Ruth Kettlewell

Ruth Kettlewell (13 April 1913 – 17 July 2007) was a noted English actress who, by her own admission, was a “character bag”: that is a recognisable face to regular TV watchers but not a household name.

Life to death of husband

Born Ruth Anne Berry on 13 April 1913 in Worcester, Kettlewell was the second daughter of a clergyman and was educated at Casterton School. From there she went on to art college art, herself marrying a curate at the age of 18, and often playing small parts in amateur dramatic productions. Her husband died from scarlet fever caught while serving as a wartime army padre. She herself served in the Women's Land Army from 1942 to 1946.

Early career

Kettlewell began her career in rep and by the late 50s had managed to secure small West End roles. In 1959 she had her first film role in Room at the Top. She even acted in Norwegian for a Scandinavian children's film.

TV and radio breakthroughs

In the 1960s Kettlewell's television career unfolded and she worked alongside the likes of Harry Worth, Joan Sims and Deryck Guyler. She is perhaps best known for her role in the early episodes of All Gas and Gaiters where she played Mrs Grace Pugh-Critchley the Dean's wife. In 1966, she had a small role in the seminal Cathy Come Home.

A specialist in landladies and mothers-in-law, she was equally at home with both adult or children's material. In the early 1970s she played alongside Scottish comedy double-act Mike Hope and Albie Keen in BBC TV's "Hope and Keens Crazy House" later reprised as "Hope and Keen's Crazy Bus". Like many actors she continued to work well into her eighties.

Filmography

• Room at the Top (1959)
• Friends and Neighbours (1959)
• Sons and Lovers (1960)
• The Clue of the New Pin (1961)
• The Yellow Teddy Bears (1963)
• Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
• No Blade of Grass (1970)
• Zeppelin (1971)
• Professor Popper's Problem (1974)
• The Black Panther (1977)
• Adventures of a Private Eye (1977)
• Crystalstone (1987)
• Great Balls of Fire! (1989)
• Funny Bones (1995)

Selected television roles

• Don't Wait Up
• On The Buses
• The Howerd Confessions
• Juliet Bravo
• All Gas and Gaiters

Later life

A devout Anglo-Catholic and active member of the Actors’ Church Union, she directed many amateur productions with a devotional theme for her church, St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, where she also served as churchwarden and sacristan.

She died on 17 July 2007 in London.