Rosalind Knight – whose credits spanned from early Carry On films to Channel 4 comedy Friday Night Dinner – has died at the age of 87, her family have said.
The TV, film and theatre actress appeared in Carry On Teacher and Carry On Nurse in the 1950s.
Other screen classics include Blue Murder At St Trinian’s where she played a schoolgirl in 1957, and decades later she was a teacher in The Wildcats Of St Trinian’s in 1980.
More recently she appeared in Friday Night Dinner as the character known as “Horrible Grandma”.
Her family said in a statement that the actress died on Saturday.
“It is with huge sadness that the family of Rosalind Knight announce her death following a glorious career as a well-loved actress in theatre, TV and film,” they said.
“She was known to so many generations, for so many different roles, and will be missed as much by the kids today who howl at Horrible Grandma in Friday Night Dinner as by those of us who are old enough to remember her in the very first Carry On films.”
The actress also had the last word in the famous 1980 Cockburn’s Special Reserve Port advert – “Did anyone bring the petits fours?”
She made her name opposite Vanessa Redgrave in the 1961 Royal Shakespeare Company production of As You Like It.
Film appearances include Tom Jones, Start The Revolution Without Me (opposite Gene Wilder), The Lady Vanishes, Prick Up Your Ears, About A Boy (with Hugh Grant), and The Lady In The Van.
She also starred as retired prostitute Beryl in TV series Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, with Kathy Burke and James Dreyfus.
Her daughters, theatre director Marianne Elliott and actress Susannah Elliott, said she would be remembered for her “immense spirit and sense of fun, and her utter individuality.”
They said: “Our mother had the most astute, vibrant personality and made people laugh wherever she went.
“She was a great reader, art lover and raconteur. She contributed in a voluntary way to the theatrical world through her involvement in the building of the Royal Exchange Theatre, alongside her husband Michael Elliott, and her support for the Actors Centre and the Ladies’ Theatrical Guild.
“She was an active member of her local history society and opera society, and was a fierce campaigner and fundraiser for the Hogarth Trust.
“She will be greatly missed by all who knew her”.