Denise Coffey obit

Denise Coffey obituary

This article is more than 1 year old

Actor and comedian who invested her many stage and screen roles with incomparable zest and cheek 

She was not on the list.

There have been few genuine clowns in theatre and television as good as Denise Coffey, who has died aged 85. She was a key TV presence in British comedy over its most redefining postwar period, and to see her on stage, always puckish and delightful, was to invest in two or three hours of an invaluable spiritual tonic. 

She was a crucial member of the ebullient Young Vic company formed in 1970 under the aegis of the National Theatre at the Old Vic to deliver classics and new plays with regard to a younger audience. She had already, in the 1960s, played a series of classical and low-life roles at Bernard Miles’s Mermaid theatre in Puddle Dock.

She emerged at the Young Vic, under Frank Dunlop’s direction, trailing several film credits and a high profile in surreal television comedy – notably in ITV’s Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967-69) – influenced by the radio comedy of the Goons and prefiguring Monty Python. She and David Jason formed the “legit showbiz” element in a company of university wits – Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, the producer Humphrey Barclay – with musical incursions from Vivian Stanshall’s delirious Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

There followed two popular series on ITV: Girls About Town (1970-71) in which she and the singer Julie Stevens were living it large in Acacia Avenue; and Hold the Front Page (1974), in which Coffey led a bunch of crazy newsroom assistants chasing down a “Mr Big” involved in a Great Rug Scandal. End of Part One (1979) was a satirical soap in which Mr and Mrs Straightman (Tony Aitken and Coffey as Norman and Vera) were disrupted in their domestic dullness by a panoply of famous people on television; Coffey herself turned up as Robin Day in those trademark cruel glasses.

She was a total one-off: under five feet tall, elfin-looking, punchy and eccentric. In her private life, she was determinedly single, vegetarian and finally remote, especially after she discovered the joys of the West Country – she moved from London to Salcombe in Devon – and living by the sea.

She was a regular in a couple of Stanley Baxter’s TV comedy series in 1968 and 1971 and went wildly over the top as the grotesque manager of Alexei Sayle’s hopeless nightclub comedian, Bobby Chariot, in Sayle’s Merry-Go-Round in 1998.

Denise was born in Aldershot, Hampshire, the only child of Dorothy (nee Malcolm), and her husband, Denis Coffey, a proud Irishman from Cork and squadron leader in the RAF. They moved north to Dorothy’s native Scotland, living near Inverkeithing in Fife and later in Milesmark outside Dunfermline, where Denise was educated at Dunfermline high school and trained at the Glasgow College of Drama and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music.

She made a professional acting debut at the Opera House, Dunfermline, in 1954, “as various apparitions” in Macbeth. By 1962, she was playing the star turn, the word-mangling Mrs Malaprop, in Sheridan’s The Rivals at the Gateway in Edinburgh and then, in 1963, the insalubrious Mrs Coaxer in a revival of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera for the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych in London (alongside Dorothy Tutin, Patience Collier and Elizabeth Spriggs); she was pressing her claims to join the top table.

A West End highlight was playing the maid, Edith, in High Spirits, a Broadway musical version of Noël Coward’s Blithe Spirit, directed by Coward himself, at the Savoy theatre in 1964, in a cast including Denis Quilley, Marti Stevens and Cecily Courtneidge.

She had made a television debut in 1959 in a BBC adaptation of Walter Scott’s Redgauntlet and consolidated her theatre reputation at the Mermaid in various classics and new plays, notably as 19-year-old Fanny O’Dowda in George Bernard Shaw’s Fanny’s First Play – as a prosecuted suffragist turned feminist playwright; and as the non-speaking but occasionally flatulent Cicely Bumtrinket – a favourite role, not even identified in most cast lists – in Thomas Dekker’s Elizabethan city comedy The Shoemaker’s Holiday.

She also featured in several important 60s films: as Peter Sellers’s eccentric daughter Sidonia Fitzjohn (alongside Prunella Scales as her sister) in John Guillermin’s Waltz of the Toreadors (1962); as Lynn Redgrave’s mousy little friend, Peg, in Georgy Girl (1966); and as Soberness in John Schlesinger’s Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) starring Julie Christie and Alan Bates.

