- Born
- Died
- Height1.60 m
- Although British actress Kathleen Harrison was born in 1892 in the Lancashire town of Blackburn, she was fondly known for her cockney characters throughout her career. Trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art she first married and lived overseas in Argentina for nearly eight years. Upon her return she made her initial stage appearance in "The Constant Flirt" in 1926. In the 30s she found her way onto the screen, taking many of her delightful theatre roles to film, including Line Engaged (1935), La force des ténèbres (1937) (probably her most noteworthy), and I Killed the Count (1939). She added immeasurable Dickensian flavor as various maids and mums to such classics as Oliver Twist (1948), Scrooge (1951) and The Pickwick Papers (1952).
She was also openly received as Mrs. Huggett in the "Huggett Family" series that ran a few years in the late 40s. In her five decade career, Kathleen 'toiled' as various servile characters in nearly 80 films. As popular in England as similar 'working class' as character player Thelma Ritter was in America, Kathleen also enjoyed a slight shot of TV popularity late in her career, notably in the brief series Mrs Thursday (1966) as a cleaning lady who inherits her boss's vast fortune. Kathleen's last years were spent in a nursing home, living to the ripe old age of 103.- IMDb mini biography by: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
- SpouseJohn Henry Back(1916 - 1960) (his death, 3 children)
- Played slightly dithering, warm hearted motherly roles
- She is the first actress to appear in the film Une belle rencontre (2016) which was made 124 years after she born and 21 years after she died. They used archive footage.
- While rehearsing the role of Eliza Doolittle for a production of "Pygmalion" at RADA, the play's writer, George Bernard Shaw, visited and gave her advice that would help her in her subsequent career: 'Go out into the Old Kent Road and just listen to the women talking'.
- Gave 1898 as her birth year throughout her career, it was not until just before her 100th birthday that she publicly admitted her real age.
- She always pretended to be six years younger than her age, but in 1992 she owned up to reaching 100 and received her telegram from the Queen.
- Lived with her husband, who worked for the Western Telegraph Company, in Argentina and Madeira for eight years, only returning to Britain when he became unemployed in the mid-1920's. It was then that she made her stage début, playing Mrs Judd in "The Constant Flirt", at the Pier Theatre, Eastbourne, in 1926.
- Because of my popularity as Mrs. Thursday, I can't go shopping anymore. It's embarrassing to be recognized and stopped all the time.
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