ACTOR
Mollie Sugden
- Known for
- Are You Being Served? (1972), Are You Being Served? (1977), The BFG (1989), Grace & Favour (1992)
22 archived facts 3 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Mollie Sugden is an actor best known for Are You Being Served?, The BFG and Grace & Favour.
All facts (22)
- #001
After the first episode of Are You Being Served? (1972), Mollie Sugden decided her hair was too plain for the ugly character of Mrs. Slocombe, so she bleached it white and then dyed it a different colour for each subsequent episode of the first season. Unfortunately, the ends of bleached hair become "spongy," causing the dyes never to wash out completely, and her 10-year-old twins disliked being picked up from school "by a mother with multi-coloured ends." So after the first season, seeing that the series was a hit, she asked the BBC to give her wigs instead of dyeing her hair a different colour every week.
- #002
John Inman compared Mollie Sugden to Lucille Ball, saying she was one of the very few actresses who was never afraid to do or accept anything for a laugh, such as having a pie thrown in her face or acting downright silly.
- #003
Mollie Sugden remained close friends with the surviving cast of Are You Being Served? (1972), including John Inman in 2007 and Wendy Richard in 2009, only a few months before her own death, and she attended several of their funerals before she died.
- #004
After living a quiet life in Dorking, Surrey, Mollie died on 1 July 2009 at the Royal Surrey Hospital, survived by her twin sons.
- #005
After her death she was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, and at her request her ashes were scattered in the rose garden of the property.
- #006
During the Second World War she worked in a munitions factory in Keighley, making shells for the Royal Navy.
- #007
Mollie Sugden was a close friend of Björk.
- #008
She appeared twice in the British series Steptoe and Son (1962), the forerunner of the American series Sanford and Son (1972), playing different characters.
- #009
Her father ran an iron and steel foundry.
- #010
Her twin sons Robin Moore and Simon Moore were born in October 1963, when Sugden was 41, a relatively advanced age for pregnancy.
- #011
She was one of the five actors who appeared in all 69 episodes of Are You Being Served? (1972), plus the 1977 film, alongside John Inman (Mr Humphries), Frank Thornton (Captain Peacock), Wendy Richard (Miss Brahms) and Nicholas Smith (Mr Rumbold). The same five also appeared in the sequel series Are You Being Served? Again! (1992).
- #012
After graduating she worked in repertory for eight years with a company that included Eric Sykes and Roy Dotrice.
- #013
She appeared as herself in the third season of Little Britain (2003). While her poor husband Clive (Matt Lucas) tries to silence her, the character Liz (David Walliams) always boasts to everyone that she was a bridesmaid at Molly Sugden's wedding. In one episode Liz begins boasting again about being Molly's bridesmaid. When Molly turns around (we first see only her back), she tells Liz that she had only one bridesmaid and that the girl's name was not Liz but Helen. Liz ends the sketch by throwing a knife into Molly's back. The character Liz was inspired by a friend of David Walliams who met an elderly woman at a wedding who claimed to have been Molly's bridesmaid.
- #014
She studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England, United Kingdom.
- #015
She won the TV Times comedy performance award for That's My Boy.
- #016
She had five grandchildren from her two sons, Robin and Simon.
- #017
She wanted to be an actress from a very young age.
- #018
She trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.
- #019
Before attending the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she worked in a munitions factory.
- #020
She spent eight years as a representative, during which she met her husband, the actor Bill Moore.
- #021
Two of Mollie Sugden's five grandchildren are named James and Emily.
- #022
Mollie Sugden attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
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