Una Stubbs was loved by generations of fans after six decades in showbiz
WITH a career spanning six decades, Una Stubbs entertained generations of fans on some of the biggest shows on TV.
Former dancer Una, who has died aged 84, made her acting breakthrough on the big screen, starring alongside Cliff Richard in classic 1963 movie Summer Holiday.
Two years later she was cast in Till Death Us Do Part as Alf Garnet’s exasperated daughter Rita, and more lately she appeared as Benedict Cumberbatch’s landlady Mrs Hudson in BBC series Sherlock.
In Till Death Us Do Part and follow-up series In Sickness And In Health, Una’s partner was played by Tony Booth, father of PM’s wife Cherie Blair. Yet she always maintained Tony Blair was the person she “despised most”.
Una was rarely off the telly, appearing in Fawlty Towers, Keeping Up Appearances, Heartbeat, Casualty, Benidorm, fun quiz Give Us A Clue and twice in Midsomer Murders.
She was a children’s favourite as Aunt Sally in 1970s comedy Worzel Gummidge and had a brief stint as Honey Mitchell’s aunt Caroline Bishop in EastEnders in 2006.
When Sherlock began in 2010, viewers instantly noticed she had a special rapport with Benedict.
No surprise, she had known him since he was a tot as Benedict’s mother, actress Wanda Ventham, was a neighbour.
She recalled: “We used to live near each other and we’d meet up, pushing our prams.
“The producers of Sherlock never explained the role of Mrs Hudson to me and there was no description in the script. I just went home and worked out the best way to play her.
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“I felt like a mother figure to Sherlock and Watson.”
Sherlock co-creator Mark Gattis said last night: “It was one of the great joys of my life to work so closely with and to adore Una.
‘Wickedly funny’
“She was a wonderful, wonderful woman and a great and serenely graceful actor. Mischief was in her blood.”
Actress Bonnie Langford tweeted: “A consummate professional, kind, gracious, elegant, versatile and fun.”
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And Joanna Lumley wrote: “Devastated to hear about the passing of the brilliant Una Stubbs.”
Una joked that she would happily have continued playing Mrs Hudson with a Zimmer frame.
But when Sherlock ended in 2017, she landed her last TV role, as Peggy alongside Johnny Vegas in Murder On The Blackpool Express.
Though best known as a star of the small screen, her part as Sandy in Summer Holiday made her name.
Star Sir Cliff remembers auditioning the dancers who would travel with him on a double-decker bus to the South of France and on to Athens.
Cliff, 80, says: “The minute Una walked in and we saw her move we instantly knew she was the one for the part of Sandy.”
Una was born in May 1937 in Welwyn Garden City, Herts.
And 76 years later, while filming an episode of telly family history show Who Do You Think You Are?, she discovered her great-grandfather, Sir Ebenezer Howard, was the brains behind the creation of Britain’s garden cities.
She grew up in Leicestershire and, aged 16, became a dancer in the chorus at the London Palladium.
Una said: “I was a dancer for years, then I started doing little parts, breaking out. The acting is recent in a way. But you suddenly realise, actually, a dancer’s life can be quite short and you’ve got to do something else.” She became a model and was the cover girl for Dairy Box chocolates for two years.
Then, without going to drama school, she drifted into acting. Th e lack of formal training never held her back. She said: “I’ve been to the school of observation. I learned everything there.”
By then she had married actor Peter Gilmore, who went on to star in TV’s The Onedin Line. They adopted a son, Jason, but the marriage floundered after ten years.
Following her divorce in 1969, Una married actor Nicky Henson. They had two sons, Christian and Joe, both now composers, but divorced in 1975.
Reflecting on finding herself as single mum, Una said: “I was very conscious of being a failure as a wife. And I felt that all the more for being a mother too. But then I’d look at my three little boys, and the world would be a bright and beautiful place again.
“I’d pick myself up and say, “Right, Una! You just have to get on with being the best mother you can possibly be.”
Una was also a talented artist, with her paintings regularly shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London.
It made her perfect to co-present The Big Painting Challenge on BBC1, with Richard Bacon, in 2015.
Her agent Rebecca Blond said she passed away at home in Edinburgh after a short illness, with her three sons at her bedside.
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She added: “She was a wickedly funny, elegant, stylish, graceful, gracious, kind and constant friend.”
Una’s wicked humour continued to the end, telling friends her epitaph should read: “She was good fun.”
