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Dame Pat Routledge, who passed away at the years of 96, etched her presence on the national consciousness as the pretentious Hyacinth Bucket.

Insisting it was "pronounced Bouquet," the character ran roughshod over her patient husband and bewildered neighbours in Keeping Up Appearances, one of Britain's best-loved sitcoms in the 1990s.

Acting like a duchess while residing in a suburban area, Bucket's monstrous social-climbing plans were in the end destined to failure—while she struggled to maintain her composure.

It was Lady Routledge's best-known part in a professional life that saw her earn theatrical honors on both sides of the Atlantic, become the lead of the playwright's famous TV soliloquies, and star as BBC1's investigative Hetty Wainthropp.

Early Years and Career Beginnings

Katherine Pat Routledge was born in Birkenhead on 17 February 1929.

Her dad was a haberdasher and she remembered sheltering from German bombs in the cellar of his store during the war.

She majored in English at nearby the University of Liverpool and intended to become a teacher. Rather, she entered the local theatre before training at the Bristol drama school.

Her prosperous acting journey brought her from the provinces to the West End, and eventually to Broadway, where Leonard Bernstein chose her to star in his musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1976.

She had already won a Tony honor for her acting in Darling of the Day.

She could transition smoothly from lighthearted plays to serious drama.

She progressed from Shakespeare's birthplace, appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and later to the National Theatre in the capital.

At the National, her lead part in the stage musical Carousel involved her performing the inspiring You'll Never Walk Alone.

There were also various minor movie parts, notably in 1967's To Sir, With Love, and the Jerry Lewis funny film Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River.

Her theatre and broadcast work proved her versatility and won her awards, but it was television that provided Routledge with her best-known characters.

TV Success and Iconic Characters

Early television appearances included well-liked programmes like Z Cars and Steptoe and Son.

And later, among Britain's esteemed playwrights, Alan Bennett, wrote a set of outstanding Talking Heads TV solos for her.

Routledge overcame her early reluctance to perform his scripts and shone as A Woman of No Importance and A Lady of Letters.

She went onto play a isolated, middle-aged shop clerk drawn into a affair with a kinky foot doctor in Bennett's Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet.

A comic turn as the larger-than-life character on The Victoria Wood Show led to the creation of Mrs. Bucket.

Routledge recalled being sent the episodes by the writer, Roy Clarke—who had also done Last of the Summer Wine and Open All Hours.

"I opened the pages for a moment at one o'clock in the night," she said, "I went straight through and Hyacinth jumped off the script. I recognized that woman, I'd met several of that woman."

Keeping Up Appearances ran for five seasons and included several holiday episodes.

In a film, she stated that admirers had numbered the royal family and Pope Benedict XVI.

It became the broadcaster's most-sold show of all time and ensured Routledge was known as far away as Botswana.

For her performance on the comedy, she was chosen the UK's all-time best-loved actor in 1996, but after five years in the part, she felt it was the moment for a change.

"I brought it to an close," she explained, "which, of course, the BBC wasn't pleased with at all."

She believed that Roy Clarke was starting to recycle concepts and mentioned a bit of guidance from the comedian, Ronnie Barker.

"He always left with audiences saying, ‘Oh, won't you do any more?’ she said, rather than people remarking, ‘Is that still on?’"

Later Roles and Personal Life

Portraying the unassuming but astute detective in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates brought her ongoing success on television, but she consistently called the theatre as "the test."

Long after she stopped appearing frequently on screen, Routledge undertook stage travels both in the United Kingdom and abroad.

If interviewers posed the inevitable question, she asked them to spell out the word retirement since, she explained: "It isn't in my lexicon."

She never married or had children, but told interviewers of two significant affairs in her younger days, one with a married man.

"I felt guilt and an acute sense that there had to be pain," she admitted. "I suppose I convinced myself that it was all right for the time being because his marriage was not a living relationship."

In place of family, she dedicated herself to her art, serving it with the talent, dedication and commitment that were consistently respected by her peers.

She was critical about the BBC's choice in 2016 to bring back Keeping Up Appearances, but on this occasion set in the 1950s and featuring a younger version of her character.

Challenging the network's approach of rebooting old comedies she remarked, "For what reason are they attempting this kind of thing, they have to be desperate."

She had already clashed with the broadcaster over their decision to not order a film she had authored about the author the children's author (Routledge was a supporter of the Beatrix Potter Society), which eventually aired on another network.

On turning 90, she continued to live quietly in the city, where she busied herself raising money for the church structure.

In 2017, she was appointed a Dame of the British honors system but—in contrast to Hyacinth—titles did not affect her mind.

Lady Patricia always stated she thanked her north of England upbringing and stable family for giving her good sense with her time and her finances.

Even so, she admitted that, should any extra cash come her way, she'd definitely use it on "a case of sparkling wine"—an appreciation of the finer pleasures in life that she shared with her most famous character.

"I was never theatre-obsessed," she declared. "I am not theatre-obsessed now. Nobody's more surprised than myself that I have, actually, devoted my life doing acting."