Doreen Mantle

Doreen June Mantle (22 June 1926 – 9 August 2023) was a South African-born British actress who played Jean Warboys in One Foot In The Grave (1990–2000) and appeared in Yentl (1983). She appeared in many British television series from the 1960s onwards, often in one-off roles, including Lovejoy and Jonathan Creek. She played lollipop lady Queenie in Jam & Jerusalem (2006–2009).

Quotes

• [Of Mrs Worboys in One Foot In The Grave] She always wanted to help and meant well all the time. It's just that she was tactless and not very bright, although occasionally she'd have these strange streaks of knowledge, like the time she knew all the answers while playing Trivial Pursuit.
  • To the writer Richard Webber, as cited in "Doreen Mantle obituary", The Guardian (11 August 2023)

• I was rolled down a hill and mounted by a dog.
  • Asked for her most memorable moment in a sitcom special of The Weakest Link, as cited in "Doreen Mantle obituary", The Guardian (11 August 2023)

About Doreen Mantle

• No one else could have played Mrs Warboys as she did and the honesty that she brought to every line, however bizarre, was what made the character so funny and legitimised even the maddest of moments. There was never the remotest suggestion that she was playing comedy: in her hands it was all utterly real.
  • David Renwick, writer of One Foot in the Grave, as cited in "Doreen Mantle obituary", The Times (11 August 2023)