Nora Batty actress Kathy Staff has died - tributes

Dec 15 2008 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

KATHY Staff – known to millions of television viewers as battleaxe Nora Batty – has died.

The actor, who starred in Holmfirth-based Last of the Summer Wine for 35 years, passed away on Saturday aged 80.

Mrs Staff appeared in 243 episodes of the BBC sitcom between January, 1973, and this August.

She spoke the first words in the opening scene of Last of the Summer Wine in 1973. Millions loved watching her character Nora’s feisty doorstep encounters with her mischief-making neighbour Compo, played by actor Bill Owen who died in 1999.

Nora’s house on Scar Fold off Hollowgate in Holmfirth became a tourist attraction as the success of the long-running comedy show grew.

Last of the Summer Wine producer and director Alan Bell paid tribute to the veteran actor yesterday.

He said: “She was lovely, a very nice, honourable, friendly lady – not at all like the character she played.”