Realy Name: Mollie sugden
On Stage name : MRS BETTY SLOCOMBE

WITH HER MULTICOLOURED coiffure, the man-eating Betty Slocombe lives with her beloved pussy, Tiddles. As departmental head in Ladieswear, no one escapes her bossiness, hectoring and sharp tongue.
Born in 1926, the grumbling queen of hair rinses worked in air-raid precautions during the wan when she met her husband it was love at first sight, but since he deserted her, continuous attempts at trapping any unsuspecting male have failed dismally.

Mollie Sugden accepts that giving autographs is an everyday occurrence for
actors involved in popular television programmes, but couldn't believe it when a fan waving an autograph book burst into the changing-room she was using in a Guildford store. 'I was trying on a dress when the curtain was thrust aside; there I was in my bra and pants and this woman asked whether she could have my autograph! I told her to wait until I was frilly clothed, but was amazed.'

It wasn't long after Are You Being Served? started that people began stopping Mollie in the street asking her about Mrs Slocombe. 'I think everybody knows a Mrs Slocombe, she's quite prevalent. The reaction to the show was tremendous, everyone was always so positive about it.'

Mollie was appearing in a Comedy Ply house with Jimmy Beck and Ronnie Fraser when David Croft, who was producing the half-hour show, intimated that he would be using her in the near future. ~l only had a small part but, as always, he came to my dressing-room to thank me for my performance. He then said: "By the way, I've got a part coming up which has been written specially for you." He wouldn't tell me what it was, but said I'd know about it shortly.'

A couple of weeks later the script for the Are You Being Served? pilot landed on Mollie's doormat.
After reading the script, Mollie couldn't see how the show would fail to impress. 'It may have got off to a slow start, but I knew the audience would relate to it because everyone has been in a department store - and the script and characters were so funny.'
She was so impressed with the script that she didn't have to think about how to bring Mrs Slocombe to life. 'The character leapt off the page, says Mollie. As soon as I read the lines I knew exactly what she was like.'

One of Mrs Slocomb's trademarks was her garish, candyfloss-styled hairdos; it was Mollie who suggested the ever-changing hair colours. 'when I watched the pilot, I had to do something about it: I looked such a miserable character with nondescript mousey ham So when David phoned to tell me a series had been commissioned, I suggested she had different colour hair every week. After all, she was I obviously a bossy soul who would have the hair~ dressing department right under her thumb. I never meant for it to become a gimmick, but it's turned out to be a regular talking-point between fans.'

In early episodes, Mollie dyed her own hair, until it began looking the worse for wear. 'The dye washed out, but the problems were caused by having to bleach my hair so the colours showed up,' she explains. 'Eventually the ends became spongy and the colour wouldn't wash out.'
Mollie realized she had to do something about it when one day she met her twins, Robin and Simon, from junior school. 'I was standing there with multi-coloured ends of hair, I looked dreadful. Of course, the boys were very polite and didn't say anything, but I was terribly conscious of it, and when the next series started, I got the BBC to supply wigs.' Over the years Are You Being Served'? has built up a big following and Mollie receives lots of fan mail. 'The amount of letters from America is unbelievable,

and now the show is being repeated on BBC l, letters are again flooding in from British fans. It's a bit of a chore replying all the time, but if people enjoy the programme and are nice enough to write - and they say some lovely things - the least I can do is reply.'
Mollie has only ever received one letter that has been assigned quickly to the bin. Writing in response to an episode involving a fur coat, a man said he hoped Mollie 'burned in hell'. 'He lived in the Midwest of America and was angry because Mrs Slocombe wanted a fur coat. Even the most unpractised eye could see it was a terrible fake fur, but the mere fact I was apparently supporting the fur trade had angered this man. But that's the only nasty letter I've ever received.'

Born in Keighley, Yorkshire, in 1922, Mollie always wanted to act. When she was four she heard a woman read a poem at a village concert; it stuck firmly in her mind. 'It was so funny I just remembered it, although I was only young,' she says.
'The following Christmas, after a relative asked if anyone could "do anything", I stood on a chair and recited this poem.

When I finished everyone fell to the floor in laughter. Their response made me realize how wonderful it was to make people laugh.'
Not long after she left school the Second World War broke out, and before she could begin her acting career, Mollie was helping the war effort by working in a Keighley munitions factory making shells for the navy~ 'When we'd supplied enough shells about two thousand women were made redundant and I was one of them, which allowed me the chance to attend drama school in London.'

After graduating from the Guildhall School of Drama, Mollie began an eight-year stint in rep, beginning at Accrington with a small company that included Roy Dotrice and Eric Sykes. Three months later she moved to Oldham, earning three pounds a week. Radio work followed, and later her television debut in a live half-hour comedy show with Wilfred PicHes and Paul Whitsun-Jones.

Her first television series was a comedy for Tyne Tees with Glen Melvin and Danny Ross, with whom she'd just worked in summer season. 'Ir was a big part and marvellous experience,' explains Mollie. 'But because it wasn't networked, any mis-takes I made were kept fairly quiet. So it was an ideal situation for someone like me who was beginning their TV career.'
The director was David Croft, who went on to employ Mollie in the early 1 960s sitcom Hugh and I with Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd. The show was written by John Chapman, whom Mollie met up with a few years later.

'When John got involved with The Liver Birck, he suggested me for the part of Mrs Hutchinson, Sandra's mother.'

Mollie prefers working on TV and as her career developed she was regularly cast as mothers in shows like My Wife Next Door, For the Love of Adam and Doctor in Charge, and as Jimmy Clitheroc's mum in Just fumy, a role she also played on stage. Soon she was being offered lead roles in comedy shows, including BBC's Come Back, Mrs Noah, five series as Ida, a doctor's housekeeper in That's My Boy, and two series of My Husband and I for Yorkshire Television with her real-life husband,

William Moore, whom she met at Swansea Rep. 'Starring in a show makes a big difference to your career because people start wanting you in pantomimes and summer seasons.' Mollie also spent 23 weeks I working on Thafs Ltfr, and was seen in ~ Sir!, Oliver's Thavet, as Mrs Robson, in Coronation Street, as Nellie Harvey, and many other comedy shows.

In recent years, Mollie - who bought a beige Porsche when she was 62 - has been suffering ill-health which has restricted her work. In 1993 she had a heart bypass, from which she's made a complete recovery~ She first knew something was wrong while appearing in an opera in San Francisco. ~l noticed I didn't have to do much before I was out of breath,' explains Mollie, who was informed by a specialist upon her return to England that she'd experience a heart attack. But after surgery she was soon on the road to recovery 'The horrid thing was that after that I got polymyalgia; that's when steroids entered my life, and it's taking forever to clear up.

I did the recent revival of The Liver Birds but I'm not sure it was wise because at the time I was on massive doses of steroids and, of course, they don't improve anybody's appearance. But everyone was very sweet to me, and I enjoyed the series. 'I'm not off the steroids yet, but I'm down to a much smaller dose. My appearance is from quite so bad, but I'm not cured yet. However, life goes on and it's certainly been a wonderfial life and cateer so far.' To date she has built her career on memorable comedy parts, but she's never hankered after serious roles. 'I love comedy because I still get that great feeling when I hear people laugh.'