Dame Patricia Routledge is DEAD TO ME!

Just posting a link to one of my favourites, the Kitty monologues on Victoria Wood’s As Seen on TV.

For me, she will always be Kitty.

No!!!!!!!

Pirates of Penzance

She was so wonderful in everything she did. This makes me so sad. Another amazing woman of her vintage - gone.

Does the afterlife have room for pony?

RIP Pat Darling! I hope I manage another 60 years and live as long as you did!

I can't believe old Pat is gone. I hope she's with Liz.

Patricia was the first actress to be offered Sweeney Todd. She turned it down. I think this gives us a glimpse of how she would have played Lovett had she accepted.

Tell God it’s Bouquet!

How inconsiderate to die at the weekend.

She's kicked the Bouquet.

I saw her Lady Bracknell. Essie Davis from Phrynne Fisher was Gwendolen.

What a brilliant person -RIP

I wish more people thought like this. RIP Patricia.

“But I'm not sure that you can have a career and a family and do both satisfactorily. I always knew, deep down, that everything has a cost and I would have hated to short-change any little soul that I brought into the world."

WHERES THE WILL KEPT??

[quote] How inconsiderate to die at the weekend.

What’s a week-end?

[quote] Tell God it’s Bouquet!

Classic final line.

Keeping up appearances forever.

RIP she sounded like a great person. Loved her appearances on Alan Bennett's Talking Heads

She always seemed very patient with dear Clive Swift, who could be a bafflingly unpleasant person at time, at least in public.

One of her final interviews recorded in May 2025, where she recounted her memories of the Second World War.

Love her rendition of Climb Ev'ry Mountain

I’m not sure where it was originally published, but she wrote fairly recently about getting old:

I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry that I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude.”**

My life didn’t quite take shape until my forties. I had worked steadily — on provincial stages, in radio plays, in West End productions — but I often felt adrift, as though I was searching for a home within myself that I hadn’t quite found.

At 50, I accepted a television role that many would later associate me with — Hyacinth Bucket, of Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would be a small part in a little series. I never imagined that it would take me into people’s living rooms and hearts around the world. And truthfully, that role taught me to accept my own quirks. It healed something in me.

At 60, I began learning Italian — not for work, but so I could sing opera in its native language. I also learned how to live alone without feeling lonely. I read poetry aloud each evening, not to perfect my diction, but to quiet my soul.

At 70, I returned to the Shakespearean stage — something I once believed I had aged out of. But this time, I had nothing to prove. I stood on those boards with stillness, and audiences felt that. I was no longer performing. I was simply being.

At 80, I took up watercolor painting. I painted flowers from my garden, old hats from my youth, and faces I remembered from the London Underground. Each painting was a quiet memory made visible.

Now, at 95, I write letters by hand. I’m learning to bake rye bread. I still breathe deeply every morning. I still adore laughter — though I no longer try to make anyone laugh. I love the quiet more than ever.

**I’m writing this to tell you something simple:**

**Growing older is not the closing act. It can be the most exquisite chapter — if you let yourself bloom again.**

Let these years ahead be your *treasure years*.

You don’t need to be famous. You don’t need to be flawless.

You only need to show up — fully — for the life that is still yours.

*With love and gentleness,*

— Patricia Routledge

I thought she'd live on forever.

She was one of the good ones.

R24 there is some question as to whether she actually wrote that, as it's believed that was an AI creation, distributed on FB.

(Nice sentiments, but perhaps not credited accurately.....)

r24 thanks. At 42, I needed that perspective.

I hate seeing how sharp and with it she was in that May interview and then bam, just dead. Yeah I know 96, but Jane Goodall was on a book tour. My dad is 86 and it makes me nervous

Ah, I stand corrected, r26, thank you. I saw it on Twitter which is never a reliable source!

I do hope her twilight was as serene as she (or our AI overlords) suggested.

[quote] I hate seeing how sharp and with it she was in that May interview and then bam, just dead.

I understand your nervousness, r28, but we should all pray to end that way.

This interpretation may be unbeatable.

That’s fake AI R24.

Anyone remember names of Pat's partners over the years?

A dyke, y'know . . .

I condole you, DL.

I know I'm a little ridiculous, but this makes me very, very sad. Tears in my eyes sad.

[Quote] Climb Ev'ry Mountain

Was the “e” left out due to shortages after the war?

I’m listening to her stellar rendition of “I Went to a Marvellous Party” right now.

