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there is life in the old dog yet."
She as a result had to lean on people when walking and she revealed when she was in the garden,she could get on her knees,but it was a problem getting up.But we are talking of a 90 year old woman here,so i think she had done pretty well and lived a healthy life.
We can all take comfort that she died peacefully in hospital,three days after her 90th birthday.She had been poorly a couple of days earlier and was taken to hospital,but it still came as a shock to her family as they had expected her to pull through.There was even a little party planned to celebrate her birthday.Still,i think most people will gladly choose to go out like that.No pain,no loss of memory and all faculties still intact.
Fans are still mourning Jean who played the lovable character of Hilda Ogden on the street.So many generations of people grew up with her and it was almost like losing your grandmother or a family member when she passed on.She started playing Hilda on July 8, 1964, and had her last outing as the character on December 25, 1987.
That was not the last we saw of her on telly though.She went on to play Auntie Wainwright in the long running BBC comedy series Last of the Summer Wine until it ended in 2010.
Her family also revealed her last moments were great as she looked back on her life and career and remarked she had not done too badly as a poor girl from Liverpool.She then told them she was happy with what she had achieved and had fulfilled her dreams and goals.Perhaps she new the end was near.
I guess when you get to a certain age and most of your friends and age mates are dead,you know death could come calling at anytime.
Jean Alexander funeral was a private and low key ceremony,attended by close friends and family.It was held near her home in Southport, Merseyside, at the town’s crematorium.Her family had asked the public and press not to attend the service and there were no famous faces from the entertainment world.It's a shame though,i think after such a life well spent,her funeral should have been a celebration open to all.It would have been lovely for instance to line the streets and say goodbye to her.
But that was what she wanted and her wishes has to be respected.Jean’s brother Kenneth Hodgkinson, 91, along with his daughters Sonia Hearld, 64, and Valerie Thewlis, 60, joined the congregation to say goodbye to her.
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| Hilda Ogden last scenes on coronation street christmas day 1987. |
A question that is often asked by fans is was Jean ever married?Well,even though in Corrie her marriage to henpecked husband Stan, played by the late Bernard Youens, was central to her no-nonsense character who ruled the roost in hair rollers and hair net,she never quite got round to it in real life.It often led to such gossips of her being gay.But she loved the company of her cats and she said her career and her cats are all she needed.
Perhaps more shocking is her revelation that she had never fell in love or ever had sex! Wow! Now that is something.She has no regrets of being a virgin though as she said she had a lucky escape.She never wanted children either as she said she never felt maternal.
So i guess that puts an end to all those nasty gay rumours.
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Some facts from her biography tells us she was born on the 11th of October 1926,in Toxteth, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK.Some of her notable awards are, the Royal Television Society Award in 1985 for her role on "Coronation Street."
Voted "Greatest Soap Opera Star of All Time" in the UK TV Times in September 2005.Now,that is something innit?No wonder she said she had done well for a poor girl from Liverpool.
I bet you didn't know that she took her stage name from her father,did you?His name was, Archibald Alexander Hodgkinson.
Speaking on her famous Hilda character,she said she based it on wartime women munitions workers, whose heads were always covered to protect them from the machinery. "They used to wear these scarves, like pudding-cloths, tied up and the curlers would be in.".
Her net worth is not officially documented as she was a very private person.But after working for so long in one of the very top soaps in the country,it is safe to safe that she earnt a few crumbs and lived a comfoRtable life.
RIP.