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Lady Pat Routledge, who passed away at the age of 96, imprinted herself on the British psyche as the pretentious Mrs. Bucket.

Declaring it was "said Bouquet," Hyacinth trampled over her patient husband and bewildered neighbours in Keeping Up Appearances, one of Britain's most successful comedies in the 1990s.

Acting like a aristocrat while living in a suburb, Bucket's monstrous status-seeking schemes were in the end doomed to collapse—while she struggled to keep her dignity.

It was Dame Routledge's most famous part in a career that saw her earn stage honors on each side of the Atlantic, emerge as the star of the playwright's celebrated TV monologues, and star as BBC1's investigative Mrs. Wainthropp.

Early Life and Start in Acting

Katherine Pat Routledge was born in Merseyside on February 17 1929.

Her dad was a haberdasher and she later recalled taking cover from enemy air raids in the cellar of his store during the war.

She studied English at nearby Liverpool University and planned to become a teacher. Rather, she joined the Liverpool Playhouse before training at the Bristol drama school.

Her successful stage journey brought her from the regions to the West End, and eventually to Broadway, where Leonard Bernstein selected her to appear in his musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in 1976.

She had previously won a Tony honor for her acting in Darling of the Day.

She could move effortlessly from lighthearted plays to classics.

She progressed from Shakespeare's birthplace, appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and then to the National Theatre in London.

At the National, her starring role in the theatre production Carousel involved her performing the rousing You'll Never Walk Alone.

There were also several supporting film roles, especially in 1967's To Sir, With Love, and the comedian's comedy outing Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River.

Her theatre and broadcast work proved her versatility and won her accolades, but it was television that gave Routledge with her best-known roles.

Television Breakthrough and Memorable Characters

Initial television appearances included popular shows like Z Cars and Steptoe and Son.

Subsequently, among Britain's esteemed playwrights, the dramatist, penned a series of outstanding Talking Heads TV monologues for her.

Routledge conquered her early hesitation to perform his scripts and shone as A Woman of No Importance and A Lady of Letters.

She later portray a lonely, middle-aged department store clerk tipped into a relationship with a kinky podiatrist in Bennett's Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet.

A comic turn as the exaggerated Kitty on The Victoria Wood Show led to the creation of Hyacinth Bucket.

Routledge recalled being given the episodes by the author, Roy Clarke—known for Last of the Summer Wine and Open All Hours.

"I opened the pages for a moment at 1 a.m. in the morning," she said, "I read straight through and the character leapt off the script. I recognized that woman, I'd met several of that woman."

Keeping Up Appearances ran for five series and featured several holiday specials.

In a film, she later claimed that admirers had included Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and the pontiff.

It became the broadcaster's most-sold programme ever and meant Routledge was recognised as far away as Botswana.

For her performance on the comedy, she was voted Britain's all-time best-loved actress in 1996, but after five years in the part, she felt it was time for a change.

"I brought it to an close," she said, "and, of course, the BBC wasn't pleased with at all."

She thought that Roy Clarke was beginning to recycle concepts and mentioned a bit of guidance from the performer, the comic.

"He always left with audiences saying, ‘Oh, aren’t you doing any more?’ she recalled, instead of people remarking, ‘Is that still running?’"

Later Roles and Private Reflections

Portraying the unassuming but sharp detective in Hetty Wainthropp Investigates brought her continued popularity on TV, but she consistently called the stage as "the test."

Long after she ceased acting frequently on television, Routledge made stage travels both in the UK and overseas.

If interviewers posed the inevitable question, she requested them to write the word withdrawal since, she explained: "It's not in my vocabulary."

She did not married or had kids, but told interviewers of a couple of great romances in her youth, one with a wedded man.

"I felt guilt and an acute feeling that there had to be pain," she confessed. "I guess I persuaded myself that it was acceptable for the moment as his union was no a living thing."

In place of family, she dedicated herself to her art, serving it with the skill, discipline and devotion that were consistently admired by her peers.

She was scathing about the broadcaster's decision in 2016 to revive Keeping Up Appearances, but this time set in the 1950s and featuring a younger version of her character.

Challenging the Corporation's policy of resurrecting classic comedies she said, "Why are they attempting this sort of project, they must be out of ideas."

She had previously disagreed with the broadcaster over their move to not order a film she had authored about the writer the children's author (Routledge was a Patron of the Beatrix Potter Society), which finally broadcast on Channel 4.

On turning 90, she persisted to reside quietly in the city, where she occupied herself raising money for the church roof.

In 2017, she became a Dame Commander of the British honors system but—in contrast to Hyacinth—titles did not go to her head.

Lady Patricia always said she thanked her north of England upbringing and stable background for providing her good sense with her life and her money.

Even so, she admitted that, should any extra cash come her way, she'd certainly use it on "a case of champagne"—an appreciation of the better pleasures in life that she had in common with her most famous creation.

"I was never theatre-obsessed," she said. "I'm not theatre-obsessed now. Nobody's more surprised than myself that I have, actually, devoted my career pursuing acting."