On location in Dorset for the last of these, she visited nearby Devon, where she would return to live permanently. But not before her Young Vic stint – as both actor and associate director – in the 70s, where she was a standout company member alongside Jim Dale, Jane Lapotaire, Andrew Robertson and Nicky Henson.

Her roles, all invested with incomparable zest and cheek, included Beatrice in Much Ado, a rare double of Mistress Overdone and Mariana in Measure for Measure and Doll Common in Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist. She toured Europe and north America with the company, appearing with them at the Edinburgh festivals of 1967, 1971 and 1972, notably as a harassed Scottish housewife in a Comedy of Errors relocated from Ephesus to Edinburgh.

When her mentor Dunlop was appointed director of the festival in 1985, she provided a brilliant Scottish version of Molière’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme – A Wee Touch of Class – starring Rikki Fulton as “Archibald” (real name, Charles) Jenner, the 19th-century founder of the famous store, Jenners, on Princes Street; Coffey was Netty, a scrofulous clog-dancing servant from Fife.

She appeared in a fine, early Film on Four, Michael Radford’s Another Time, Another Place (1983). Her work on radio included guest appearances on I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue and Just a Minute, and two series by Sue Limb: The Wordsmiths of Gorsemere (1985-87), a very funny send-up of the Lakeland poets, Coffey herself as Dorothy Wordsmith, Tim Curry as Lord Biro and Simon Callow as Samuel Tailor Cholericke; and Alison and Maud (2002-04), teaming with Miriam Margolyes as a pair of bizarrely eccentric landladies.

A 1980 film written by Stanshall, Sir Henry at Rawlinson End, in which she played a tapeworm-obsessed woman called Mrs E, won cult status when issued on DVD in 2006. “It’s impossible to do justice,” said the critic Nigel Andrews, “to the film’s arrant and quite unique lunacy.” In the 80s, in Canada, she directed plays for John Neville at his Neptune theatre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and for Christopher Newton at the Shaw festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

Her output was increasingly sporadic as she happily hunkered down in Salcombe, “exploring my artistic bent”, fishing in a small boat with a tiny outboard motor, gardening and making rare excursions to London, always travelling by taxi.

She is survived by a cousin, Linda.

 

Actress

Saving Grace (2000)

Saving Grace

6.9

Mrs Hopkins

2000

 

Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round (1998)

Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round

6.5

TV Series

Edna, Bobby Chariot's Manager

1998

5 episodes

 

Richard Griffiths in Pie in the Sky (1994)

Pie in the Sky

7.7

TV Series

Carol Wisham

1997

1 episode

 

Casualty (1986)

Casualty

6.1

TV Series

Alice Moody

1995

1 episode

 

The Tomorrow People (1992)

The Tomorrow People

7.3

TV Series

Aunt Ruth

1994

5 episodes

 

Denise Coffey, Georgina Hale, John Hasler, and Bea Julakasiun in Take Off with T. Bag (1992)

Take Off with T. Bag

6.7

TV Series

Granny Bag

Empress

1992

2 episodes

 

Spatz (1990)

Spatz

6.7

TV Series

Mildred

1991–1992

2 episodes

 

Georgina Hale, Brenda Longman, and Evelyn Sweeney in T.Bag and the Sunstones of Montezuma (1992)

T.Bag and the Sunstones of Montezuma

7.7

TV Series

Granny Bag

1992

1 episode

 

Josie

7.6

TV Series

1991

1 episode

 

T. Bag and the Rings of Olympus

7.8

TV Series

Granny Bag

1991

1 episode

 

Gerard Kelly in City Lights (1984)

City Lights

7.8

TV Series

Barbara Glen

1989

1 episode

 

Elizabeth Estensen in T.Bag and the Revenge of the T.Set (1989)

T.Bag and the Revenge of the T.Set

8.2

TV Series

Queen

1989

1 episode

 

Mr. Majeika (1988)

Mr. Majeika

7.4

TV Series

Aunty Bubbles

1989

1 episode

 

Stanley Bates, Geoffrey Hayes, and Roy Skelton in Rainbow (1972)

Rainbow

6.9

TV Series

Denise

Mrs. Dean

1985–1986

2 episodes

 

Farrington of the F.O. (1986)

Farrington of the F.O.

