13 Facts About Pat Coombs

Pat Coombs specialised in the portrayal of the eternal downtrodden female, comically under the thumb of stronger personalities.

Pat Coombs was known for many roles on radio, film and television sitcoms and Children's ITV's Playbox and Ragdolly Anna.

Pat Coombs attended the County School for Girls in Beckenham, Kent.

Pat Coombs gained experience as a comedy stooge in radio shows alongside Ted Ray and Charlie Chester.

Pat Coombs had an early television break when she appeared with Tony Hancock in an episode of his series Hancock's Half Hour.

Pat Coombs starred in the sitcoms Barney Is My Darling alongside Irene Handl and Wild, Wild Women alongside Barbara Windsor.

Pat Coombs appeared in the BBC's 13-part adaptation of Dombey and Son as Lucretia Tox.

Pat Coombs's character was introduced as part of a deliberate attempt to bring humour into the programme, which had come under attack for being too depressing.

Pat Coombs was said to be upset that the character of Marge only lasted for one year, but the producers felt there was no place in the programme's new plan for a character "whose prime function was to be comic relief".

Pat Coombs was seen in Rainbow, The Basil Brush Show and Supergran, and joined Stanley Baxter to play Miss Flavia Jelly in the first two series of Mr Majeika, among many others.

Pat Coombs said that twice she came close to marrying, but was not sure enough to proceed.

Pat Coombs was diagnosed with osteoporosis in 1995, and became an active campaigner for the National Osteoporosis Society.

Pat Coombs had just completed a role for BBC Radio 4 alongside Roy Hudd and June Whitfield in Like They've Never Been Gone when she died on 25 May 2002, aged 75, from emphysema in Denville Hall actors' home, a west London nursing home to which she had moved to be close to her friend Peggy Mount, who had died six months earlier.