JUNE WHITFIELD

(11 November 1925 - 28 December 2018)

The British comedy actress June Whitfield, who has died aged 93, conquered all the entertainment media: radio, television, theatre and film. After training at Rada, she toured in theatre and eventually became well-known when she replaced Joy Nicholls in the 1950s radio show Take It From Here, for which Frank Muir and Denis Norden wrote her the part of Eth Glum. After that, her career in comedy was well and truly sealed. She went on to work with many comics of the day, including Arthur Askey, Benny Hill, Frankie Howerd, Tony Hancock, Harry Worth, Jimmy Edwards, Stanley Baxter and Dick Emery. She was also a regular for many years on Roy Hudd’s radio series The News Huddlines. Mainly known for her television work in sitcoms with Terry Scott, their comic partnership in Happy Ever After and Terry and June ran from 1974 to 1987. June Whitfield made her film debut (uncredited) in Quiet Wedding (1946) but went on to appear in Carry On Nurse, Friends and Neighbours, The Spy With the Cold Nose, Bless This House, Carry on Girls, Not Now, Comrade, Run For Your Wife, Carry On Columbus, Jude and many television movies. She still worked in radio and her last film appearance was in Absolutely Fabulous – The Movie in 2016, in which she reprised her regular role of ‘Mother’. She was awarded the OBE in 1985 and became a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2017. She was married to chartered surveyor Tim Aitchison in 1955 until his death in 2001. Their daughter Suzy also became an actress.

MICHAEL DARVELL