I hope she has a riparian memorial service.

RIP.

Had the dishy vicar responded? I think he, his wife and Daisy are the only ones left from the cast.

Oh no! Not Hyacinth.

How is Sheridan coping with the news?

“Hold me Tarquin.”

Pat and Betty are reunited, scissoring in heaven!

Gone to the Candlelight Supper in the sky.

She had a grand life, but she couldn't last forever, dammit.

Patricia Routledge on Desert Island Discs (1999).

She was excellent as A Woman of No Importance in Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads.

Only Emmett and Daisy are left :(

Slapstick comedy was never a favorite of mine but she took it to comedic gold .KUA is one of those shows I never tire of. Always something fresh and funny when I watch her. My late husband wasnt super fond of KUA when I introduced it to him but quickly grew to be a fan.

KUA was so formulaic (dog barks, she falls into shrubs) but it was funny. It mixed physical comedy with funny dialogue (It’s Bookay).

Patricia Routledge on Parkinson

She was also an excellent Audible narrator!

Here she is singing her famous eleven o'clock number "Not on your Nellie" for her Tony Award-winning performance in "Darling of the Day."

She had extraordinary range. She had played Chekhov and Shakespeare to great effect on the British stage, and then brought down the house doing musical theatre. And then her most famous roles were in a sitcom with lots of slapstick, and in a mystery series.

I admit to being a bit of a Mary -I shed a few tears when I saw the news. I feel so lucky to have seen her onstage -as Lady Bracknell, no less!

One of her greatest performances went (officially) unrecorded: 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where she played all the first ladies of the first hundred years of the White House. The Duet For One (First Lady) was an absolute showstopper. She played both the outgoing and the incoming first lady and the presidential inauguration, with a flip of wig and a total change of her voice. She stopped the show absolutely cold, with bootleg recordings revealing anywhere from 4 to 6 minutes of applause!

RIP, Patricia Routledge. You were absolutely brilliant!

RIP talented one.

Bon Voyage Hyacinth

The YouTube clip is mistitled, but lovely.

Really, something like this would never fly in America - not in 1988 and certainly not now.

Oops, my apologies... repeating, "Really, something like this would never fly in America - not in 1988 and certainly not now."

Dame Routledge with "A Lady of Letters" by Alan Bennett.

Was it one take? Multiple? Did she memorize? Have a teleprompter? Does it matter?

[quote] Only Emmett and Daisy are left :(

Fuck you, R47!

[quote]Was it one take? Multiple? Did she memorize? Have a teleprompter?

Did *any* of them?

Her finest work at R58, playing.....a DLer!

[quote] Only Emmett and Daisy are left :(

Marion Barron, who played the vicar’s wife is living at age 67.

He role, of course, was limited.

^her role

Has Mrs. Councillor Nugent been reached for comment?

Pat's partner was Betty Boothroyd, member of Parliament for West Bromwich and West Bromwich West from 1973 to 2000. Member of the Labour Party, Speaker of the House of Commons from 1992 to 2000. She was previously a Deputy Speaker from 1987 to 1992.

Died on February 26, 2023 at 93. Pat's recording of "Climb Every Mountain" was played at funeral.

I've been watching KUA on Britbox and am surprised at how "physical" she is on the show. I know some of the more extreme stunts were done by doubles, but she was very spry in some scenes. Loved her dancing with Onslow aboard the QEII. Impressive.

R.I.P. Dame Patricia.

Truly one of a kind.

The Boat scene in KUA

[quote]Another amazing woman of her vintage - gone.

Did I look like a beverage made by feet crushing ripened fruit?

"Bucket Has Kicked The Bucket"

I ordered her a huge bucket of white lilies and red roses for her send-off!

Baroness Betty Boothroyd sounds like a character from a Roald Dahl novel.

Anybody's Nightmare

"The entry music was Climb Ev'ry Mountain sung by Dame Patricia Routledge, who was a very close friend of Baroness Betty Boothroyd's" said the BBC.

[quote]—Who will sing at Pat's funeral?

Bad Bunny

I went to an evening celebrating Nöel Coward last November.

Dame Patricia was the final surprise guest. She talked of their early days working together. The audience of eldergays, London theatre snobs and drama students were in awe. She was wonderful.

RIP.

R74 Hopefully her good friend Dame Janet Baker

[quote]Who will sing at Pat's funeral?

Not me, because ....

I don't know her.

