Comedy actress Mollie Sugden has died in a Surrey hospital, aged 86, after a long illness, her agent has said.
The Yorkshire-born star died in the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford this afternoon.
Her twin sons, Robin and Simon Moore, were at her bedside, according to her agent Joan Reddin.
She was one of Britain's top television sitcom actresses, renowned for her portrayal of fearsome battleaxes.
Among her best-known roles were the overbearing Mrs Slocombe in Are You Being Served? and the fearsome Mrs Hutchinson in The Liver Birds.
Her portrayal of overpowering and snooty women made her a household name, not least for her talent of bringing a humourous warmth to the most tyrannical of roles.
Her agent and close friend Joan Reddin, who began working with Sugden in the 1960s, said: "She had had a long illness and various problems but it was very quick in the end.
"I represented her for more than 30 years and I was a very close friend as well.
"She was a lovely, lovely person and I never had any trouble with her. She was a great professional."
Born in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in 1922, she attended her local grammar school.
She went on to study drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she took three major awards in one year.
Despite a promising start, success did not come quickly and she spent many years in repertory up and down the country.
It was in 1956, while she was working for Swansea Rep at the Grand Theatre, earning about £12 a week, that she met her husband, fellow actor William Moore.
They married two years later, when she was 35 and he was 39.
Their twin sons Robin and Simon were born six years later, just as Sugden was becoming a familiar face on television with hit programmes such as Hugh And I, Please Sir! and The Love Of Ada.
She quickly found her strength was in comedy and she was happiest in comedy dramas.
The Yorkshire-born star died in the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford this afternoon.
Her twin sons, Robin and Simon Moore, were at her bedside, according to her agent Joan Reddin.
She was one of Britain's top television sitcom actresses, renowned for her portrayal of fearsome battleaxes.
Among her best-known roles were the overbearing Mrs Slocombe in Are You Being Served? and the fearsome Mrs Hutchinson in The Liver Birds.
Her portrayal of overpowering and snooty women made her a household name, not least for her talent of bringing a humourous warmth to the most tyrannical of roles.
Her agent and close friend Joan Reddin, who began working with Sugden in the 1960s, said: "She had had a long illness and various problems but it was very quick in the end.
"I represented her for more than 30 years and I was a very close friend as well.
"She was a lovely, lovely person and I never had any trouble with her. She was a great professional."
Born in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in 1922, she attended her local grammar school.
She went on to study drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she took three major awards in one year.
Despite a promising start, success did not come quickly and she spent many years in repertory up and down the country.
It was in 1956, while she was working for Swansea Rep at the Grand Theatre, earning about £12 a week, that she met her husband, fellow actor William Moore.
They married two years later, when she was 35 and he was 39.
Their twin sons Robin and Simon were born six years later, just as Sugden was becoming a familiar face on television with hit programmes such as Hugh And I, Please Sir! and The Love Of Ada.
She quickly found her strength was in comedy and she was happiest in comedy dramas.
