Kathleen Harrison (23 February 1892 – 7 December 1995) was a prolific English character actress best remembered for her role as Mrs Huggett (opposite Jack Warner and Petula Clark) in a trio of British post-war comedies about a working-class family's misadventures. To modern viewers she may be best remembered as the charwoman Mrs Dilber opposite Alastair Sim in the 1951 film A Christmas Carol, and as a Cockney charlady who inherits a fortune in Mrs Thursday.

Biography

Kathleen married John Henry Beck in 1916, 3 children were born to them, 2 sons and 1 daughter. Kathleen always pretended to be six years younger than her age, but in 1992 she owned up to reaching 100 and received her telegram from the Queen. She was one of Britain's oldest actresses at the time of her death.


The Huggett family

The Huggett family made their first appearance in Holiday Camp (1947). Harrison played the London East End charwoman Mrs Huggett. The actress continued with the role, alongside Jack Warner as her screen husband, in Here Come the Huggetts, Vote for Huggett and The Huggetts Abroad, as well as a radio series, Meet the Huggetts, which ran from 1953 to 1961. Although disliked by critics, almost immediately it became one of the most popular programmes of the decade. Five years later, Harrison turned down the title role in writer Jeremy Sandford's acclaimed BBC play Edna, the Inebriate Woman, which later won Patricia Hayes a Best Actress on TV Award.

In 1956 Harrison also starred with Warner in the film Home and Away, about a working-class family that wins the football pools.