She was one of the most recognisable of British character actresses, and was seemingly in just about every classic comedy series on our screens - including Steptoe and Son, Beggar My Neighbour, The Liver Birds, Doctor At Large, On The Buses, And Mother Makes Three, Love Thy Neighbour, Hancock, Mind Your Language, Happy Ever After, Duty Free, One Foot In The Grave and even the saucy film Confessions Of A Driving Instructor! - from 1962 to the mid-90s. Yet how many people would even know her name?
Miss Dolores Hayman (for it is she), who has departed for Fabulon just short of her 92nd birthday, was described by the aptly-named Familiar Unknown blog thus:
The epitome of the eminently respectable horsey lady, Ms Hayman was cast strictly to type, having been born in Kensington and educated at Cheltenham Ladies' College. She was memorably eccentric in the classic Jon Pertwee-era Doctor Who story The Daemons [watch a snippet of an interview with her about that], and had a number of appearances on TV, in The Sweeney, The Double Deckers, Wodehouse Playhouse and, perhaps less predictably, The Young Ones and Filthy Rich & Catflap.Apparently, she was a close friend of the redoubtable Margaret Rutherford. Can you imagine a pair of eccentrics like that in a room together?
RIP, Damaris Hayman (16th June 1929 – 3rd June 2021)
I love her!
ReplyDeleteShe was fab - one of a long, long list of those "familiar faces who you would always delight in seeing but couldn't quite place the name" like Kate Williams, Marcia Warren, Maggie Steed, Athene Seyler, Elizabeth Spriggs, Joan Benham, Sylvestra Le Touzel... and many, many more besides. Jx
DeleteYes, a difficult name for many, maybe most, to place.
ReplyDeleteThe UK turned out some stunning actors.
We have the benefit of a world-class theatrical tradition from which the likes of Miss Hayman could emerge, "fully-formed", as it were... Jx
DeleteI would like to add Esma Cannon to your list.
ReplyDeleteAll were great actors in their own way and the back bone of British theatre, film and TV.
Damaris Hayman always displayed a warmth of humanity I found very endearing. You just knew she was a good egg.
She also benefited, like so many supporting actors in "star vehicle" comedies, from being totally unafraid of being the butt of the joke. As you say, "a good egg". Jx
DeleteDolores and Margaret over for tea? Smashing good time had by all. Kizzes.
ReplyDeleteOh, I would love to host a tea party for venerable ladies such as they! Jx
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