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	~~{{Short description\|English music hall performer, actress and comedian}}~~
	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=April 2022}}~~
	{{Infobox person		{{Infobox person
	\| name = Jill Summers		\| name = Jill Summers
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	[[Category:Actors from Wakefield]]		[[Category:Actors from Wakefield]]
	[[Category:English television actresses]]		[[Category:English television actresses]]
	~~[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure]]~~
	[[Category:20th-century British actresses]]		[[Category:20th-century British actresses]]
	[[Category:20th-century British comedians]]		[[Category:20th-century British comedians]]
	[[Category:20th-century English women]]		[[Category:20th-century English women]]
	[[Category:20th-century English people]]		[[Category:20th-century English people]]

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External links

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	* [http://www.corrie.net/profiles/actors/summers_jill.html Jill Summers at corrie.net]		* [http://www.corrie.net/profiles/actors/summers_jill.html Jill Summers at corrie.net]
	* [https://archive.today/20040301001738/http://www.derbydeadpool.co.uk/deadpool1997/obits/summers.html Short biography of Jill Summers]		* [https://archive.today/20040301001738/http://www.derbydeadpool.co.uk/deadpool1997/obits/summers.html Short biography of Jill Summers]

	~~{{authority control}}~~

	{{DEFAULTSORT:Summers, Jill}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Summers, Jill}}

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	{{Infobox person		{{Infobox person
	\| name = Jill Summers		\| name = Jill Summers
	\| image = ~~Phyliscorrie~~.jpg		\| image = Jill Summers.jpg
	\| caption = Jill Summers as Phyllis Pearce in ''Coronation Street''		\| caption = Jill Summers as Phyllis Pearce in ''Coronation Street''
	\| birthname = Honor Margaret Rozelle Santoi Fuller		\| birthname = Honor Margaret Rozelle Santoi Fuller

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en>Certes: Unlink book/film: stardom (via WP:JWB)

2022-10-20T12:48:23Z

Unlink book/film: stardom (via WP:JWB)

New page

{{Short description|English music hall performer, actress and comedian}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jill Summers
| image = Phyliscorrie.jpg
| caption = Jill Summers as Phyllis Pearce in ''Coronation Street''
| birthname = Honor Margaret Rozelle Santoi Fuller
| birth_date = {{birth date|1910|12|10|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Eccles, Greater Manchester|Eccles]], [[Lancashire]], England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1997|01|11|1910|12|08|df=y}}<ref name=indy>{{cite news |last1=Hayward |first1=Anthony |title=Obituary: Jill Summers |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/obituary-jill-summers-5585480.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/obituary-jill-summers-5585480.html |archive-date=8 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |accessdate=4 October 2020 |work=[[The Independent]] |date=13 January 1997}}</ref>
| death_place = [[Salford, Greater Manchester]], England
| othername =
| yearsactive = 1917–1996
| spouse = {{marriage|John Arthur Hunt |1928|1948|end=died}}<br />{{marriage|Clifford Simpson Smith|1949|1984|end=died}}
| homepage =
| awards =
}}

'''Jill Summers''' (born '''Honor Margaret Rozelle Santoi Fuller'''; 10 December 1910 – 11 January 1997) was an English [[music hall]] performer, actor and comedian. Her career in entertainment lasted eighty years and in 1982 she achieved stardom as [[Phyllis Pearce]], in [[Granada Television]]'s long-running [[soap opera]] ''[[Coronation Street]]''. She made her last appearance in May 1996, and died eight months later.<ref name="Corrie">{{cite web
| last =
| first =
| author-link =
| title =Jill Summers
| work =
| publisher =Corrie.net
| date =
| url =http://www.corrie.net/profiles/actors/summers_jill.html
| doi =
| accessdate =2007-12-23 }}
</ref><ref name="Derby">{{cite web| title =Jill Summers| publisher =Derby Dead Pool| url =http://www.derbydeadpool.co.uk/deadpool1997/obits/summers.html| accessdate =2007-12-23| url-status =dead| archiveurl =https://archive.today/20040301001738/http://www.derbydeadpool.co.uk/deadpool1997/obits/summers.html| archivedate =2004-03-01}}
</ref>

