Creator / Doreen Mantle

"We were young and poor and needed to earn some money. I decided with the wonderful ignorance of youth to earn a living by acting - and luckily, I did."

Doreen June Mantle, (22 June 1926 — 9 August 2023), was a British actress best known for playing Mrs. Warboys in One Foot in the Grave.

She was born to English parents in South Africa, where she was educated at the University of the Witwatersrand. Her acting career began too, starting with the dramatic society there. She played roles in amateur theatre and the radio. In 1959, she left South Africa for the United Kingdom.

Mantle took a break from acting after giving birth to her first son, and despite returning to the stage by 1967, had a lean period where she found it hard to get work. She was working as a tourist guide in London when she finally got the boost she needed from appearing in the play Going Home. This was followed by roles in plays including Hamlet, My Fair Lady, The Seagull, and Death of a Salesman, winning a Laurence Olivier Award for the latter. She also worked on radio for The BBC, including the role of Sadie Fine in The Attractive Young Rabbi.

On TV, Mantle wouldn't be well known until she was in her sixties, thanks to the role of Margaret's hapless friend Mrs. Warboys in One Foot in the Grave. She also made guest appearances in two of One Foot writer David Renwick's other series, Love Soup and Jonathan Creek. Other regular roles she had on the small screen were as Queenie in Series 1 and 2 of Jam and Jerusalem and Joy Fishwick in ten episodes of Coronation Street.

She died at the age of 97.

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Works on TV Tropes she appeared in:

Films

• Privilege (1967) — Miss Crawford
• Frenzy (1972) — Woman in Crowd (Uncredited Role)
• The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981) — Lady on Train
• Yentl (1983) — Mrs. Shaemen
• Scoop (2006) — Joe's Co-Passenger

Series

• Strange Report, episode "Report 3906: Cover Girls - Last Year's Model" (1969) — Mrs. Ogilvie
• Play for Today, 3 episodes:
  • "Eleanor" (1974) — Mother
  • "The Country Party" (1977) — Julia Branston
  • "Don't Be Silly" (1979) — Mary Hunter
• Secret Army, episode "Weekend" (1978) — Madame Desmarts
• ScreenPlay, episode "Our Lady Blue" (1987) — Mother Monica
• One Foot in the Grave, 18 episodes (1990-2000) — Mrs. Jean Warboys
• Screen Two, episode "Fellow Traveller" (1990) — Landlady
• CASUAL+Y, 3 episodes:
  • 2 episodes^{show list} "Love's a Pain", "A Will to Die" (1990) — Mrs. Duffin
  • "Memories" (2002) — Renee Wainwright
• Lovejoy, episode "Angel Trousers" (1992) — Vera
• Peak Practice, episode "Long Weekend" (1994) — Mary Eastman
• Our Friends in the North, episode "1995" (1996) — Mrs. Wilson
• Testament: The Bible in Animation, episode "Ruth" (1996) — Naomi
• The Wild House, 2 episodes (1997-99) — Granny
• Doctors, 8 episodes:
  • "Relations" (2001) — Rose
  • "'Ketchup on That?'" (2007) — Doris Forsyth
  • "The Informant" (2009) — Winnie Carpenter
  • 5 episodes^{show list} "Catflap", "Tree Hug", "Mrs Waverly's Winnings", "A Sticky End", "Painkillers" (2012-19) — Mrs. Merriam
• The Bill, episode "High Speed Chaos" (2003) — Anne Culshaw
• Doc Martin, episode "Gentlemen Prefer" (2004) — Marianne Walker
• Holby City, 2 episodes:
  • "Elf and Happiness" (2004) — Sylvia Wheeler
  • "Smoke and Mirrors" (2009) — Simone Mannstein
• Hustle, episode "The Lesson" (2005) — Anne Foster
• Jam and Jerusalem, 12 episodes (2006-08) — Queenie
• The Sarah Jane Adventures, episode "Eye of the Gorgon: Part One" (2007) — Mrs. Randall
• Bonekickers, episode "Warriors" (2008) — Mary Cunley
• Jonathan Creek, episode "The Judas Tree" (2010) — Mrs. Gantry
• Coronation Street, 10 episodes (2010-11) — Joy Fishwick
• Dirk Gently, episode "Pilot" (2010) — Ruth Jordan
• My Family, episode "Harper v Harper" (2011) — Lillian
• Lewis, 2 episodes^{show list} "One for Sorrow: Part 1", "One for Sorrow: Part 2" (2015) — Joan
• Father Brown, episode "The Kembleford Dragon" (2018) — Miss Tibby

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