Hilda’s curlers, headscarf and pinny sell for £4,000
JEAN Alexander’s iconic Hilda Ogden curlers, headscarf and pinny have sold for more than £4,000. The humble housewife’s outfit – made famous when the actress played the legendary Corrie character – were sold at auction in Southport to advertising executive Trevor Beattie. Jean used the items to create her “nosy northern housewife” look on the ITV soap. Relatives revealed they were not props but in fact family heirlooms that once belonged to Jean’s mother Ellen Frances Hodgkinson. The much-loved star brought them from her home to make Hilda appear more realistic – and held onto the items after leaving Corrie in 1987.
Jean’s niece, Sonia Hearld, said she found the original version of Hilda’s famous pink flowered pinny neatly packed away in her late aunt’s wardrobe.
Toxteth-born Jean, who played Hilda Ogden for 23 years, had attached a handwritten label which read: “Hilda’s curlers, headscarf and pinny”.
The much-loved star had held onto the items after leaving Corrie in 1987 as they had belonged to her own mum, Ellen Frances Hodgkinson.
Jean, who was also famous for her role as Auntie Wainwright in BBC TV’s Last of the Summer Wine, was loved by millions.
She never married and had no children, so the sale was organised by her nieces – Sonia and her sister Valerie Thewlis, 60.
Sonia said: “We have chosen our personal favourites which hold special memories of Jean and we thought we would give her fans an opportunity of a treasured memento of Hilda. There are all her TV awards, including a 2005 award when, in a UK TV Times poll, she was voted the nation’s greatest alltime soap character and a 1987 BAFTA TV Award nomination for Best Actress.”
The auction took place at the Royal Clifton hotel last week and Mr Beattie successfully bid £4,200 for the three items.
A presentation brick from the original Rovers Return pub; jewellery; figurines; books; ornaments; photographs from throughout her career and the rest of her household possessions also went under the hammer.
Sonia added: “Jean left bequests to a number of her favourite charities and a percentage of the proceeds of the sale will be sent to them.”
Trevor, 57, is also a film producer and said: “It’s like owning Charlie Chaplin’s moustache or Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves.
“We may be making ‘Hilda Ogden – the movie’, you never know. If we had half of her character, we’d be better people.”