Editing Irene Handl (section)

==Career==

===Films===
Handl had minor roles in such landmark films as ''[[Night Train to Munich]]'' and ''[[Brief Encounter]]''. Her other notable roles included the wife of the union activist Fred Kite (played by [[Peter Sellers]]) in ''[[I'm All Right Jack]]'' (1959); Mrs Gammon, the formidable cook, opposite [[Gordon Harker]] in ''[[Small Hotel]]'' (1957); [[Tony Hancock]]'s landlady in ''[[The Rebel (1961 film)|The Rebel]]'' (1961); Sherlock Holmes's housekeeper, Mrs Hudson, in ''[[The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes]]'' (1970); and Morgan's Communist mother, Mrs Delt, in ''[[Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment]]'' (1966). She also had small roles in two of the [[Carry On (franchise)|''Carry On'' films]], ''[[Carry On Nurse]]'' and ''[[Carry On Constable]]''), and played Miss Peach in the original version of ''[[The Italian Job]]''. She worked until 1987, the year of her death. Her last role was released posthumously the following year.

===Theatre===
*''Goodnight Mrs Puffin''
*''Move Over Mrs Markham''
* ''[[Cry Liberty]]'' 
*''[[The Importance of Being Earnest]]''

Among her many later appearances on stage, she played [[Lady Bracknell]] in ''[[The Importance of Being Earnest]]'' in 1975, in a production directed by [[Jonathan Miller]].

===Television===
[[File:Teddington Riverside, Irene Handl, Comic Heritage plaque.jpg|thumb|Comic Heritage plaque, Teddington]]
On television, she appeared as a guest in a number of comedy series, notably as a regular in ''[[Educating Archie]]'' and as the Cockney widow Ada Cresswell in ''[[For the Love of Ada]]'', which was later [[For the Love of Ada (film)|adapted for the cinema]]. She also advertised Horniman's tea. In 1969 she starred in the series ''[[World in Ferment]]'' as Madame Astoria.<ref name="Bilbow">{{cite journal|title=TELEVISION TODAY; Reviews: In a rare class of comedy show|author=Marjorie Bilbow|journal=[[The Stage and Television Today]]|issue= 4603|date=3 July 1969|page=12}}</ref> She also appeared in ''[[Maggie and Her]]'' (1978) opposite [[Julia McKenzie]]. In the early 1980s she played Gran in the ITV children's comedy show ''[[Metal Mickey]]''. She appeared in a rare aristocratic role as the Duchess of Sheffield in ''[[Mapp and Lucia (1985 TV series)|Mapp and Lucia]]'' and as another aristocratic character in [[Eric Sykes]]'s television film ''[[It's Your Move (1982 film)|It's Your Move]]'' (1982), in which her chauffeur was played by [[Brian Murphy (actor)|Brian Murphy]]. She also appeared as Madame de Bonneuil in the BBC's TV film ''[[Hotel du Lac (film)|Hotel du Lac]]'' in 1986. She appeared in ''[[Super Gran]]'' as the magician The Great Ronaldo and as [[Tim Wylton]]'s mother in ''Clinging Ivy'' (1985). Her last appearance was in the [[BBC]] sitcom ''[[In Sickness and in Health]]'' in 1987, just before her death at the age of 85.