| Hylda Baker | |
|---|---|
 Hylda Baker (1966) |
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| Born | Hilda Baker 4 February 1905 Farnworth, Lancashire, England[1] |
| Died | 1 May 1986 (aged 81) Epsom, Surrey, England[2] |
| Occupation | Comedy actress |
| Years active | 1914-1978 |
Hylda Baker (4 February 1905 – 1 May 1986) was a British comedienne and music hall star.
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Baker was born in Farnworth, near Bolton, Lancashire, the first of seven children. Her father, Harold Baker, was a painter and signwriter, who also worked the music halls as a part-time comedian. At the age of ten, Baker made her debut at the Opera House, Tunbridge Wells, and continued to tour as a single variety act - singing, dancing and performing impersonations. By the age of 14, Baker had become a leading lady, who was also writing, producing and performing her own shows.
Her most famous act was as a gossip from the North of England, with a silent, sullen companion named Cynthia, who was almost always played by a man in drag. Her act was full of malapropisms and her most famous catchphrase, usually after an innuendo, was "She Knows, Y'Know!".
Baker first came to national attention with a performance on BBC television's The Good Old Days in 1955. This led to her first television series, Be Soon (named after another of her catchphrases) in 1957 and a supporting part in the sitcom Our House in 1960, followed by her own sitcom, The Best of Friends, in 1963.
She also appeared in a few films, including the groundbreaking Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and the film version of Lionel Bart's musical Oliver!.
Baker became a household name when she played Nellie Pledge, co-owner of Pledge's Pickle Factory, in the Granada Television comedy series Nearest and Dearest (1968-73). Playing her brother Eli was the comedian Jimmy Jewel and they would trade insults at each other, such as "knocked-kneed knackered old nosebag!" and "big girl's blouse!". Off-screen, the stars hated each other and their arguments became part of British showbiz legend. A film version of the series was made in 1972.
Following this, Baker recreated her stage success in the LWT series Not On Your Nellie (1974-75), playing Nellie Pickersgill, who moves to London from the North to help run her ailing father's pub. By this time, Baker was finding it difficult to remember her lines and refused to attend rehearsals, and after suing the production company due to an on-set injury, Baker ended the series and her television career.
In 1978, aged 73, Baker teamed up with comedy actor Arthur Mullard to record a version of the John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John hit You're The One That I Want, from the film Grease. The duo made an appearance on the BBC show Top of the Pops; it was an embarrassing disaster and marked the end of Baker's career. In recent years the clip has often appeared in compilations of bad TV moments.
At the height of her fame, Baker lived the life of a star, dressing in furs and keeping monkeys as pets. She also had a liking for young men and annoyed her neighbours with loud parties at her Blackpool home.
Several years later, Baker was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and in 1981 she became a resident of Brinsworth House, the retirement home for performers in Twickenham, London. In 1984, as her condition detoriated further, she was moved to a psychiatric hospital in Epsom, Surrey, where she died two years later in 1986, aged 81.
Her death received little media coverage and just a dozen people attended the funeral of the woman who was once Britain's highest-paid variety performer.
Today, Baker is becoming known to new audiences through repeats and DVD releases of her TV and film works.
Actress Jean Fergusson, best known for appearances in Last of the Summer Wine, is a particular admirer, writing a biography of Baker and devising and starring in a tribute show called She Knows Y' Know!, which ran at London's Vaudeville Theatre in 1997, winning the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment in 1998.
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