Patricia Routledge was born on February 17, 1929 in Tranmere, a small village in Cheshire, England. In her youth, she did not think about an acting career. She wanted to be a teacher, hoping to be a school principal by the time she was forty and own a red sports car. She graduated with honors from the University of Liverpool. While studying, she enrolled in a drama club. One of the directors noticed her acting talent and predicted her a great career. So she enrolled in the drama school at Bristol Old Vic, Britain’s oldest theatre.
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She made her debut in the 1950s. She played her most famous role in her 60s
initially associated with musical theater. She was a trained singer, so the decision was natural. She made her debut in 1952 on the stage of the theater in Liverpool, in 1966 she performed for the first time on Broadway. Two years later, she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in Darling of the Day. She appeared in dozens of plays and film productions, for many years she was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, but her greatest success in her career was her role in the British comedy, “What will people say?”. Routledge was 60 at the time.
In 1990, Patricia Routledge was offered to star in a comedy series. As she recalled years later, she got the script after a performance in the theater. She was tired, so she planned to just flip through a few pages and make up her mind. – I wanted to look at the beginning, because usually this allows you to find out if the project is good. Meanwhile, I stayed up all night and read to the end. Then I thought I’d sleep on it, re-read the text, and then decide what to do. But I already knew. The humor just poured out of every sentence – in 2017.
Patricia Routledge, or the beloved Hyacinth Bouquet. “My life is a stage before and after Jacinta”
Routledge loved her role as Hyacinth Bouquet. A housewife dreaming of social advancement, who loves to exalt herself, puts everyone in corners, terrorizes her neighbors and, above all, cares about appearances, was completely different from the actress herself. “Apart from two arms, two legs, two eyes, a nose and a mouth, we really have no similarities! If I played a killer, it doesn’t mean I have to commit murder in my life. You just play a role – in one of the interviews quoted by the magazine “Viva”.
“What will people say?” has become a world-renowned production. Despite its immense popularity, production was discontinued in 1995 at the request of Routledge herself. – My life is a stage before and after Jacinta. If people only remember me as Jacinta, I can’t help it. But if it makes people go to the theater to see me, then I can be happy. I would not like to be Jacinta forever – in one of the interviews.
In 2004 she was awarded the Order of the British Empire, in 2017 Queen Elizabeth II awarded her the title of Dame. In 2022, she was awarded honorary membership of the British Royal Academy of Music. Patricia Routledge has never been married, has no children and has rarely appeared in public for years. The 93-year-old lives a quiet life in Chichester, a town in southern England.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
