WRAP > Article/Quotes > Quotes About

Quotes About . . .

Some observations about the real Ms. Richard by those people who have worked with her, met her, or seen her outside of her television roles.

"[Wendy Richard has] been a successful player over the years, relying on her acerbic sense of humor to obtain laughs, often at the expense of others.  She is by nature very outspoken, and if something irritates her, she expresses her feelings, even in the show.  She does this in such a passionate way, that the audience think it a humorous contribution, and they laugh, but more often than not she really feels it.  Wendy also has a thing about people reciting lists of items in a round, something which Clement Freud is very adept [at].  It's not as easy as it sounds; it's not against the rules; and it's usually funny, but Wendy can not stand it and always goes on the offensive as soon as anyone does it."

-- Nicholas Parsons, 2004, from his spoken introduction to the Just A Classic Minute, Vol. I audiotape collection of shows from the long-running series Just A Minute (BBC Radio Collection, ISBN 0-563-49510-3)

"A trouper in the best sense of that word. . . "
(Webmeister's note: . . . which I understand to mean that she a team player and loyal to colleagues and to her work.)

-- Clement Freud, 1993, from his Radio Times interview with Wendy

"Wendy Richard was a real revelation . . . [She's] got a fantastically dry sense of humour. Even though I never got to know her that well, I still laugh when I think of some of the things she used to say and do . . . She's a very honest person who does and says what she thinks . . . She'd always speak her mind and would say all the things I'd want to say but didn't have the nerve. She had the guts, the experience and, more importantly, she had the respect to be able to say it."

-- Martine McCutcheon, EastEnders actress, 2000, reminiscing about Wendy.
from her autobiography Who Does She Think She Is?

"It would be fair to say that she saved my life. Wendy couldn't believe I hadn't been to the doctor. She went mad and made me promise I'd have it looked at. If she hadn't, I believe I'd never had gone -- at least until it was too late."

-- Laila Morse, EastEnders actress, 2001, recounting Wendy's concern about Morse's real-life brush with breast cancer.
from OK! (8 June 2001) magazine

"Wendy and I have been getting on really well. It is lovely working with her. I work my way and Wendy works hers -- but we both just get on and do it."

-- Natalie Cassidy, EastEnders actress, 2001
from Inside Soap (19 January 2001) magazine

"Wendy Richard who plays Pauline Fowler because she helped me enormously when I first started. She gave me confidence because I was very nervous when I joined the show."

-- James Alexandrou, EastEnders actor, in response to the question "Of all the cast members which actor do you admire most?", 2000
from the BBC Soaps website

"She was exactly like her character [Miss Brahms]: bright, cheerful, very quick-witted."

-- June Hudson, costume designer on Are You Being Served?, 1998
from the Webber AYBS? book

"She is a very friendly person to know, talks often about her love of Chinese, Japanese and Italian food, and is a good cook herself."

-- Bill Pertwee, 1997
from his book
[Webmeister's note: In Jul 00, Wendy remarked to me that she had no idea where Pertwee got the idea that Japanese cuisine was one of her favorites. . .]

"She's very useful to know. She loves London. She lives in London. In fact, she's never happy if she's not in spitting distance of Harrod's. I don't live there. I live in the country. But if ever I want to get something special, I know if I ask Wendy: [she'd say] '..You want to go to Dickins & Jones, dear; that's the best, and that's where you get it cheapest.' She always knows the best."

-- Mollie Sugden, 1995
from an interview with WHTY-TV

"Wendy was in very good shape, and we played on that fact to the hilt and made her as voluptuous as we could. She used to get a . . . lot of fan mail from men, so the costume department knew they were doing something right."

-- Jo Lewis, costumer on Are You Being Served?, 1994
from the Rigelsford AYBS? book

". . . Wendy is always such a motherly soul, eager to help people be at ease. If you're ill it's always Wendy who drops in a get well card. She visits an old folks' home near where she lives, and often takes them fresh eggs from a farm near the studios at Elstree."

-- John Inman, 1998
from his interview in 'Womens' Own' magazine

"I was a terrible giggler -- I still am -- and so is Wendy Richard. It didn't take much for us to set each other off..."

-- Trevor Bannister, 1994
from the Rigelsford AYBS? book

On the professionalism of the Are You Being Served cast:

"Wendy Richard, on the other hand, really is just like herself on the show and has a very dry sense of humor behind that cigarette holder and those electric blue eyes."

-- Jeremy Lloyd, 1994
from his book

On Wendy's appearance at a US Public Broadcasting System fund-raiser telethon in 1993(?):

"On the program she was neither Miss Brahms nor Pauline. She is . . . quite attractive and looked very well. Unlike most US celebrities, she was tremendously low-keyed -- no affections or airs. She made a very lady-like appeal for funds and answered many phone calls from fans who called in to talk to her. . . . She had no Cockney accent, yet she was not speaking the typical "King's" English. She had a very pleasant manner and spoke as though she was just one of us."

-- William Schulze, 1995
personal correspondence

"She's a lovely person."

-- John Inman, 1998
from the Webber AYBS? book