Death
Jacques was a chain smoker. In her later years she was plagued by health problems, which included breathing difficulties, arthritis, high blood pressure and swollen, ulcerated legs. As a result of these she was unable to get insurance for films. She carried on working by taking to the road in a stage version of Sykes, which allowed her to continue supporting her favourite charities, as well as keeping up her busy social life.
She died of a heart attack on 6 October 1980, at the age of 58, shortly after completing a television advertisement campaign for UK supermarket Asda. Her family refused to allow Sykes to attend her funeral because they resented the way he had allegedly treated her during the stage show, Sykes. She was cremated at Putney Vale Crematorium, where her ashes were also scattered.
A memorial plaque to Jacques is in St Paul's, Covent Garden, otherwise known as the Actors' Church.
On 5 November 1995, a blue plaque was unveiled by Eric Sykes and Clive Dunn at her former residence: 67 Eardley Crescent, Earls Court, London.
Read more about this topic: Hattie Jacques
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Such as the wreck of the Hesperus,
In the midnight and the snow!
Christ save us all from a death like this,
On the reef of Norman’s Woe!”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)
“Nor has his death the world deceiv’d
Less than his wondrous life surpriz’d;
For if he like a madman liv’d
At least he like a wise one dy’d.”
—Miguel De Cervantes (1547–1616)
“To die proudly when it is no longer possible to live proudly. Death freely chosen, death at the right time, brightly and cheerfully accomplished amid children and witnesses: then a real farewell is still possible, as the one who is taking leave is still there; also a real estimate of what one has wished, drawing the sum of one’s life—all in opposition to the wretched and revolting comedy that Christianity has made of the hour of death.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)