Patricia Routledge

Dame Patricia Routledge DBE
Routledge in 2023
Born	Katherine Patricia Routledge (1929-02-17) 17 February 1929 (age 95) Tranmere, Cheshire, England
Alma mater	University of Liverpool (BA) Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Occupations	Actress singer
Years active	1952–present

Dame Katherine Patricia Routledge DBE (/ˈraʊtlɪdʒ/ ROWT-lij;^[1] born 17 February 1929) is an English actress and singer, best known for her comedy role as Hyacinth Bucket in the popular BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances (1990–1995), for which she was nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Light Entertainment Performance in 1992 and 1993.

Routledge made her professional stage debut at the Liverpool Playhouse in 1952 and her Broadway debut in How's the World Treating You in 1966. She won the 1968 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in Darling of the Day, and the 1988 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Candide. Her film appearances include To Sir, with Love (1967) and Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968).

On television, Routledge came to prominence during the 1980s in monologues written by Alan Bennett and Victoria Wood; appearing in Bennett's A Woman of No Importance (1982), as Kitty in Victoria Wood: As Seen on TV (1985–1986), and being nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for Bennett's Talking Heads: A Lady of Letters (1988). She also starred as Hetty Wainthropp in the British television series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1990, 1996–1998). In 2017, she was made a dame by Queen Elizabeth II for her services to entertainment and charity.