Image of Gretchen Franklin

Gretchen Franklin

Born in Covent Garden, West London in 1911, Gretchen Franklin was an English actress and dancer whose showbusiness career spanned over 70 years. She was best known for her role as Ethel Skinner in the long-running BBC 1 soap opera EastEnders. She appeared in the very first episode in 1985 and was a regular in the series until 1988. After this she returned to the show intermittently until 2000 when her character was killed off, allowing Franklin to retire from acting at the age of 89. Born into a theatrical family (her father had a song and dance act, her grandfather was a famous music hall entertainer at the turn of the century and her cousin was Dad's Army star Clive Dunn) Gretchen Franklin made her theatre debut as a teenage chorus girl. She toured with comedians such as Gracie Fields before making the switch to serious acting. Her film appearances included Cloak Without Dagger (1956), Flame in the Streets (1961), The Murder Game (1965), Help! (1965), How I Won The War (1967), Twisted Nerve (1968), The Night Visitor (1971), The Three Musketeers (1973), Quincy's Quest (1979), and Ragtime (1981), among others. She is namechecked in The Fall's 1990 song Telephone Thing.


Read bio at tmdb | Read bio at Wikipedia
Born:
Jul 7, 1911 In Covent Garden, London, England, UK
Movie/TV Credits:
16
First Appeared:
In the movie Trottie True 1949-09-29
Latest Project:
Movie Return to Waterloo 1984-11-01
Known For
Filmography
Movie Return to Waterloo Woman on Train 1984-11-01
Movie Ragtime Elderly Woman 1981-11-20
Series Nicholas Nickleby 1977-03-27
Series I Didn't Know You Cared 1975-08-27
Movie The Four Musketeers D'Artagnan's Mother (archive footage) (uncredited) 1974-10-31
Movie Secrets Mrs. Pitt 1973-08-14
Movie The Three Musketeers D’Artagnan’s Mother 1973-12-11
Movie Subterfuge Bus Conductress 1968-12-12
Movie Twisted Nerve Clarkie 1968-12-20
Movie How I Won the War 2nd Old Lady 1967-10-18
Movie Help! Neighbour 1965-07-29
Movie The Murder Game Landlady 1965-12-12
Movie Ticket to Paradise Mrs. Higginbottom 1961-01-01
Movie Flame in the Streets Mrs. Bingham 1961-06-19
Movie The Secret Place Mother (uncredited) 1957-02-06
Movie Trottie True Martha (uncredited) 1949-09-29
Show me another film
Random Artist
Protect yourself from online tracking

Are you sure you want to hide this?