INTRO

In 1975, sitting in my grandmother’s front room, I picked up a book about London theatres. It detailed each theatre, with a seating plan, and I casually asked her if she had acted in the first one listed – starting at A…’Oh yes, such a lovely little theatre’ and then the next ‘Yes, I was in a production there that lasted two years’   ’So draughty’ so on. I think there were only a couple she hadn’t performed in. Her memory, although she was already 83, was sharp and clear. I decided there and then that I was going to write her biography…’I see, well if you like’ and the next day armed with a tiny Sanyo cassette player, I began my mission. But the project ground to a halt within a couple of days. 
 

I had neither the discipline nor life experience for such an undertaking. The other problem was that Kathleen herself was not the easiest of subjects. Although quite happy to talk about some things, she was careful never to reveal much about herself. And there were clear no-go areas – her marriage, or anything that hinted at her real age being the two most obvious. A further problem was that Kathleen preferred to live in the present and was always focused on looking forward – a very positive quality, but difficult for the budding biographer that I saw myself as.
 

Although it never happened, the idea of exploring her life and work has always been there. Even the limited amount of time I did spend talking to her back then left some powerful, lasting memories. One was the time I asked her who was the oldest person she could remember. She had a clear memory of a very elderly gentleman who would sit on her grandmother’s wall in Lancashire from time to time and who, it was claimed, had been at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. 
 

Kathleen herself died in December 1995, only a few weeks short of what would have been her 104th birthday. She had a very long stage and screen career – her first film appearing in 1915, her final one in 1979. Her acting was not confined to film. Her appearances on radio included starring in Meet The Huggetts, a very popular series that lasted the best part of a decade. She regularly appeared on television, notably as Mrs.Thursday in the 1960s series of the same name. Above all, she saw herself principally as a stage actress, which was her first and most enduring passion. 
 

Over the many years since she last acted, she had slipped from public consciousness, remembered only by a diminishing band of film and television enthusiasts.  That has changed in recent years, with the advent and incredible popularity of Talking Pictures. With COVID and lock down, an unpredicted consequence was the flourishing interest in both the films of the past as well as the actors who appeared in them. 

So, alongside many other British stars of stage and particularly screen of decades past, Kathleen is better known now as an actress than she has been for many years, and so hopefully this site will be timely and valuable to those with an interest in one of the most popular actresses of her generation.