Brenda Rose Cowling was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 actress. A native of London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Cowling wanted to be a film actress from the time she was a child; however, upon leaving school, she trained instead as a shorthand

Shorthand

Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed or brevity of writing as compared to a normal method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek stenos and graphē or graphie...

 typist.

After a time she joined the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

Royal Academy of Dramatic Art

The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...

, where she was a member of the same class as Warren Mitchell

Warren Mitchell

Warren Mitchell is an English actor who rose to initial prominence in the role of bigoted cockney Alf Garnett in the BBC television sitcom Till Death Us Do Part , and its sequels Till Death... and In Sickness and in Health , all of which were written by Johnny Speight...

 and Jimmy Perry

Jimmy Perry

Jimmy Perry OBE is an English writer, scriptwriter, producer, author and actor, most famous for devising and co-writing the BBC sitcoms Dad's Army with David Croft.-Education:...

. While there, she made her film debut in a small role in Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...

's Stage Fright

Stage Fright (film)

Stage Fright is a 1950 British crime film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock starring Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding and Richard Todd...

(1950).

Much of her early acting work was in repertory, before she began her television career. She also appeared in films, such as The Railway Children

The Railway Children (film)

The Railway Children is a 1970 British drama film based on the novel of the same name by E. Nesbit. The film was directed by Lionel Jeffries, and stars Dinah Sheridan, Jenny Agutter , Sally Thomsett and Bernard Cribbins in leading roles...

(1970), Please Sir!

Please Sir! (film)

Please Sir! is a 1971 British comedy film starring John Alderton, spun off from the television series Please Sir!.-Cast:* John Alderton as Bernard Hedges* Deryck Guyler as Norman Potter* Noel Howlett as Maurice Cromwell...

(1971), Carry On Girls

Carry On Girls

Carry On Girls is the 25th Carry On film, released in Britain in 1973. The film is notable for being the first not to feature either Kenneth Williams or Charles Hawtrey. Williams was appearing in a West End play, My Fat Friend. Hawtrey had been dropped from the series the year before...

(1973), Carry On Behind

Carry On Behind

Carry On Behind is the twenty-seventh Carry On film and was released in 1975. The film was the first not to feature Sid James since Follow That Camel seven years previously. It was also the first not to be scripted by Talbot Rothwell since Carry On Cruising 13 years previously. James was busy...

(1975). International Velvet

International Velvet (film)

International Velvet is a 1978 dramatic film. It was a remake of the 1944 classic, National Velvet. The film stars Tatum O'Neal, Christopher Plummer, Anthony Hopkins and Nanette Newman. The film got mixed reviews.-Plot:...

(1978) and Octopussy

Octopussy

Octopussy is the thirteenth entry in the James Bond series, and the sixth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's title is taken from a short story in Ian Fleming's 1966 short story collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights...

(1983). Television serials in which she appeared include Follyfoot

Follyfoot

Follyfoot was a children's television series co-produced by the majority-partner British television company Yorkshire Television and the independent West German company TV Munich...

, Fawlty Towers

Fawlty Towers

Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...

, Are You Being Served?

Are You Being Served?

Are You Being Served? is a British sitcom broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was set in the ladies' and gentlemen's clothing departments of Grace Brothers, a large, fictional London department store. It was written mainly by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, with contributions by Michael Knowles and John...

, and The Legacy of Reginald Perrin; she also had a recurring role as the cook, Mrs. Lipton, on You Rang, M'Lord?

You Rang, M'Lord?

You Rang M'Lord? is a British television series written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the creators of Dad's Army, It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Hi-de-Hi! It was broadcast between 1990 and 1993 on the BBC...

Cowling died on October 2, 2010, at the actors retirement home, Denville Hall

Denville Hall

Denville Hall is a retirement home for professional actors, situated in Northwood, Hillingdon, London, which was designed by Founded in 1925 as a charity for actors by Alfred Denville, impresario, actor-manager and MP, he dedicated the Hall to the acting profession, in memory of his son Jack, who...

, aged 85.

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