6.6

TV Series

Dorothy Parsons

1986

1 episode

 

David Daker, Thora Hird, and Patsy Rowlands in Hallelujah! (1983)

Hallelujah!

7.2

TV Series

Iris

1984

1 episode

 

Miracles Take Longer

TV Series

Hatty Worth

1984

1 episode

 

Another Time, Another Place (1983)

Another Time, Another Place

6.5

Meg

1983

 

The Stanley Baxter Hour (1982)

The Stanley Baxter Hour

7.8

TV Movie

Various Roles

1982

 

Dark Towers (1981)

Dark Towers

8.1

TV Series

Jenny Jackson

1981

10 episodes

 

Take a Chance

TV Series

Assistant

1981

1 episode

 

End of Part One (1979)

End of Part One

7.3

TV Series

Vera Straightman

1979–1980

14 episodes

 

Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980)

Sir Henry at Rawlinson End

6.4

Mrs. E.

1980

 

Love Among the Artists

TV Mini Series

Polly Simpson

1979

4 episodes

 

The Sooty Show (1968)

The Sooty Show

7.1

TV Series

1969–1976

2 episodes

 

The Stanley Baxter Picture Show: Part III

7.5

TV Movie

Little Girl

1975

 

George Cole, Bernard Hepton, Ron Moody, and Colin Welland in Village Hall (1974)

Village Hall

7.7

TV Series

Brenda Sykes

1975

1 episode

 

Hold the Front Page (1974)

Hold the Front Page

TV Series

Gloria Glamorsox

1974

 

Derek Jacobi, Ronald Fraser, Charles Gray, Bernard Hepton, John Thaw, and Douglas Wilmer in The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971)

The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes

7.2

TV Series

Miss Baines

1973

1 episode

 

Roddy McMillan in The View from Daniel Pike (1971)

The View from Daniel Pike

8.9

TV Series

Jakki

1971

1 episode

 

Denise Coffey and Anna Quayle in Girls About Town (1969)

Girls About Town

TV Series

Brenda Liversedge

1970–1971

10 episodes

 

David Battley, Bill Fraser, and Raymond Huntley in That's Your Funeral (1970)

That's Your Funeral

TV Series

Mabel

1971

1 episode

 

The Stanley Baxter Show

7.6

TV Series

Various Roles

1967–1971

9 episodes

 

Hywel Bennett and Antonia Ellis in Percy (1971)

Percy

4.5

Operator #1

1971

 

Two D's and a Dog

TV Series

Dotty

1970

6 episodes

 

Donald Sutherland and Gene Wilder in Start the Revolution Without Me (1970)

Start the Revolution Without Me

6.4

Anne Duval

1970

 

Trevor Bannister, Graham Haberfield, Bryan Pringle, and Tim Wylton in The Dustbinmen (1969)

The Dustbinmen

7.6

TV Series

Mrs 18 Beowulf Terrace

1969

1 episode

 

Hark at Barker (1969)

Hark at Barker

7.4

TV Series

1969

1 episode

 

Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Denise Coffey, and David Jason in Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967)

Do Not Adjust Your Set

7.2

TV Series

Various Characters

Various

Various characters

1967–1969

21 episodes

 

ITV Playhouse (1967)

ITV Playhouse

6.9

TV Series

Dora

Miss Dunne

1967–1968

2 episodes

 

Peter Kastner in The Ugliest Girl in Town (1968)

The Ugliest Girl in Town

4.9

TV Series

Miss Townsend

1968

1 episode

 

Detective (1964)

Detective

7.9

TV Series

Poppy Gullimore

1968

1 episode

 

Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)

Far from the Madding Crowd

7.2

Soberness

1967

 

Mickey Dunne

7.0

TV Series

Lucia Nerini

1967

1 episode

 

Theatre 625 (1964)

