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
Gaslight
(1940)
Bit Role
Caesar and Cleopatra
(1945)
Egyptian Woman (uncredited)
In Which We Serve
(1942)
Mrs. Blake
Major Barbara
(1941)
Mrs. Price
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)
Jury's Evidence
(1936)
Secretary
Broken Blossoms
(1936)
Mrs. Lossy
The Tenth Man
(1936)
Confused Voter
Aren't Men Beasts!
(1937)
Annie
Night Must Fall
(1937)
Emily Terence
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
Salvage with a Smile
(1940)
Housekeeper
The Flying Squad
(1940)
Mrs. Schifan
Girl in the News
(1940)
Cook
Gaslight
(1940)
Bit Role
They Came by Night
(1940)
Mrs. Lightbody
A Call for Arms!
(1940)
Mrs. James
Letter from Home
(1941)
Ethel
Once a Crook
(1941)
Auntie
I Thank You
(1941)
Kathleen
The Ghost Train
(1941)
Miss Bourne
Major Barbara
(1941)
Mrs. Price
In Which We Serve
(1942)
Mrs. Blake
Much Too Shy
(1942)
Amelia Peabody
The New Lot
(1943)
Keith's Mother
It Happened One Sunday
(1944)
Mrs. Purkiss
Waterloo Road
(1945)
Great Day
(1945)
Pub Customer
Meet Sexton Blake
(1945)
Mrs. Bardell
Caesar and Cleopatra
(1945)
Egyptian Woman (uncredited)
Wanted for Murder
(1946)
Florrie
I See a Dark Stranger
(1946)
Waitress (uncredited)
Holiday Camp
(1947)
Mrs. Ethel Huggett
Temptation Harbour
(1947)
Mabel Slater
The Shop at Sly Corner
(1947)
Mrs. Catt
Bond Street
(1948)
Ethel Brawn
The Winslow Boy
(1948)
Violet
Here Come the Huggetts
(1948)
Ethel Huggett
Oliver Twist
(1948)
Mrs Sowerberry
The Huggetts Abroad
(1949)
Ethel Huggett
Vote for Huggett
(1949)
Ethel Huggett
Landfall
(1949)
Mona's Mother
Now Barabbas
(1949)
Mrs. Brown
Golden Arrow
(1949)
Isobel
Trio
(1950)
Emma Foreman (in segment The Verger)
Waterfront
(1950)
Mrs. McCabe
Double Confession
(1950)
Kate
Scrooge
(1951)
Mrs. Dilber
The Pickwick Papers
(1952)
Rachel Wardle
The Happy Family
(1952)
Lillian Lord
The Magic Box
(1952)
Mother in Family Group
The Dog and the Diamonds
(1953)
Mrs. Fossett
Turn the Key Softly
(1953)
Granny Quilliam
Lilacs in the Spring
(1954)
Kate
Where There's a Will
(1955)
Annie Yeo
Cast a Dark Shadow
(1955)
Emmie
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
A Cry from the Streets
(1958)
Mrs. Farrer
The Big Money
(1958)
Mrs Frith
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)