Daughter of Catherine and Isaac Routledge. Her father was a haberdasher, and, during WWII, the family lived weeks at a time in the basement of her father's shop. She attended Birkenhead High School, where she sang in the choir and ran the Sunday School. She studied English at Liverpool University, and, after graduation, worked without pay at the Liverpool Playhouse. She was asked to join the company, and she later studied at Old Vic Theatre School in Bristol. She then moved to London, where she built an impressive stage career over the next several years, also appearing on Broadway 1966-1968. Patricia has worked in TV since the early 1950s, most recently in _"Keeping Up Appearances" . She also recorded an album, "Presenting Patricia Routledge", and worked in film and radio. She has never married or had children, has said that she will not retire, and lives in Kensington and Surrey when not working.
Named as the Top Television Comedy Actress for 1991.
Named as the Personality of the Year in 1991 by the Grand Order of Water Rats (a showbiz charity)
Named as the Personality of the Year in 1993 by the Variety Club of Great Britain.
She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1993 Queens Birthday Honours List for her services to drama.
Voted Britains all-time favourite TV actress.
She gave a classic performance as Mrs. Malaprop in "The Rivals" on the London stage.
She graduated from the all girls Birkenhead High Girls Public Day School Trust in Birkenhead, England.
She credited the late Catholic priest Father Edmund Colledge for her entry into the performing arts, according to the Times of London in the late Fathers obituary.
She was awarded honorary Doctor of Letters in 1999 from her alma mater, the University of Liverpool in Liverpool, Merseyside, England.
She was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award in 1989 (1988 season) for Best Actress in a Musical for "Candide".
She was awarded the CBE in the 2004 Queens Birthday Honours List for her services to Drama.
She was awarded Broadways 1968 Tony Award as Best Actress for "Darling of the Day in a tie with Leslie Uggams for "Hallelujah, Baby!".
Last name is pronounced as spelled, Rout-ledge. Not Rut-ledge.
Appeared in a play called "Best of Friends", at the Hampsted Theatre, London (in 2006), about George Bernard Shaw , a Museum Curator and a Mother Abbess (Routledge).
Starred in "The Importance of Being Earnest" in London in 1999.
Played Dame Laurentia McLachan in The Best of Friends at the Hampstead Theatre, London, UK in 2006.
Daughter of Isaac Edgar Routledge (born 1898, died 1986) and Catherine Routledge (born Catherine Perry in 1900) who married in 1925.
Sister of Reverend Canon Graham Routledge (born Kenneth Graham Routledge 1927, died 18 May 1989) and Edgar Routledge (born Edgar H Routledge 1926, died 1926).
She was awarded Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Queens New Years Honours List for her services to Theatre and Charity in Chichester, West Sussex, England.
[on the cancellation of "Hetty Wainthropp Investigates" (1996) ],We were betrayed by the BBC. We finished series four of Hetty,Wainthropp, we were told there was going to be series five. But no word,ever came - how rude! The BBC is run by 10-year-old children.
