Susan Georgina "Su" Pollard (born 7 November 1949) is an English actress and singer. Her career has spanned over 45 years; she is most famous for her role in the sitcom Hi-de-Hi! She also appeared in You Rang, M'Lord? and Oh, Doctor Beeching!
Pollard has appeared in over 35 stage plays and musicals, as well as over 40 pantomimes. As a singer, she scored a UK number-two hit with the song "Starting Together" in 1986 and also released an album. She has also written two books, Hearts and Showers and Sensible Slimming.
Early life and education
Pollard was born in Nottingham, the eldest daughter of Don and Hilda Pollard.[1] Her interest in acting began at the age of six when she played an angel in a school nativity play.[2] She attended Berridge Road School (Hyson Green) and Peveril Bilateral School, Robin's Wood Road[3] (now Nottingham Girls' Academy). After leaving school at the age of 16, she got a job at the Tennant Rubber Company in Carlton as a shorthand typist and began singing in working men's clubs and charity shows.[4]
Pollard's first comedy role was in a BBC series screened in 1979 entitled Two Up, Two Down, in which she played a hippy named Flo. Paul Nicholas played her partner, Jimmy, both of whom were squatting in the house of a nice middle-class couple. It only lasted for one series, but then later that year came the pilot programme for a new BBC comedy written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft set in a holiday camp. Pollard landed the role of chalet maid Peggy Ollerenshaw in Hi-de-Hi! She continued in this role until the programme's end in 1988. During the run of Hi-de-Hi! Pollard also had a singing career, and in 1986, she reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart with the song "Starting Together",[1][5] the theme song from the BBC Television 'fly-on-the-wall' documentary series The Marriage. It was her only Top 40 hit; her first single, "Come To Me (I Am Woman)", had reached No. 71 in 1985 and her only charting album, Su, peaked at No. 86 in the UK Albums Chart in November 1986.[5] In 1987, she toured the UK with The Su Pollard Show[1] and co-hosted It's a Royal Knockout.
She starred in the stage production of Hi De Hi! - The Holiday Musical, along with almost all of the cast from the television series, played sell out seasons in Bournemouth, London and Blackpool. In 1985 she played Sally in the West End production of Me And My Girl at the Adelphi Theatre which she appeared in for over a year. Then came roles in a national tour of Rodgers and Hart's Babes In Arms playing Bunny Byron opposite Matthew Kelly, and the title role in Sweet Charity at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing.
Shortly after Hi-de-Hi! had ended, the writers David Croft and Jimmy Perry chose Pollard to star as Ivy Teasdale in their new sitcom You Rang, M'Lord?, which starred her Hi-de-Hi! co-stars Paul Shane and Jeffrey Holland. This period sitcom ran from 1988 to 1993. In 1988, she won the "Rear of the Year" award. In 1989, she hosted the short-lived ITV game show Take the Plunge, which was cancelled after one season. From 1993 until 1996, Pollard starred opposite Gorden Kaye in For Better or for Worse, a BBC Radio 2 sitcom about an engaged-to-be-married couple.[6][7]
In 1995, she took over as the face of the National Egg Awareness Campaign. From 1995 to 1997 she played Ethel Schumann in another David Croft sitcom Oh, Doctor Beeching! From 1989 to 1990, her distinctive voice voiced the lead character in the BBC children's television seriesPenny Crayon.
More recently, Pollard made a guest appearance in Gimme Gimme Gimme in 2001 and voiced Noisy in Little Robots. In 2001, she presented Songs of Praise three times. She has made four appearances on Just a Minute, and also regularly appears in pantomimes and other stage shows,[1] including Annie and The Pirates of Penzance. In 2008, Pollard starred in the musical Shout! alongside Claire Sweeney. From April 2009, Pollard appeared in the London transfer of Shout! at the Arts Theatre. In December 2010, Pollard had a guest role in the Christmas special of ITV's hit show Benidorm, playing herself. In December 2011, Pollard appeared as a guest on BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing.
In the 2012 movie Run For Your Wife she had a cameo role as the newsagent. She starred in Who's Doing the Dishes? in September 2016. In 2018 she appeared in ITV's Last Laugh in Vegas.
Pollard was married to Peter Keogh from 1984 to 1992.[15] In 2014, Keogh published his memoir, My Hi-de-High Life: Before, During and After Su Pollard.[16]
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