Actress Mollie Sugden dies

COMEDY GREAT: Mollie Sugden has died following a long illness.

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Mollie Sugden, the television actor who played the cat-obsessed Betty Slocombe in Are You Being Served?, has died age 86.

Sugden, born in 1922 in Keighley, West Yorkshire, became a household name after appearing in brightly-coloured wigs as the social-climbing matriarch in the comedy series between 1972 and 1975.

She also portrayed Mrs Hutchinson, another battleaxe, in The Liver Birds.

Sugden starred in many other comedies, including Come Back Mrs Noah, That's My Boy and My Husband And I.

The actress died in the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford following a long illness.

Sugden's twin sons, Robin and Simon Moore, were at her bedside, according to her agent Joan Reddin.

-with AAP

- © Fairfax NZ News