Tributes after 'Nora Batty' actress dies

Kathy Staff as Nora Batty

Damon Wake

FRIENDS and co-stars were last night mourning the death of Kathy Staff, the actress who played Nora Batty in the 'Last of the Summer Wine'. The 80-year-old died after an illness.

Peter Sallis, who played Norman Clegg in the long-running BBC sitcom, said he was "terribly upset'' at the loss.

Nora Batty was famous for her curlers, saggy tights and razor-sharp tongue.

Staff played the character from the first episode of the show in 1973 and made her last appearance in August. Aside from 'Last of the Summer Wine', Staff also appeared in 'Coronation Street', 'Crossroads' and the sitcom 'Open All Hours'.

Sallis said his co-star was irreplaceable. He told the BBC: "I don't know quite for sure whether we are going to do any more (episodes) but if we do, she is going to be terribly missed.''

Gentle

Alan Bell, the producer of Last of the Summer Wine, told the BBC that Staff's gentle nature meant she often needed prompting to bring out Nora Batty's flinty character.

"She would play a scene quite gently, and I'd say, 'But Kathy, you've got to harden up, because that's who we all love, the hard, tough Nora Batty','' he said.

"And she said, 'Why can't I be just soft and gentle at times?' And I said, 'Maybe some time we will'.'' Nora's attempts to fend off amorous advances from scruffy layabout Compo -- often with a broom -- were a 'Last of the Summer Wine' staple.

The death means Sallis is the only leading 'Summer Wine' cast member left alive.

Brian Wilde, who played pompous ex-army corporal Foggy Dewhirst and led his pals Clegg and Compo in various hare-brained adventures, died in March, aged 80.

Bill Owen, who starred as loveable welly-wearing rogue Compo for 28 years, passed away in 1999, while Dame Thora Hird, who played village gossip Edie Pegden, died five years ago.