Judith Furse was born on 4th March 1912 in Camberley, Surrey and died on 29th August 1974 in Canterbury. She was a large imposing woman with a deep voice and is probably best known today for her lead supporting role as Sister Briony in Powell and Pressburger's 1947 film Black Narcissus and her starring guest-role as the somewhat androgynous Dr. Crow in the 1964 comedy Carry on Spying. In 1965 she was cast exactly within type as the frightening figure of Brookfield High School for Girls headmistress Miss Buxton, known to one and all as "Frankenstein's Grandmother", in two episodes of the first season of the Coronation Street spin-off Pardon the Expression. The following year she reappeared in a second season episode as Lady Dobson, wife of the chairman of Dobson and Hawks and the year after that in an episode of the Street 's second spin-off Turn out the Lights as Mrs Foster.
Advertisement