Last Of The Summer Wine's Jean Alexander dies aged 90
- Jean Alexander who played Auntie Wainwright in Last Of The Summer Wine has died aged 90
- The actress also famously played Hilda Ogden in Coronation Street for 23 years
- Alexander previously described Auntie Wainwright as her "absolute favourite part"
Jean Alexander, the actress who played Auntie Wainwright in Last Of The Summer Wine, has died aged 90.
Also famed for her role as Hilda Ogden in Coronation Street, Alexander joined Last Of The Summer Wine in 1988, a year after leaving the ITV soap opera after 23 years as the iconic put-upon housewife.
She played Howard's aunt in Last Of The Summer Wine for two years as a guest role, before then returned to the show in 1992 as a regular cast member, a role she would keep until the show was cancelled in 2010.
She described the bric-a-brac shop owner she played as the "absolute favourite part" of her career, adding: "She was just up my street. So funny and witty."
Auntie Wainwright had a way of selling those that entered her shop things they didn't want, and was very tight with money. For example, at Compo's funeral, she pretended to be blind in order to avoid having to give any money to the collection.
Jean Alexander was born in as Jean Hodgkinson in Liverpool on the 11th October 1926. After leaving school, she found a job as a library assistant. She made her stage debut in Macclesfield in 1949, and for the next 12 years worked in repertory theatre. She made her first TV appearance in police drama Z Cars but got her big break when she was signed up to play Hilda Ogden Coronation Street. At that point the soap was three years old and had already become one of TV's biggest successes. However, Alexander soon made her character one of the audience's favourites.
Alexander passed away in hospital yesterday (Friday 14th October 2016). The BBC reports that she was admitted to a Merseyside hospital for tests last week but was discharged after a couple of days and allowed to return to her nursing home. But on Tuesday, the day of her 90th birthday, she was readmitted to hospital. She died peacefully in her sleep on Friday.
Alexander's niece Sonia Hearld told The Guardian. "She was a great person and she will be missed. At the moment, it is a shock to the family and we are really just getting round to coming to terms with it. We were hoping to be celebrating her birthday this week, but that hadn't happened."
She added: "She had a very well-known face - she was once dubbed the all-time favourite soap star, I believe. She was part of people's lives."
