14 Facts About Kathy Staff

Kathy Staff is best known for her portrayal of Nora Batty in Last of the Summer Wine, the longest running sitcom in the world.

Kathy Staff began her acting career with touring repertory companies in 1946, changing her name to Katherine Brant.

Kathy Staff retired from the stage at this point to raise her family, but started working as an extra for Granada Television in Manchester in the 1960s.

Kathy Staff was best known for her role as one of the main characters, Nora Batty, in the long-running BBC sitcom Last of the Summer Wine.

Kathy Staff played Nora Batty from the pilot episode in 1973 until 2008, the year she died from a brain tumour, totalling 245 episodes.

Kathy Staff stated in interviews that things just were not the same since his death, and her heart was no longer in it.

Kathy Staff had a regular role as Doris Luke in the popular ATV soap opera, Crossroads from 1978 to 1984 and 2001 to 2002.

Kathy Staff appeared in a television version of Separate Tables in 1983.

Kathy Staff was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1984 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews while shopping in Harrods.

Kathy Staff appeared on Lily Savage's Blankety Blank, plus a brief appearance in Follyfoot.

Kathy Staff appeared in A Kind of Loving as Thora Hird's character's neighbour, as well as The Family Way, The Dresser, Camille, Little Dorrit, and Mary Reilly.

Kathy Staff died on 13 December 2008, at the Willow Wood Hospice in Ashton-under-Lyne, aged 80, with her husband John at her bedside, after a brain tumour was diagnosed earlier in the year.

Kathy Staff's funeral took place at St Mark's Church, Dukinfield, where she was a lifelong member and sang in the choir.

Kathy Staff is commemorated in a memorial screen at the church.