Una Stubbs Biography – Una Stubbs Wiki
Una Stubbs was an English actress, television personality, and dancer who appeared on British television and in the theatre, and less frequently in films. She was famous for appearing in the film Summer Holiday (1963) and later played Rita Rawlins in the BBC sitcoms Till Death Us Do Part and In Sickness and in Health. Other well-known television roles include Aunt Sally in Worzel Gummidge and Miss Bat in The Worst Witch. She also appeared as Sherlock Holmes’s landlady Mrs. Hudson in the BAFTA award-winning television series Sherlock.
From 1958 to 1959, she was the cover girl of Dairy Box chocolates, produced by Rowntree’s. She referred to herself as the Rowntrees Chocolate Girl, when describing a visit she made to the Rowntree’s factory in York. She first appeared on television as one of the Dougie Squires Dancers on the British television music show Cool for Cats in 1956. She also worked in cabaret, clubs, and revues in London during these years and was one of Lionel Blair’s dance ensemble.
Her first major screen role was in Cliff Richard’s 1963 film, Summer Holiday. She also appeared in Richard’s next film, Wonderful Life (1964). After a few years, she made her breakthrough in television comedy, playing Rita, the married daughter of Alf Garnett in the BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part (1966–1975). She also appeared in the short-lived sitcom Till Death… (1981), again playing Rita. She played Rita a third time in a few episodes of the BBC sitcom In Sickness and in Health (1985–92). During 1970–71, she teamed again with Cliff Richard to appear each week on his BBC1 TV Series, It’s Cliff Richard! When she did not take part in the next series as it was broadcast shortly after she had a baby, her TV “mother”, Dandy Nichols from Till Death Us Do Part, took her place.
She featured in the Fawlty Towers episode “The Anniversary” in 1979. From 1979 to 1981, she played Aunt Sally in the ITV children’s series Worzel Gummidge opposite Jon Pertwee and Barbara Windsor and was for several years a team captain in the weekly game show Give Us a Clue in the 1980s, reuniting her with Lionel Blair, the other team captain.
She appeared in the shows Midsomer Murders, Heartbeat, Casualty, Keeping Up Appearances, Born and Bred, and The Worst Witch. In recent years, she also appeared in Victoria Wood’s We’d Quite Like to Apologise, The Catherine Tate Show, Agatha Christie’s Marple, EastEnders, Benidorm since 2010, and Sherlock as Mrs. Hudson. She appeared in an episode of Call the Midwife in 2015.
She was on the West End stage in Noel Coward’s Star Quality with Penelope Keith in 2001 and Friedrich Schiller’s Don Carlos with Derek Jacobi in 2005. More recently she appeared in La Cage Aux Folles at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Pygmalion at the Theatre Royal, Bath and Old Vic, and The Family Reunion at the Donmar Warehouse. She was in the original cast of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time at the National Theatre in 2012. In 2015, she co-presented The Big Painting Challenge on BBC One alongside Richard Bacon.
She had known her Sherlock co-star Benedict Cumberbatch since he was four years old, as she had worked with his mother, Wanda Ventham. Stubbs was the subject of an episode of the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are?, broadcast on July 24, 2013. It discussed several of her ancestors, including her great-grandfather Sir Ebenezer Howard, who was the founder of the garden city movement and was the driving force in the design and creation of the first garden cities, Letchworth Garden City and Welwyn Garden City, situated in Hertfordshire.
She trained at the La Roche dancing school in Slough and made a debut at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, as the fairy Peaseblossom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 1955 she was dancing at the London Palladium, and in 1956 appeared in both ITV’s Cool for Cats, the first-ever teen pop music show, with the Dougie Squires dancers, and as “a starlet” at the Venice film festival in Grab Me a Gondola, an unjustly forgotten British musical in which Joan Heal gave a celebrated performance as a wannabe film star.
For many years, Stubbs sketched vignettes of characters around London and held exhibitions of these near her Mayfair home. On several occasions, paintings by Stubbs were exhibited at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition, most recently in 2020.
Una Stubbs Age
Una was born on May 1, 1937, in Welwyn Garden City, United Kingdom, and died on August 12, 2021. She was 84 years old.
Una Stubbs Husband
She was married twice. In her first marriage, she was married to the actor Peter Gilmore from 1958 to 1969: they adopted a son, Jason. After their divorce in 1969, she married actor Nicky Henson. They divorced in 1975 but remained good friends. She and Henson had two children: composer Christian Henson, and musician-composer Joe Henson.
Una Stubbs Children
She had three children, all sons named Christian Henson a composer born on December 25, 1971, her adopted son Jason Gilmore, and musician-composer Joe Henson born on September 18, 1973.
Una Stubbs Family
She was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, where her mother, Angela K. Rawlinson, worked in the cutting room of Denham film studios nearby, and her father, Clarence Stubbs, was a factory worker with Shredded Wheat. Her great-grandfather was Ebenezer Howard, the founder of Welwyn Garden City. She grew up in Hinckley, Leicestershire.
She was the middle of three children – a sister, Claire, was two years older, a brother, Paul, two years younger –she struggled to assert herself as they all grew up in Hinckley, Leicestershire.
Una Stubbs Death
She died on August 12, 2021, at the age of 84. In a statement, her sons Joe and Christian Henson and Jason Gilmore said: “Mum passed away quietly today with her family around her, in Edinburgh. We ask for privacy and understanding at this most difficult and sad of times.”
Her agent Rebecca Blond, who represented Stubbs for more than 20 years, said she would miss her enormously and remember her always. Her agent paid tribute to her as a wonderful actress and graceful, gracious and kind, and constant friend.
Sherlock creator Steven Moffat remembered Stubbs as the loveliest light on Baker Street. Writing on Instagram, he said: “What a woman, what a talent, what a star – and just about the kindest, nicest, funniest person you could meet. I don’t know how anyone even starts summing up that career – Till Death Us Do Part, Fawlty Towers, the incomparable Aunt Sally in Worzel Gummidge… and, of course, the irreplaceable heart and soul of Sherlock”.
Una Stubbs Cause of Death
Una had been ill for a few months before she died.
