Sheila Hancock

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sheila Hancock OBE (born 22 February 1933) is an English actress and comedienne.

Born on the Isle of Wight, she attended Dartford County Grammar School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She has appeared in over 40 films, mostly television releases. Big-screen roles include Carry On Cleo (1964) and Three Men and a Little Lady. In 1978 she appeared on the West End stage as Miss Hannigan in the original london cast of Annie the Musical. (1990). Television series she has participated in include Have I Got News For You, Room 101, Doctor Who, Call My Bluff and EastEnders where she played Barbara Owen. In 2006 she played the character of Junie Taylor, Nan's sister, in The Catherine Tate Show.

She has also made numerous appearances on Just a Minute from the 1960s onwards.

Hancock was married to actor Alec Ross from 1954 until his death from cancer in 1971. They had one daughter, Melanie Thaw, born in 1964.

In 1973 Hancock married actor John Thaw, 9 years her junior. He adopted Melanie, and they had another daughter, Joanna Thaw, in 1974. Both daughters have become actresses.

John Thaw died of cancer in 2002. Hancock is herself a long-term survivor of breast cancer.

During her middle-aged years Hancock joined the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). She is a patron of the London HIV charity, The Food Chain.