episodes) as Postmistress
1994Pat and Margaret as Jim's Mother
1993Wide-Eyed and Legless as Deric's Mother
1993Goggle Eyes (4 Episodes) as Mrs Harrington
1992Memento Mori as Jean Taylor
1992Heartbeat (1 Episode) as Hannah Stockdale
1990The Tale of Little Pig Robinson as Old Betsy
1990Perfect Scoundrels (1 Episode) as Martha
1989The Tailor of Gloucester as Mrs. Speck
1988Talking Heads as Unknown
1988Talking Heads (1, 1 Episode) as Violet, Doris
1988Consuming Passions as Mrs. Gordon
1985Screen Two (1 Episode) as Jean Taylor
1983ITV Christmas Comedy (15 Episodes) as Unknown
1982Say Something Happened as Elizabeth Mary Rhodes
1982Objects of Affection (1 Episode) as Elizabeth Mary Rhodes
1982Intensive Care as Aunty Kitty
1981Hallelujah! (15 Episodes) as Captain Emily Ridley
1979Afternoon Off as Mrs Beevers
1979Blankety Blank (1 Episode) as Unknown
1978Me! I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf as Mrs. Hopkins
1978All Creatures Great and Small (2 Episodes) as Mrs. Clarke
1977The Mayor's Charity as Olive Major
1976Tell Me Another (3 Episodes) as Herself
1973Last of the Summer Wine (138 Episodes) as Edie
1972The Villa Maroc as Doris
1972The Nightcomers as Mrs. Grose
1971The Fox Trot as Gwen
1970Play for Today (1, 1, 1 Episode) as Olive Major, Aunt KItty, Doris
1970Some Will, Some Won't as Agnes Russell
1969In Loving Memory (36 Episodes) as Ivy Unsworth
1968The First Lady (54 Episodes) as Unknown
1967Romeo and Juliet as Nurse
1966Who's a Good Boy Then? I Am! as Blanche Hoskins
1965BBC Play of the Month (1, 1 Episode) as Clare Soppitt, Nurse
1964Rattle of a Simple Man as Mrs. Winthram
1964The Wednesday Play (1 Episode) as Blanche Hoskins
1963Meet the Wife (38 Episodes) as Unknown
1963Bitter Harvest as Mrs. Jessup
1962Term of Trial as Mrs. Taylor
1962A Kind of Loving as Mrs. Rothwell
1962Z-Cars (1 Episode) as Unknown
1961Over the Odds as Mrs Carter
1960The Entertainer as Mrs. Ada Lapford
1958Further Up the Creek as Mrs. Galloway
1958A Clean Sweep as Vera Watson
1957These Dangerous Years as Mrs. Ada Larkin
1957The Good Companions as Mrs Oakroyd
1956Now and Forever as Maggie the Maid (uncredited)
1956Sailor Beware as Mrs Lack
1956Home and Away as Margie Groves
1956Women Without Men as Gran' Rafferty
1956Blonde Bait as 'Granny' Ramsey
1956Lost as Kelly's landlady
1955Simon and Laura as Jessie
1955The Adventures of Robin Hood (1 Episode) as Ada
1955Tiger by the Tail as Mary
1955The Quatermass Xperiment as Rosie Wrigley
1955Dixon of Dock Green (1 Episode) as Alice Leggett
1955The Love Match as Sal Brown
1955One Good Turn as Cook
1954For Better, for Worse as Mrs. Doyle
1954Don't Blame the Stork as Agnes O'Connor
1953A Day to Remember as Mrs. Trott
1953Background as Mrs. Humphries
1953Personal Affair as Mrs. Usher
1953Turn the Key Softly as Mrs. Rowan, landlady
1953Street Corner as Mrs. Perkins
1953The Long Memory as Mrs Pewsey
1953The Great Game as Miss Rawlings
1952The Big Frame as Hotel Maid
1952Time, Gentlemen, Please! as Alice Crouch
1952Emergency Call as Mrs. Cornelius
1952The Frightened Man as Vera
1952The Magic Box as Doctor's Housekeeper
1951The Galloping Major as Tea Stall Woman (uncredited)
1950The Magnet as Nanny's friend
1950Once a Sinner as Mrs. James
1949The Cure for Love as Mrs. Dorbell
1949Madness of the Heart as Rosa
1949Boys in Brown as Mrs. Knowles
1949Conspirator as Broaders
1949The BAFTA Awards (1 Episode) as Self - Winner
1949Maytime in Mayfair as Janet
1949A Boy, a Girl and a Bike as Mrs. Bates
1949Fools Rush In as Mrs. Coot
1949Once a Jolly Swagman as Ma Fox
1948Portrait from Life as Mrs. Skinner
1948The Weaker Sex as Mrs. Gaye
1948The Blind Goddess as Derek's Charwoman
1948Corridor of Mirrors as Visitor in Tussauds
1948My Brother Jonathan as Ada
1947The Courtneys of Curzon Street as Maud
1944Two Thousand Women as Mrs. Burtshaw
1944The Lodger as First Murder Victim Katie (uncredited)
1942Went the Day Well? as Ivy
1942The Foreman Went to France as Barmaid
1942The Next of Kin as ATS drover with puncture
1942The Black Sheep of Whitehall as Joyce
1942Go to Blazes as Elsie