"For over thirty years Hattie Jacques was a familiar presence on radio (ITMA, Educating Archie and Hancock's Half Hour), television (well over a hundred episodes with Eric Sykes alone) and film (she was a stalwart of the Carry On series) in addition to being the doyenne of the Player's Theatre. But her stage persona of a frumpy harridan who, both literally and figuratively, carried all before her (the formidable matron of Carry On, Nurse was a typical role) could hardly have been more at odds with her off-stage personality. Warm, sexy, and generous to a fault, at times needy and melancholic, she was painful self-conscious about her size throughout her life. She believed that being overweight had caused her to be typecast in comic roles and prevented her from being offered more serious parts." "In 1949, after a tempestuous wartime affair with an American officer, she married the actor John Le Mesurier whom she divorced in 1965 - though only after she had moved her chauffeur-lover into the marital home. It was, however, typical of her that she actively encouraged Le Mesurier to remarry and the two remained firm friends until her death. Her lover's subsequent desertion was a bitter blow from which she never fully recovered, though she compensated by involving herself deeply in charity work and becoming a friend and mentor to many of the young actors and actresses with whom she worked."--BOOK JACKET.