Kathleen Harrison was long a stalwart of British cinema. Her place was always firmly below stairs – a cook perhaps, or a cleaning lady often answering the door with a puzzled expression always fearful that trouble was just around the corner.
She was born in 1892 in Blackburn in Lancashire. She studied at RADA and then went to live in Agentina for some time. On her return to Britain, she made her stage debut in 1926 in “The Constant Flirt”. Her first major film role was in 1931 in “Hobson’s Choice”. Kathleen Harrison made one film in Hollywood in Emlyn Williams “Night Must Fall” in 1937 as a maid (naturally). She achieved national fame as Mrs Huggett in four films about the Huggett family. In the mid 1960′s she starred in a very popular television series Mrs Thursday about a cleaner who won the football pools. She died in 1995 at the age of 103.
Known For
Lethal Weapon
(1987)
Mrs. Dilber (archive footage) (uncredited)
Scrooge
(1951)
Mrs. Dilber
Oliver Twist
(1948)
Mrs Sowerberry
In Which We Serve
(1942)
Mrs. Blake
Gaslight
(1940)
Bit Role
Caesar and Cleopatra
(1945)
Egyptian Woman (uncredited)
Full Filmography
Acting
Hobson's Choice
(1931)
Ada Figgins
Aren't We All?
(1932)
Bit Role
The Ghoul
(1933)
Kaney
The Man from Toronto
(1933)
Martha
What Happened Then?
(1934)
The Great Defender
(1934)
Agnes Carter
Dandy Dick
(1935)
Jane (the Maid)
The Tenth Man
(1936)
Confused Voter
Broken Blossoms
(1936)
Mrs. Lossy
Jury's Evidence
(1936)
Secretary
Night Must Fall
(1937)
Emily Terence
Aren't Men Beasts!
(1937)
Annie
Wanted!
(1937)
Belinda
Bank Holiday
(1938)
May
The Terror
(1938)
Parlour Maid
Convict 99
(1938)
Mabel
A Girl Must Live
(1939)
Penelope
The Outsider
(1939)
Mrs. Coates
Discoveries
(1939)
Kitchen Maid
They Came by Night
(1940)
Mrs. Lightbody
The Flying Squad
(1940)
Mrs. Schifan
Girl in the News
(1940)
Cook
Gaslight
(1940)
Bit Role
Salvage with a Smile
(1940)
Housekeeper
A Call for Arms!
(1940)
Mrs. James
The Ghost Train
(1941)
Miss Bourne
Once a Crook
(1941)
Auntie
I Thank You
(1941)
Kathleen
Major Barbara
(1941)
Mrs. Price
Letter from Home
(1941)
Ethel
Much Too Shy
(1942)
Amelia Peabody
In Which We Serve
(1942)
Mrs. Blake
The New Lot
(1943)
Keith's Mother
It Happened One Sunday
(1944)
Mrs. Purkiss
Meet Sexton Blake
(1945)
Mrs. Bardell
Caesar and Cleopatra
(1945)
Egyptian Woman (uncredited)
Great Day
(1945)
Pub Customer
Waterloo Road
(1945)
Wanted for Murder
(1946)
Florrie
I See a Dark Stranger
(1946)
Waitress (uncredited)
The Shop at Sly Corner
(1947)
Mrs. Catt
Holiday Camp
(1947)
Mrs. Ethel Huggett
Temptation Harbour
(1947)
Mabel Slater
The Winslow Boy
(1948)
Violet
Bond Street
(1948)
Ethel Brawn
Here Come the Huggetts
(1948)
Ethel Huggett
Oliver Twist
(1948)
Mrs Sowerberry
Now Barabbas
(1949)
Mrs. Brown
Landfall
(1949)
Mona's Mother
Vote for Huggett
(1949)
Ethel Huggett
The Huggetts Abroad
(1949)
Ethel Huggett
Golden Arrow
(1949)
Isobel
Double Confession
(1950)
Kate
Waterfront
(1950)
Mrs. McCabe
Trio
(1950)
Emma Foreman (in segment The Verger)
Scrooge
(1951)
Mrs. Dilber
The Happy Family
(1952)
Lillian Lord
The Magic Box
(1952)
Mother in Family Group
The Pickwick Papers
(1952)
Rachel Wardle
Turn the Key Softly
(1953)
Granny Quilliam
The Dog and the Diamonds
(1953)
Mrs. Fossett
Lilacs in the Spring
(1954)
Kate
Cast a Dark Shadow
(1955)
Emmie
Where There's a Will
(1955)
Annie Yeo
All for Mary
(1955)
Nannie Cartwright
It's a Wonderful World
(1956)
Miss Gilly
Home and Away
(1956)
Elsie Knowles
Seven Thunders
(1957)
Mme. Abou
The Big Money
(1958)
Mrs Frith
A Cry from the Streets
(1958)
Mrs. Farrer
Alive and Kicking
(1959)
Rosie
On the Fiddle
(1961)
Mrs. Cooksley
The Fast Lady
(1962)
Mrs. Staggers
West 11
(1963)
Mrs. Beckett
Lock Up Your Daughters
(1969)
Lady Clumsey
The London Connection
(1979)
Elderly Lady
Lethal Weapon
(1987)
Mrs. Dilber (archive footage) (uncredited)