I knew of her from Victoria Wood before Hyacinth. Is Sheridan the only cast member left? (j/k)

This made me sad today when someone told me… KUA, the detective mystery show, her stage work and monologue… I thought the reminiscence of World War II was so touching… Almost like the was hearing, feeling and tasting the day…

This may sound silly, but I feel that with her death, life has become just a bit coarser. There’s always been something so captivating about her presence on screen. Loved her as Hyacinth, of course. But for me her portrayals in Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads are heartbreaking. I don’t tire of re-watching them.

She seemed to have lived such a full life. I’m sorry I never saw her perform live. But grateful her performances live on. Frankly shocked at how sad this news makes me. It somehow feels like this marks the passage into the last stage.

[quote] Who will sing at Pat's funeral?

Hannah Waddingham.

R24 Whether it was real or AI, it brought forth the tears I’ve been holding back since I learned of Dame Patricia’s death. So thank you for posting it.

Someone check in on Lady Fairford!

I always look for her in "To Sir With Love"

Rest in peace, dear Hyacinth

Coronation Street, almost 65 years ago. RIP

In early 2024 Routledge appeared with a group of other Dames (including Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave & DL fave Sian Phillips) with Queen Camilla.

We had a thread about it at the time and here is the photo:

Oh that's very sad news. Routledge was a real talent and for us gay men - Hyacinth Bucket character will always be a gay icon.

RIP.

If only someone could unearth the Ed Sullivan video of Not on Your Nellie. It was aired once (I saw it) then disappeared. Someone must have it!

Love that she won a Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for a show that only ran for 31 performances.

My late friend Reid was in the singing chorus of Darling of the Day. He and Pat became fast friends and even thought of marrying, but decided that they didn't want to become another of "those unions": Channing and Charles Lowe, Martin and Richard Halliday, etc. I met her at his home in Ann Arbor one afternoon. She was lovely.

Two of her lesser known projects: Little Mary Sunshine in London (she's hilarious on the recording); and The Love Match, a Maltby-Shire musical about Victoria and Albert that closed in LA in 1968. Anyone see it?

R79 - Daisy, the Vicar and his wife are still with us.

R92, along with couples you mentioned plus Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, anyone remember others?

I think Katherine Cornell and husband, and maybe Gertrude Lawrence and hers?

I have always thought she would have been an excellent Queen Mother

[quote]I have always thought she would have been an excellent Queen Mother

She didn't want kids.

[quote]I have always thought she would have been an excellent Queen Mother

They should have cast her in the last two seasons of The Crown, although the role wasn’t very big.

r87, my eyes, my eyes!

I’ve been so upset I haven’t been able to cry over it. I’m just numb. I’ve taken to bed and have watched my favorite episodes of Keeping Up Appearances and remembering how my family and I used to watch it every Saturday night. They’re all gone now. All of them.

MARY!

Sheridan should have got together with Serge to provide the KUA/AbFab crossover the world needed.

I THINK she was asked about being in The Crown. Maybe the Queen Mother? And she turned them down.

Maybe someone has better info?

R103 She would have found it rude.

I'd have definitely paid to see that crossover R102!

Sheridan was never seen or heard, of course, but I would have loved it if he had gotten together with the dishy vicar.

To hell with Sheridan -I wanted to get together with the dishy vicar.

as long as I had a face, the dishy vicar always had a place to sit

Emmett always did it for me.

Talking Heads (1998)

Patricia Routledge plays Miss Fozzard in "Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet"

Miss Fozzard is a lonely, middle-aged department-store clerk in Soft Furnishings whose free time is mostly spent caring for her brother after he suffers a stroke. Her one joy is visiting her chiropodist, but, when he retires, she finds her life consumed with a burgeoning relationship with his replacement, Mr Dunderdale, who is a decidedly kinky fellow with an all-consuming foot fetish. While Miss Fozzard would be the last to admit it, she ventures into benign prostitution as she allows her new chiropodist to pay her to model a variety of footwear whilst also indulging in other activities. It is this that gives her the satisfaction her life was missing, as she begins to stop caring what other people think.

Alan Bennett - Talking Heads S01 E02, A Lady of Letters Patricia Routledge, 1988

No one has mentioned it, but I liked her serious role in the crime drama Hetty Wainwright Investigates, with Dominic Monaghan as her co-star. And although I loved her flutey vocal delivery as Mrs Bucket, I'm sure it was a relief to her to be able to use her natural speaking voice in the other role.

R100< Daisy, Emmett, the Vicar and his wife are still with us.

