Isabel Mary Sugden (21 July 1922 – 1 July 2009), known professionally as Mollie Sugden, was an English actress and comedienne. She was best known for being an original cast member in the British sitcom Are You Being Served? (1972–1985) as senior saleswoman Mrs. Slocombe and reprising the character in the spin-off Grace & Favour (1992–1993).
Aside from Are You Being Served?, Sugden was also notable for her roles as Mrs Hutchinson in The Liver Birds and as Nellie Harvey, a rival landlady to Annie Walker (Doris Speed), in Coronation Street.
Early life
Sugden was born on 21 July 1922 in Keighley, West Riding of Yorkshire, the younger child of Mary (née Shackleton; 1882–1962) and Willie Sugden (1876–1952); she had an elder brother, John (1907–1970).
Sugden began performing at four years old, when at a family Christmas party she repeated a poem that she had learnt from a woman at a village concert; her family's positive reaction made her realise "how wonderful it was to make people laugh. After leaving school Sugden worked in a munitions factory, making shells for the British Royal Navy during World War II. Once the war was over and she was released from the factory Sugden attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
Early career
When Sugden graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she worked in repertory for eight years with a company that included Eric Sykes and Roy Dotrice. She also had work in radio and made her television debut in a live half-hour comedy show. Sugden's other appearances before Are You Being Served? included parts in The Benny Hill Show, Just Jimmy (with Jimmy Clitheroe), Z-Cars, Up Pompeii!, The Goodies, Steptoe and Son and five episodes of Jackanory in 1968.
Television
Sugden's first regular sitcom role was as Mrs Crispin in the sitcom Hugh and I (1962–1967). This was written by John T. Chapman, and when he became involved with The Liver Birds series, he suggested Sugden for the role of Sandra's mother, Mrs Hutchinson. She appeared in the bulk of the run, from 1971 to 1979.
In 1973, she appeared in Son of the Bride.
Meanwhile, aged 50 she was cast in a role which brought her international fame: Mrs Slocombe, a department store saleswoman with a socially superior attitude, a repertoire of double entendres, and a penchant for bouffant, pastel-coloured coiffures, in the long-running Are You Being Served? (1972–1985). In 1978, she was the lead star in Come Back Mrs. Noah, a sitcom that is regarded by some as one of the worst ever made. From 1965 to 1976, she intermittently played Nellie Harvey, the landlady of The Laughing Donkey pub, in Coronation Street. In this she often appeared opposite Annie Walker, landlady of the Rovers Return. In 1986, she had a 23-week stint on That's Life!
Sugden also played main roles in other sitcoms, including That's My Boy (1981–1986) and My Husband and I (1987–1988), both for ITV. In an unsuccessful revival of The Liver Birds (1996), Sugden reprised her role as Mrs Hutchinson, despite being on steroids as treatment for polymyalgia.
She played opposite her husband, William Moore (1916–2000), in several series, including two episodes of The Liver Birds and again in My Husband and I, on both occasions as a married couple. They married on 29 March 1958, having met while in repertory theatre in Swansea, and had twin sons born in October 1963, Robin and Simon. She had five grandchildren.
Radio
Sugden appeared alongside Deryck Guyler in two series of the sitcom Home to Roost on BBC Radio 4 in 1974 and 1975. She also played Mrs Fox in the radio version of Dad's Army from 1975 to 1976.
Later years and death
Seven years after the end of Are You Being Served?, five members of the original cast – including Sugden – came together to appear in Grace & Favour, where the staff of Grace Brothers are left an old manor house in the country, which they try to run as a hotel. It ran for two series, until 1993. Other appearances at this time included Just William and Oliver's Travels. In 2003, Sugden appeared in an episode of The Bill and also appeared (as herself) in an episode of the comedy sketch show Little Britain.
In 2002, a tribute programme called Celebrating Mollie Sugden: An Are You Being Served? Special, aired on American PBS stations featuring several members of the cast of Are You Being Served?
Sugden died on 1 July 2009, age 86, at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford, Surrey of unspecified heart failure and was cremated. Her final public appearance had been at the funeral of her Are You Being Served? co-star Wendy Richard nearly four months earlier.
interview British Entertainment History Project