Josephine Tewson, the ex-wife of Leonard Rossiter and noted sitcom actress, has passed away at the age of 91.
BBC audiences may know the “comedy great” mostly as Elizabeth Warden, the reluctant confidante of snob Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping up Appearance, and as Miss Davenport in The Last of the Summer Wine, but Tewson had a cinema and theatre career beginning in the 1950s. After graduating from RADA in 1952, the ‘brilliant’ actress was a regular on David Frost on Sunday alongside comic legends Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker and played in the 1970s and 1980s sitcom Shelley.
She also wed fellow actor Rossiter for three years before to their 1961 divorce.
Tewson, bemoaning their brief relationship, stated, “Len was always with other women and careless.”
Former EastEnders actress Debbie Arnold eulogized her, stating, “It’s very tragic that we’ve lost two beautiful individuals in two days: first Bruce Montague, and now Josephine Tewson.”
Judy Buxton and I had the privilege of touring the world and the United Kingdom with these comic legends, culminating in the West End. We had a great time. I adored Jo.’ Carol, the wife of the late actor John Challis, paid homage by tweeting a photo of Challis and Tewson from the British sitcom Last of the Summer Wine.
She posted on social media, “Goodbye, Josephine Tewson.” John enjoyed working on Last of the Summer Wine with her. Another has vanished.
Arnold, 67, who portrayed April Branning in the 1990s, tweeted, ‘So sorry we lost two beautiful individuals, first Bruce Montague and then Josephine Tewson two days later.
Judy Buxton and I had the privilege of touring the world and the United Kingdom with these comic legends, culminating in the West End. We had a great time. I adored Jo.’
Tewson attended grammar school before enrolling at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. he was born in Hampstead, London, in 1931.
Her first major appearance was as Edna “Mrs. H” Hawkins in the 1979 film Shelley. She appeared in several episodes of the 1970s and 1980s sitcom developed by Peter Tilbury and starring Hywel Bennett, Warren Clarke, and Belinda Sinclair.
Other recurring roles were Gark at Barker, Z-Cars, and The Charlie Drake Show.
She also had a reunion with Barker on Clarence in 1988, prior to his retirement.
In 1972, following the dissolution of her three-year marriage to Rossiter, she wed her second husband, Henry Newman. He died in 1980.
She returned to television and became most known for her role as the pragmatist Warden in Keeping Up Appearances.
Roy Clarke was the show’s creator, and from 2003 and 2010, he gave Tewson her most famous late-career role on Last of the Summer Wine.
She debuted her one-woman show Still Keeping Up Appearances? in 2012. and visited the United Kingdom.