Jean Boht, star of the BBC sitcom ‘Bread’, dies at the age of 91

Jean Boht, who played iron-clad matriarch Nellie Boswell in every episode of the BBC sitcom from 1986-1991 Bread, has passed away. She was 91.

Boh died Tuesday, her family announcedin which she said she had “battled vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease with the tireless spirit for which she was both loved and famous.”

She lived in Denville Hall, a London home for actors and other members of the entertainment industry.

Her husband of 52 years, Carl Davis, who composed the scores The wife of the French lieutenant and Abel Gance’s epic 1927 silent film Napoleondied six weeks ago after a brain haemorrhage.

Boht appeared as the sarcastic Nellie in 74 episodes over seven seasons Breadwhich focused on a cash-strapped family in Liverpool, consisting of her husband (who has a mistress), three sons and a daughter.

“I never saw it at the time, it’s too horrible for actors to see themselves on screen, so I had no idea what it looked like,” she said in 2012. “But when I see it now I’m just amazed about how good it is. was and how very funny.”

Boht also starred in the ITV comedy from 1993-1994 Brighton Belles, which was based on the American hit The golden girls. She played a version of Estelle Getty’s character, Sophia.

Boht’s resume also included another sitcom, the 1985-86 comedy I woke up one morning; the 1982 TV drama Boys from the Blackstuff; the movies The girl in a swing (1988), Mothers & Daughters (2004) and Bad night for the blues (2010); and the 2006 play Embersin which she starred opposite Jeremy Irons in the West End.

In 1989 she was the subject of an episode of This is your life.

Born Jean Dance in Bebingdon, England, on March 6, 1932, she studied acting at the Liverpool Playhouse and eventually joined the Bristol Old Vic and Manchester theater companies.

Survivors include her daughters, Hannah and Jessie, and three grandchildren.