Few actors make such a mark that a character they have not played for 29 years is still adored by fans and co-stars alike. Yet Jean Alexander’s portrayal of Hilda Ogden in Coronation Street earned her a deluge of tributes after the announcement that she had died on Friday, three days after her 90th birthday.
The sharp-tongued, gossipy cleaning lady, whose hair seemed to be permanently in curlers and wrapped in a headscarf, was a highlight of the ITV soap opera from the moment she joined in 1964 until her final scenes in 1987.
The battles with her husband, Stan, the couple’s financial difficulties and Hilda’s incessant nosiness were keys to the character’s success, along with her catchphrase “Ta-ra chuck”, and the image of Hilda Ogden endured for so long that she was voted Britain’s greatest soap character in 2004.
Alexander was totally different to her character, according to her Coronation Street colleagues and family, who led tributes to her, describing her as “iconic”, “a legend” and “an all-round lovely lady”.
“Jean Alexander was the exact opposite of the character she played,” Julie Goodyear, who played the Rovers Return Inn landlady Bet Lynch, said. “This proves what an amazing actress she was. Jean was a very private person and meticulous in her work. It was an absolute joy to play scenes with her.”
Sally Dynevor, who plays Sally Metcalfe, and her former screen husband Michael Le Vell, who plays garage mechanic Kevin Webster, both worked closely with Alexander. “Jean was such an inspiration to me as a young actress,” Dynevor said. “So professional and generous with her advice. Michael and I loved her, and any scenes we did with her we always wanted to do our very best.”
Le Vell said that working with Alexander was his “proudest and most exciting moment” and that she was “always one of the first people to make a new arrival feel so welcome”.
William Roache (Ken Barlow) remembered her as someone with a gift for comedy, particularly her singing. “But she could also deliver incredibly moving performances and make you cry. She was a wonderful actress.”
We've lost another icon. RIP the wonderful Jean Alexander xxx
— Georgia Taylor (@RealGeorgiaT) October 15, 2016
“Everyone who loves what is special about Coronation Street will know how sad it is to hear that Jean Alexander has died,” said John Whiston, the creative director of ITV Studios. “Hilda Ogden was the earthy heart of the show for very many years, and the brilliance of Jean as an actor was that she could shift from high comedy to deeply emotional and moving drama in a heartbeat. That takes real skill and real acting but also real humanity.”
Her family said she had been admitted to hospital last week “feeling a little bit poorly”, but had been chatting to her niece, Sonia Hearld. “There was nothing telling us anything was wrong – she was just generally weak and under the weather,” she said.
Alexander was born in Liverpool in 1926 and worked mainly in repertory theatre in north-west England, until joining Coronation Street in a minor role in 1962. When she returned in 1964 as Hilda Ogden, after a cull of other characters by Granada TV, she carved out a role that made her recognisable across Britain, alongside Bernard Youens who played Stan.
Hilda Ogden was Weatherfield’s battler, described by Alexander in her autobiography as “a spunky little soul, a fighter, like one of those lead-bottomed dolls that returns upright when it is knocked down.”
By 1979, fans including actor Laurence Olivier, broadcasters Sir Michael Parkinson and Russell Harty, writer Willis Hall and former poet laureate Sir John Betjeman had formed the British League for Hilda Ogden.
When Youens died in 1984, Stan had to be written out of the script and Alexander created what became possibly her most memorable and poignant moment as Hilda, when she took his glasses out of their case and wept.
She decided to leave the soap in 1987, in spite of a campaign by fans to persuade her to stay. Her final episode was watched by more than 27 million people.
Alexander moved to the BBC comedy Last of the Summer Wine and became a regular character in 1992, as the eccentric shop owner, Auntie Wainwright.
But to the public she would always be Hilda Ogden. “People used to stop her just to say hello and how much they missed her,” her niece said. “She was always very good to her fans – she said ‘they put me where I am’.”
RIP Jean Alexander. A true soap Icon. Never will you be forgotten. pic.twitter.com/KrPzGVAy1X
— Kym Marsh (@msm4rsh) October 15, 2016
What a brilliant character. Never met her personally but always admired her. Rip Jean x https://t.co/mVDrFjDaRA
— Jane Danson (@RealJaneDanson) October 15, 2016