Theatre 625

7.4

TV Series

Winnie

1966

1 episode

 

Lynn Redgrave in Georgy Girl (1966)

Georgy Girl

6.9

Peg

1966

 

The Wednesday Play (1964)

The Wednesday Play

7.5

TV Series

Hedwig

1966

1 episode

 

Dr. Finlay's Casebook (1962)

Dr. Finlay's Casebook

7.8

TV Series

Maggie

Nurse

1964–1966

2 episodes

 

Jury Room (1965)

Jury Room

TV Series

Christina Haggart

1965

1 episode

 

ITV Play of the Week (1955)

ITV Play of the Week

7.3

TV Series

The strange woman

1964

1 episode

 

Joe Brown, Harry H. Corbett, Susan Maughan, and Marty Wilde in What a Crazy World (1963)

What a Crazy World

5.8

Horror

1963

 

Farewell Performance (1963)

Farewell Performance

6.2

Dickie

1963

 

Doctor in Distress (1963)

Doctor in Distress

5.6

Food Seller at Rail Station (uncredited)

1963

 

ITV Television Playhouse (1955)

ITV Television Playhouse

8.0

TV Series

Bridesmaid

Vivian Mathews

1960–1963

2 episodes

 

Young and Willing (1962)

Young and Willing

5.9

Jane

1962

 

Bob Dylan, David Warner, Ursula Howells, Reg Lye, and Maureen Pryor in The Madhouse on Castle Street (1963)

BBC Sunday-Night Play

8.7

TV Series

Maggie

Miss Julia Sobieski-Smith

1962

2 episodes

 

James Ellis and John Slater in Z Cars (1962)

Z Cars

7.0

TV Series

Juliet

1962

1 episode

 

Emergency-Ward 10 (1957)

Emergency-Ward 10

6.4

TV Series

Nurse

1962

1 episode

 

The Winter's Tale

8.3

TV Movie

Mopsa

1962

 

Waltz of the Toreadors (1962)

Waltz of the Toreadors

5.8

Sidonia Fitzjohn

1962

 

Studio 4

7.2

TV Series

Lizzie

1962

1 episode

 

Postman's Knock (1962)

Postman's Knock

5.4

Barbara (uncredited)

1962

 

On the Boundary

TV Movie

Gladys Mills

1961

 

The Silent Weapon (1961)

The Silent Weapon

6.8

Short

Kennel Maid

1961

 

Beauty and the Beast

TV Series

Mikey

1961

2 episodes

 

Sheep's Clothing

TV Series

Stumpy

1960

3 episodes

 

Agnès Laurent in A French Mistress (1960)

A French Mistress

5.9

The Silent Kitchen Maid (uncredited)

1960

 

Captain Moonlight: Man of Mystery

TV Series

Edith

1960

2 episodes

 

Para Handy - Master Mariner

8.5

TV Series

1960

1 episode

 

Redgauntlet

TV Series

Dorcas

1959

1 episode

 

Writer

C.A.B. (1986)

C.A.B.

7.7

TV Series

writer

1986

13 episodes

 

Christmas Hamper

TV Movie

additional material

1985

 

Graeme Garden in Star Turn (1976)

Star Turn

7.7

TV Series

story

1979

1 episode

 

Hold the Front Page (1974)

Hold the Front Page

TV Series

creator

1974

 

The Stanley Baxter Show

7.6

TV Series

writer

1971

3 episodes

 

Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Denise Coffey, and David Jason in Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967)

Do Not Adjust Your Set

7.2

TV Series

additional material

1968

10 episodes

 

Suspense (1962)

Suspense

6.6

TV Series

writer

1963

1 episode

 

Soundtrack

Elizabeth Estensen in T.Bag and the Revenge of the T.Set (1989)

T.Bag and the Revenge of the T.Set

8.2

TV Series

performer: "Elizabethan Boogie" (uncredited)

1989

1 episode

 

Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Denise Coffey, and David Jason in Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967)

Do Not Adjust Your Set

7.2

TV Series

performer: "Never Complain About British Nosh"

performer: "Two of Us"

1968

2 episodes