==Early life==
Summers was born in [[Eccles, Greater Manchester|Eccles]], [[Lancashire]], one of four sisters and a brother, to father Alf Rozelle, a circus tightrope walker, and mother Mary Fuller (stage name Marie Santoi), a famous [[revue]] artist.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Power, Mary b. Jan 1879 Prescot, Lancashire, England d. 27 Jun 1924 Bradford, Yorkshire West Riding, England|url=http://www.shawfamily-online.co.uk/getperson.php?personID=I4797&tree=Shaw|url-status=live|access-date=2021-07-17|website=Shaw Family History and Ancestry}}</ref> Born into a theatrical family, her grandmother was a well-known bare-back rider, and her uncle, Johnny Fuller, known as "The Famous Cat", frequently acted alongside [[Fay Compton]] in the pantomime [[Dick Whittington and His Cat|''Dick Whittington'']].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|date=13 July 2021|title=British Music Hall Society|url=http://www.britishmusichallsociety.com/jillsummers.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Career ==
She first performed on stage aged six. Her childhood was mostly unhappy, with her touring parents often leaving her with foster families. When Summers was 13, her mother died, and she went to work in a [[cotton mill]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=12 January 1997|title=Jill Summers Obituary|work=[[Sunday Telegraph]]}}</ref>

Summers formed a [[Musical theatre|musical comedy]] double act with her half-brother, Tom F. Moss, during which time she performed at nearly every theatre in Britain. Her half-brother was the son of Summers' mother and [[Tom Major-Ball]]. Major-Ball later went on to marry Gwen Coates, and they had three children, one of whom, [[John Major|John]], became [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]] in 1990.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Young|first=Glenda|date=2020-03-31|title=Coronation Street Blog: Blue Rinse - Looking back on the life of actress Jill Summers|url=https://coronationstreetupdates.blogspot.com/2020/03/blue-rinse-looking-back-on-life-of.html|access-date=2021-07-16|website=Coronation Street Blog}}</ref> In her early twenties, Summers damaged her vocal cords by reaching for a high note one night, cracking her voice, and by the end of the turn she was left with her distinctive gravelly voice.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|date=13 January 1997|title=Jill Summers Obituary|work=[[The Times]]}}</ref>

By 1939, she had left the stage to take up hairdressing and ran a combined hairdresser's and newsagent's with her first husband.<ref name="Corrie" /> During [[World War II]], she entertained troops as part of [[ENSA]], and was known as ''Lancashire Comedienne Jill Summers, the Pin-Up Girl of [[British Railways]]''. Born Honour Fuller, her stage name was derived from her favourite measurement of alcohol, a gill, and her favourite time of year, summer, and when asked by an agent, her reply was "Jill Summers, the gill of a Summer's Day." Most of her variety material was written by her second husband, Dr Clifford Simpson Smith, including three of her best known sketches, "The Landlady", "The Bartered Bride" and "The Lady Porteress".<ref name="Derby" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Barker|first=Denis|date=13 January 1997|title=Jill Summers Street Credibility|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> She became a comedian when she tripped up on stage and swore, which the audience lapped up. Her act, "The Pipes of Pan", made her famous in London and the provinces.<ref name="Corrie" /> In the 1940s and 1950s, she frequently topped the bill as a singer on the then-powerful [[Moss Empires|Moss Empire]] circuit.<ref name=":3" />

