To say Kathleen Harrison was type-cast would be an understatement. She spent her whole career playing Cockney skivvies. A lesser actress would have been limited by these roles, but she gave them all she had.
Surprisingly, considering how closely she was identified with cockney, she was born in Blackburn, but her family moved to London when she was small. After school she went to RADA, but left early to marry and live in Argentina. By the mid-twenties she was back and doing the cockney maid thing on stage.
From there it was a short step to roles in the booming film industry. She soon carved out a niche for herself in films but it was her stage role in Night Must Fall that made the difference to her career. The critics and her colleagues took notice and she was in demand for the best film and stage productions.
The film Holiday Camp teamed her with Jack Warner as Mr and Mrs Huggett. This lead to a short series of films and a long-running radio show.
She kept busy in the 40s and 50s but filmed only rarely in the 60s. She still had a successful stage career and on TV starred in the fondly-remembered series Mrs Thursday as a char woman suddenly made rich.
| 1931 | Hobson's Choice |
| 1932 | Happy Ever After |
| 1932 | Aren't We All |
| 1933 | The Man from Toronto |
| 1933 | The Ghoul |
| 1934 | The Great Defender |
| 1935 | Line Engaged |
| 1935 | Broken Blossoms |
| 1936 | The Tenth Man |
| 1936 | Everybody Dance |
| 1937 | Aren't Men Beasts |
| 1937 | Wanted |
| 1937 | Night Must Fall |
| 1938 | Bank Holiday |
| 1938 | Jane Steps Out |
| 1938 | Almost a Gentleman |
| 1938 | Lovers Knot |
| 1938 | Convict 99 |
| 1939 | I Got a Horse |
| 1939 | Home From Home |
| 1939 | The Outsider |
| 1939 | A Girl Must Live |
| 1939 | Discoveries |
| 1939 | I Killed the Count |
| 1940 | They Came By Night |
| 1940 | The Flying Squad |
| 1940 | Tilly of Bloomsbury |
| 1940 | The Girl in the News |
| 1941 | The Ghost Train |
| 1941 | Major Barbara |
| 1941 | Kipps |
| 1941 | Once a Crook |
| 1941 | I Thank You |
| 1942 | In Which We Serve |
| 1942 | Much Too Shy |
| 1943 | Dear Octopus |
| 1944 | It Happened One Sunday |
| 1945 | Meet Sexton Blake |
| 1945 | Caesar and Cleopatra |
| 1946 | Wanted for Murder |
| 1946 | I See a Dark Stranger |
| 1946 | The Shop at Sly Corner |
| 1947 | Temptation Harbour |
| 1947 | Holiday Camp |
| 1948 | Oliver Twist |
| 1948 | Bond Street |
| 1948 | The Winslow Boy |
| 1948 | Here Come the Huggetts |
| 1949 | Vote for Huggett |
| 1949 | The Huggetts Abroad |
| 1949 | Landfall |
| 1949 | Golden Arrow |
| 1950 | Double Confession |
| 1950 | Trio |
| 1950 | Waterfront |
| 1951 | The Magic Box |
| 1951 | Scrooge |
| 1952 | The Happy Family |
| 1952 | The Pickwick Papers |
| 1953 | Turn the Key Softly |
| 1954 | Lilacs in the Spring |
| 1954 | The Dog and the Diamonds |
| 1955 | Where There's a Will |
| 1955 | It's a Wonderful World |
| 1955 | Home and Away |
| 1956 | Cast a Dark Shadow |
| 1956 | The Big Money |
| 1957 | Seven Thunders |
| 1958 | Cry from the Streets |
| 1958 | Alive and Kicking |
| 1961 | On the Fiddle |
| 1962 | Mrs Gibbon's Boys |
| 1962 | The Fast Lady |
| 1963 | West 11 |
| 1969 | Lock Up your Daughters |
Kathleen Harrison at Amazon UK
Kathleen Harrison at Amazon US
