Irene Handl

British comedy actress who came late to the theatre via an acting course in her early thirties, but was an immediate success as the to-the-rescue maid in George and Margaret, a role that also set her up for a film career of mothers, cooks and landladies, to all of which she lent her own touch of eccentricity. After appearing with a number of top comedians, she became a star in her own right in a TV series of the 1960s. She also wrote two popular novels.