Web Page No 2266
27th May 2016
Top Picture: Molly in her younger days
Forth Picture: Her first best seller
Molly Weir
Mary Weir, who was always
known as Molly Weir was a diminutive
Scottish actress, most notable for her role in later life as the
long-running character Hazel the McWitch
in the BBC TV series Rentaghost. She was also the sister of naturalist and
broadcaster Tom Weir.
She was born in Glasgow in March 1910 and brought up in the Springburn
area of the city and from an early age was involved in local amateur dramatics. Acting was to be her life.
In her early professional career, she was a well-known radio actress, featuring
in many comedy shows, such as ITMA. She started performing on Scottish
radio in 1939, and later wrote radio scripts for Woman's Hour, Children's Hour
and Home This Afternoon.
She made her film debut
in 1949, and had a regular role as the housekeeper, Aggie McDonald, in the
radio and television sitcom Life With The Lyons with Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels.
During the 1970s and early 1980s she found fame as a writer, with several volumes
of best-selling memoirs, notably, Shoes Were For Sunday. She also appeared in a
series of television advertisements for Flash the household cleaner was best known for
uttering the words "Flash - cleans baths without scratching" in early
1970 . In 1969 she appeared
in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie starring Maggie Smith, she and Helena Gloag
played the Kerr sisters, the sewing mistresses of Marcia Blaine School for
Girls. In 1970 these two reprised their
collaboration in Scrooge, playing old sisters in debt to Mr Scrooge, played by
Albert Finney.
In the 1970s she was one
of the presenters of Teatime Tales, a television series broadcast by Scottish
TV in which she recalled her childhood. She also appeared in a pop video for the Bluebells
1983 hit Young At Heart.
After her death, Molly Weir's ashes were scattered on the banks of Loch
Lomond, a favourite holiday location; and almost all her estate (of nearly £1.9
million), was bequeathed to charities and good causes. Her fortune was mainly
due to the profits from the eight volumes of memoirs that she wrote about her
tough upbringing and life as an actress. Her memoirs about her childhood in
Glasgow formed the trilogy Shoes were for Sunday, Best Foot Forward and One Toe
on the Ladder. They were later followed by titles such as Stepping into the
Spotlight and Walking into the Lyons Den.
She died in November 2005 aged 94,
She was only 4ft 10in tall and grew up
in poverty in the deprived Springburn area of north Glasgow, which in 2002
achieved the unenviable reputation as the second poorest parliamentary
constituency in the UK.
The eldest of four children, she was
raised by her mother following the death of her father, a soldier, who was
killed in 1914.
She moved to London in 1945, and
although she lived for many years in Pinner before her death in a nursing home
in Denham, she never forgot her Scottish roots and in 2000 was voted Scotswoman
of the Year. She was widowed following the death of her husband and childhood
sweetheart, Sandy Hamilton, in 1997 and had no children. She left the bulk of her fortune to
eight charities.
Donations of more than £200,000 each
will be made to the National Trust, the National Trust for Scotland, the
Parkinson's Disease Society, the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, the
Stroke Association, the Alzheimer's Society, Cancer Research UK and the
Arthritis Research Campaign. But her will also detailed individual legacies of £3,000,
£2,000 and £1,000 to more than 30 other charities and good causes which were
close to her heart, including many in Scotland, such as the West of Scotland
Housing Association to provide holidays for tenant families, and St Columba's
Hospice in Edinburgh. She also left £500 to the Friends of Loch Lomond where
her ashes were scattered following cremation, and bequeathed all future
royalties and the profits from her books to Springburn social services to
benefit the elderly and the poor.
She also left £8,000 to provide
"extra comforts" for residents of the Balornock and Springburn homes
for the elderly in Glasgow, and elderly patients in the city's Stobhill and
Ruchill hospitals.
I met the lady only once and that was
at the revived Radio Show in Olympia in the mid-1980s. I had been watching an
interview with Robert Morley and wandered over to the children’s section. There
in the Story Den was Mollie Weir sat on a tree stump surrounded by children all
sitting on the floor. She was telling them a story, I forget which, but the children
were enthralled. When the story ended she got up to leave and on the way out
spoke to as many children as she could. On reaching the entrance to the Story
Den she spied me standing there and the next thing I knew was that she had come
over and taken my arm saying ‘will you escort me to the hospitality room
please?’ I had no idea where it was but who could say no to such a request but
she did have to guide me to where the place was. All the time she was on my arm
she did not stop talking, I heard all about her husband’s illnesses and
problems meaning he could not accompany her that day, what she was going to
cook for his tea and where she was going for the rest of the week. I heard all
about them meeting at school and she was very proud of the fact that she had
married her childhood sweetheart and that they had been married for almost
fifty years.
On reaching the hospitality room a BBC
employee took her under his wing but as she left me she reached up and kissed
my cheek, and said “thank you for your company, I really did enjoy our chat”. I
did not have the heart to tell her that I had hardly a chance to get a word
in!!!!
Keep in touch
Peter
You Write:
News and Views:
On this day 27th May 1960-1965
On 27/05/1960 the number one single was Cathy's Clown - Everly
Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated
TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth
£13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1
champions. The big news story of the week was Stirling Moss wins Monaco Grand
Prix.
On 27/05/1961 the number one single was You're Driving Me Crazy -
The Temperance Seven and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The
top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) and the box office smash
was One Hundred and One
Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham
Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.
On 27/05/1962 the number one single was Good Luck Charm - Elvis
Presley and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top
rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box
office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of
today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the
Season's Division 1 champions.
On 27/05/1963 the number one single was From Me To You - The
Beatles and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The
top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and
the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth
£12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1
champions. The big news story of the week was Manchester Utd win FA Cup.
On 27/05/1964 the number one single was
Juliet - Four Pennies and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling
Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box
office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of
today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the
Season's Division 1 champions.
On 27/05/1965 the number one single was
Where Are You Now (My Love) - Jackie Trent and the number one album was
Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box
office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69
and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1
champions. The big news story of the week was Muhammed Ali floors Sonny Liston.
