Avril Elgar

Diminutive, sharp-featured English character actress, one of two daughters born Avril Williams at military barracks in West Yorkshire to an army officer and subsequent teacher. On stage in amateur dramatics from 1949, she was trained at the Old Vic school in London and made her debut at the Royal Court Theater eleven years later as the second witch in Macbeth. By that time, she had adopted her middle-name 'Elgar' as a surname. In the course of a lengthy career on the stage, Elgar was lauded for her versatility, her broad gallery of characters ranging from eccentric to waspish and from arch to timid. Noteworthy stage portrayals have included Miss Faversham in Great Expectations, the Duchess of York in Richard III and Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. On television from 1956, Elgar proved equally adept at both comedy and drama. Among few recurring appearances were the eponymous hero's dominating mother in the police sitcom Rosie (1977), followed by what was arguably Elgar's best known role, as Yootha Joyce's snobbish sister Ethel in George & Mildred (1976). Other interesting performances have included a BBC adaptation of Jean Anouilh's Joan of Arc (1964) (as Joan), busybody neighbour Betsy-Jane Duckworth in Spring and Port Wine (1970) and the austere matriarch of the Fenwick mining family in The Stars Look Down (1974). Avril Elgar retired from acting in 2011 and died on September 17 2021 at the age of 89. Her husband of 43 years was the actor James Maxwell who predeceased her in 1995.