Remembering Actress Una Stubbs
[August 12, 2021] Actress Una Stubbs has passed away at the age of 84. “Mum passed away quietly today with her family around her, in Edinburgh. We ask for privacy and understanding at this most difficult and sad of times,” according to a statement from the family.
“We are very saddened to hear of the passing of Una Stubbs who played the beloved Mrs. Hudson opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in Sherlock,” said a statement from MASTERPIECE. “Our thoughts are with her family and friends as we wish them comfort at this difficult time.”
In a tribute to the popular actress, Stubbs’ agent Rebecca Blond shared the following: “We are desperately sad to have lost not only a wonderful actress, whose screen and stage career, spanning over 50 years, was so extraordinarily varied,” she said. “…but [she was] also a wickedly funny, elegant, stylish, graceful, gracious and kind and constant friend. She was also a highly respected and exhibited artist. We will miss her enormously and remember her always.”
Stubbs began her career in show business as a dancer, but soon made her breakout on the small screen in the 1960s as Alf Garnett’s daughter Rita in Till Death Us Do Part and the 1980s follow-ups ‘Til Death… and In Sickness and In Health. She later won the hearts of the audience as Aunt Sally in the television series Worzel Gummidge. Her last major on-screen role was starring as landlady Mrs. Hudson in Sherlock.
As the news broke about Stubbs’ passing, entertainment professionals, including co-stars of days past, shared their grief in tributes to the screen icon.
Sherlock producer Steven Moffat shared his goodbye to “the loveliest light on Baker Street” in an Instagram post, saying, “What a woman, what a talent, what a star – and just about the kindest, nicest, funniest person you could meet,” he wrote. “I don’t know how anyone even starts summing up that career – Till Death Us Do Part, Fawlty Towers, the incomparable Aunt Sally in Worzel Gummidge … and, of course, the irreplaceable heart and soul of Sherlock.”
Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss also paid tribute to the late actress on Twitter, saying: “It was one of the great joys of my life to work so closely with and to adore Una Stubbs. She was a wonderful, wonderful woman and a great and serenely graceful actor. Mischief was in her blood. We were so blessed that she became our imperishable Mrs Hudson. Goodbye, darling.”
Dancer and actress Bonnie Langford said on Twitter that losing Stubbs is “such a loss”. “She made everything look so effortless,” Langford wrote. “A consummate professional, kind, gracious, elegant, versatile and fun. Her Aunt Sally was a masterclass alone.”
Stubbs is survived by her three children, composers Christian Henson and Joe Henson, and son Jason Gilmore.
