Deddie Davies

A well-loved comic presence on British and Welsh television for nearly 50 years, actress Deddie Davies essayed timid, often eccentric older women in projects ranging from "The Railway Children" (1970) to "The Mayor of Casterbridge" (BBC Two, 1978) and "Stella" (Sky1, 2012-). Born Gillian Nancy Davies in Bridgend, Wales she began performing in plays as a schoolgirl and later trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. There, she found another aspiring actor by the name of Gillian Davies, and took on her nickname, Deddie - inspired by her passionate dedication to the acting craft - as her stage name. Davies performed in repertory theater in the early 1960s, and met her husband, actor Paddy Ward, while touring that circuit. She began screen acting in 1967, initially in costume dramas, but found her best showcase in comedy, beginning in 1970 with "The Railway Children." Lionel Jeffries' film adaptation of the well-loved children's adventure novel was a hit with young British audiences, due in part to Davies' turn as the kindly Mrs. Perks, who introduces a trio of children into the life of her husband, conductor Bernard Cribbins. She soon settled into a string of television comedies, which made excellent use of her ability to wring humor from mousy, often overly emotional characters. She was a small-town French busybody in "Clochemerle" (BBC, 1972), and dutiful workers in the comedies "Both Ends Meet" (ITV, 1972) and a remake of "The Rag Trade" (LWT, 1977-1978). American audiences caught a glimpse of Davies in British series aired on public television, including the popular "Upstairs, Downstairs" (LWT, 1971-1975) and "The Mayor of Casterbridge." But Davies remained largely a staple of British television for the next three decades, appearing in weekly dramas like "The Bill" (ITV, 1984-2010), daytime soap operas ("Doctors, BBC, 2000-), classical works (a production of Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" for the BBC in 1984) and even children's programming ("Bernard's Watch," ITV, 1997). In later life, Davies devoted her energies to issues regarding the elderly, and as a member of The Zimmers - a pop band comprised of senior performers - drew attention to their plight with a cover of the Who's "My Generation" that reached No. 26 on the UK singles charts in 2007. Davies made her final film performance in the Golden Globe-nominated comedy "Pride" (2014), about gay and lesbian activists who raised money for British coal miners during the 1984 strike. Her last TV work came that same year with the end of her two-year stint on the comedy "Stella," about a Welsh family, for Sky 1. Davies died from ovarian cancer on December 21, 2016.