R112, I completely agree… Also the theme music was a real ear worm for me.

"A Woman of No Importance" is an Alan Bennett "Talking Heads" monologue, broadcast in 1982, featuring Patricia Routledge as Mrs. Schofield, a woman reflecting on her daily life after being admitted to the hospital.

[quote]Hetty Wainwright Investigates,

Hetty WAINTHROPP, dear.

Jeremy Gittins played the dishy Vicar on 'Keeping Up Appearances'.

He also appeared in a Tom Baker 'Doctor Who' story in the early 1980's.

Here is his photo:

It’s lovely that Dame Patricia’s friendship with Dominic Monaghan endured long after Hetty Wainthropp ended.

She made one of her last social appearances with him in August this year.

Does anyone know where to watch her Talking Heads performances in the UK? The YouTube links are blocked here

R118: I found Geoffrey HOT!

r117 IIRC, there's a nude scene with the dishy vicar out there.

R121 he was partially nude in a Tale Of The Unexpected called "Wink Three Times"

I'd like a riparian feast on the dishy vicar's cock.

Love her. RIP talented lady. You’ll be missed

The Dishy Vicar got old like the rest of us.

Still a handsome fellow.

I'd still do the dishy vicar!

Not on Your Nellie!

The friend who almost married her told a story of the performance out of town when they added "Nellie" to the show. The audience response was instantaneous and long. Routledge was delighted of course, but aware that her costar was not getting anything near the reaction she was getting in the show. She adored Price and was embarrassed for the outsized reaction she was receiving. Trying to quell it, she ended up sitting down and lowering her head to the table till the room quieted.

thanks for sharing these posts R129...... any more would be welcome. ...

She was actually asked by Peter Morgan to play the Queen Mother in The Queen but she turned him down and the coarse, dead common Sylvia Syms did it, instead. And then Morgan asked her again to play the Queen Mother in Seasons 5 and 6 but she turned him down and the way too tall Marcia Warren did it, instead. Our loss.

Do you think that she was too much of a royalist to want to risk annoying the crown? Or something else?

She was in a play called How's the World Treating You? on Broadway in 1966. 40 performances. People I know she gave a great comic performance. Anyone see it?

R132, I know nothing about her. But I feel like speculating.

In my gut, I sense that Routledge felt more of an affinity for common people, for women who are often overlooked.

I know she portrayed a wide variety of characters. But her depictions of the women we come across in our everyday lives - and her ability to show in such often subtle ways their interiority, with amazing empathy - make me feel that playing a Royal may not have been her priority.

She certainly could have had she wanted to.

[quote]And then Morgan asked her again to play the Queen Mother in Seasons 5 and 6 but she turned him down and the way too tall Marcia Warren did it, instead.

The only seasons worth playing for the Queen Mother were Seasons 1 and 2. After that, the role diminishes. Did Marcia Warren even have any dialogue in 5 and 6? I don’t even remember.

I've enjoyed her so much as Hyacinth and Kitty. She will live long on film, a brilliant light that can never be extinguished.

RIP Mrs. Boo-kay,

When interviewed on why they hadn't married .

Pat: "I've been on the brink, but none of them excited me"

Betty: "Have had several offers. They always came at the wrong time."

In one interview, Pat said that when she was a teenager she thought she’d be a teacher and spend her Summers traveling abroad and having affairs.

Dame Edna should've played the Queen Mother.

R132 and R134 I feel she would have felt that it was rude to portray the Queen Mother if that makes sense.

R138, and she was a teacher in To Sir With Love. Clinty Clintridge.

I wish I had seen her play Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Ernest--I read that her rendition of that eccentric character was the best. Did anyone here see her in it?

I did -Though I wasn't aware enough to truly appreciate it.

[quote]Did anyone here see her in it?

I saw it. She was fantastic.

I'm not explaining this well from a distant memory, but here goes ...

I used to run the 24 Hour Arts channel on TV as background noise at home. Every so often they'd feature a clip of a Restoration-era(?) play scene (two actors) of her as the wife, gleefully going over how they fleece their victims with her con-man husband.

R145, see R9. I think that may be what you’re referring to.

R132 I know that when she received her damehood she said she was so pleased to receive it from Prince Charles, as he loves actors and the arts. Of course most people's preference would be to receive it from the monarch. Not sure if that influenced her decision to turn down The Crown.

R145 Are you thinking of "Classic Arts Showcase"? Still on cable after 30-plus years.