Jean Alexander

Jean Margaret Hodgkinson was born at 18 Rhiwlas Street in the Toxteth area of Liverpool, Lancashire on 11 October 1926, to Nell and Archie Hodgkinson; her father worked as an electrician and the family lived in a terraced house with no indoor lavatory. Alexander had an elder brother, Kenneth. She aspired to become an actress from an early age, and later said that she was inspired by variety acts she saw at the Pavilion theatre in her home city. She attended St Edmund's College for Girls in Princes Park, Toxteth and as a teenager, she joined an amateur theatre group and took elocution lessons. ==Career==

Alexander spent five years as a library assistant in Liverpool but, with a love of Shakespeare, decided to be become an actress, making her stage debut in 1949 at the Adelphi Guild Theatre in Macclesfield. or in Deadline Midnight (1961). The British League for Hilda Ogden was established in 1979 by Sir John Betjeman, Willis Hall, Russell Harty, Laurence Olivier and Michael Parkinson, among others. In 1984, hundreds of fans sent her condolence cards after the death of her on-screen husband Stan Ogden; the actor who played him, Bernard Youens, died a few months before his character was killed off. In 1985 she received the Royal Television Society Award for her performance on Coronation Street. In 2005 the UK TVTimes poll voted her as the "Greatest Soap Opera Star of All Time". On 6 December 2010, Alexander spoke by telephone to ITV's This Morning to discuss her time on Coronation Street on the day of the drama's 50th anniversary episode. Other roles In 1988, Alexander made a guest appearance in the long-running BBC comedy series Last of the Summer Wine as Auntie Wainwright, the money-grabbing local junk shop owner. She returned for a second guest appearance in 1989, and finally became a series regular in 1992, remaining until the end of the series in 2010. Her film credits include Scandal (1989) She starred with Patricia Hodge and Lionel Jeffries in the comedy series Rich Tea and Sympathy, and appeared in the quiz show Cluedo. Later, she appeared in Barbara, Heartbeat, Where the Heart Is and The Afternoon Play. ==Personal life and death==

Alexander never married, stating that she put her acting career first. She was a keen gardener and after her death was commemorated in the town with a memorial bench at Southport Flower Show, where she was a regular visitor. She donated her 1955 Qualcast Panther lawnmower to the British Lawnmower Museum in the town, where it is still on display. Alexander announced her retirement in 2012, two years after her last television appearance. Her acting career lasted for more than 60 years. She celebrated her 90th birthday on 11 October 2016, but was taken ill and died three days later in Southport Hospital. ==Filmography==