By 1949, her double act with Moss had split up when she discovered her half-brother had been keeping the bulk of the salary for himself. Summers continued solo, appearing alongside the top acts of the day. Her second husband, who she met in 1948, took over the management of her career and toured with her. By the 1960s, with theatres starting to close and [[Variety show|variety acts]] falling out of fashion, Summers reinvented herself, and alongside her television work, launched on the club scene with an act featuring songs and comedy. It was said that the act often included "some very blue material". Amongst Summers' possessions were "a whole file of complaint letters from [[working men's club]]s." The complaints were generally that she was too rude for the working men.<ref name=":0" />

In 1957 she landed her big break with her own television series, ''Summers Here'', which featured a different star guest each week, such as [[Wilfrid Hyde-White|Wilfrid Hyde White]], [[Michael Bentine]] and [[Terence Alexander]]. As an actress, Summers' first television acting role was in 1969 in [[Kevin Laffan]]'s twice-weekly [[Yorkshire TV]] soap [[Castle Haven (TV series)|Castle Haven]], playing pub landlady Delilah Hilldrup. She also appeared in ''[[How We Used To Live]]'', ''[[Stay with Me Till Morning (TV series)|Stay With Me Till Morning]]'', ''This Year, Next Year'' and an [[Alan Bennett]] ''[[Play For Today]]'' entitled ''Sunset Across The Bay''.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|title=Jill Summers|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba8136a37|access-date=2021-07-17|website=BFI|language=en}}</ref><ref name="indy" />

Her first brief appearance in ''Coronation Street'' was in 1972, playing Bessie Proctor, a cleaner working with [[Hilda Ogden]]. A decade later, in 1982, Summers reappeared as [[Phyllis Pearce]], a blue rinsed pensioner, forever lusting after pompous ex-serviceman [[Percy Sugden]].<ref name="Derby" /> It was during her second stint in ''Coronation Street'' that she was reunited with [[Bill Waddington]] and [[Tom Mennard]], two old friends from her music hall days. In 1994, she collapsed with [[angina]] on the set of ''[[This Is Your Life (British TV series)|This Is Your Life]]'', when host [[Michael Aspel]] handed her the famous red book. Although her health continued to deteriorate through the 1990s, suffering from a heart condition and worsening angina, she refused to allow Phyllis to be written out. She continued to make increasingly occasional appearances, last appearing in the spring of 1996, after more than 500 episodes.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite news|date=13 January 1997|title=Jill Summers|page=21|work=[[The Times]]}}</ref>

Other appearances by Summers include ''[[Agatha (film)|Agatha]]'' (alongside [[Dustin Hoffman]] and [[Vanessa Redgrave]]), ''[[Sez Les|Sez Lez]]'' (with ''[[Les Dawson]]''), ''[[Ready When You Are, Mr McGill]]'', and performing a [[Victoria Wood]] scripted monologue in 1982's ''[[Wood and Walters]]'', as well as appearing in Wood's TV play ''[[Nearly A Happy Ending]]''.<ref name=":5"/>

==Personal life and death==
Aged 17, Summers married her first husband, John Arthur Hunt, who was 20 years her senior, in [[Bucklow Rural District|Bucklow]], [[Cheshire]], in 1928. They ran a combined hairdressers and newsagents in [[Sale, Greater Manchester|Sale]], Cheshire. Hunt died aged 57 in November 1948, leaving Summers widowed at the age of 37.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|title=Jill Summers|url=http://www.corrie.net/profiles/actors/summers_jill.html|access-date=2021-07-16|website=www.corrie.net}}</ref><ref>General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: ''8a''; Page: ''240.''

Name: Honor M S R Fuller

Registration Date: Jan 1928 [Feb 1928] [Mar 1928]

Registration Quarter: Jan-Feb-Mar

Registration District: Bucklow

Inferred County: Cheshire

Spouse: John A Hunt</ref><ref>General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: ''10a''; Page: ''128''

Name: John A Hunt

Death Age: 57

Birth Date: abt 1891

Registration Date: Oct 1948 [Nov 1948] [Dec 1948]

Registration Quarter: Oct-Nov-Dec

Registration District: Bucklow

Inferred County: Cheshire</ref><ref name="Ancestry 2010">Ancestry.com. ''England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995'' [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Original data: Principal Probate Registry. ''Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England''. London, England © Crown copyright.</ref>

The following year, Summers met surgeon Clifford Simpson Smith, who was in a [[Box (theatre)|theatre box]] in a [[Black Country]] venue, where she told a joke about seeing many a rotten egg in a box. They met after the show, and were married shortly afterwards in [[Stourbridge]], [[Worcestershire]].<ref>General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: ''9d''; Page: ''500''

Name: Honor M Hunt

Registration Date: Jan 1949 [Feb 1949] [Mar 1949]

Registration Quarter: Jan-Feb-Mar

Registration District: Stourbridge

Inferred County: Worcestershire

Spouse: Clifford S Smith

Volume Number: 9d

Page Number: 500</ref> The couple remained wed until Smith's death in June 1984.<ref name="Ancestry 2010"/> They had no children, but Summers was stepmother to Smith's son, Stuart Turner.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /> She lived in [[Ossett]], [[West Yorkshire]].<ref>DUNN, JUSTIN. "STREET'S PHYLLIS IN HOSPITAL." ''[[Daily Mirror|Daily Mirror, The]] (London, England)'', December 31, 1993: 11. ''NewsBank: Access UK & Ireland''. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=UKNB&docref=news/139795A263A10478.</ref>

In January 1997, Summers died in her sleep at Oaklands Hospital, [[Manchester]], of kidney failure.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090203140447/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/284231 BFI biodata]</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=12 January 1997|title=Actress Jill Summers died yesterday after a long illness|work=[[The Observer]]}}</ref> Summer's last words in hospital raised a smile. A nurse offered her a drink: "A cup of tea, milk or a glass of water...?" Very dryly, she replied: "It gets better all the time." Summers passed away seconds later.<ref name=":2" />

In their autobiographies, released in different years, former ''Coronation Street'' stars [[Jean Alexander]], [[Bill Waddington]], [[Lynne Perrie]], [[Julie Goodyear]] and [[Amanda Barrie]] described Summers as a true professional actress who was witty, hilarious and outspokenly funny.<ref name="BFI">{{cite web

| last =
| first =
| author-link =
| title =Filmography - Summers. Jill
| work =
| publisher =[[British Film Institute|BFI]]
| date =
| url =http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/284231?view=credit
| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090602015712/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/284231?view=credit
| url-status =dead
| archive-date =2009-06-02
| format =
| doi =
| accessdate =2007-12-23 }}
</ref> Summers was a member of [[Grand Order of Water Rats|The Grand Order of Lady Ratlings]], a charitable organisation for women in show business.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Our Members - The Grand Order Of Lady Ratlings|url=https://www.golr.org.uk/our-members|access-date=2021-07-13|website=www.golr.org.uk}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
|1945|| ''What Do We Do Now?'' || Birdie Maudlin ||
|-
|1979|| ''[[Agatha (film)|Agatha]]'' || Nancy's Aunt ||
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0838728|Jill Summers}}
* [http://www.corrie.net/profiles/actors/summers_jill.html Jill Summers at corrie.net]
* [https://archive.today/20040301001738/http://www.derbydeadpool.co.uk/deadpool1997/obits/summers.html Short biography of Jill Summers]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Summers, Jill}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1997 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Eccles, Greater Manchester]]
[[Category:Actresses from Salford]]
[[Category:Actors from Wakefield]]
[[Category:English television actresses]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure]]
[[Category:20th-century British actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century British comedians]]
[[Category:20th-century English women]]
[[Category:20th-century English people]]

Jill Summers - Revision history

Kurt at 16:09, 22 February 2023

Kurt: /* External links */

Kurt at 04:55, 13 November 2022

Kurt: 1 revision imported

en>Certes: Unlink book/film: stardom (via WP:JWB)