Coronation Street actor Hilda Ogden dies in hospital three days after birthday

Coronation Street legend Jean Alexander has died in hospital just three days after her 90th birthday.

According to the Mirror, the woman known to millions as Hilda Ogden passed away peacefully early yesterday.

She had been taken into hospital on Tuesday, the day of her birthday, after feeling unwell.

Her niece, Sonia Hearld, 64, told how she received a phone call from the hospital breaking the bad news.
“It is such a shock” she said.

She told how Jean had been been taken poorly just a few days earlier as family and friends planned to gather to celebrate her 90th last weekend.

“She had been feeling a little poorly and had gone in for some tests” she said.

After a couple of days in hospital she was allowed back the care home, where she had been looked after since suffering a slight stroke in 2014.

“But on Tuesday she was still not too good and it was decided she might be better going back into hospital.”

Today Sonia and her sister Valerie Thewlis, 60, were awaiting further news of their beloved aunt’s final hours.

The women had to break the news of her death to their father, Jean’s brother, Kenneth Hodgkinson, 91.

The are the only relatives of Jean, who never married and instead dedicated her life to her career.

“I saw her last week and she seemed weak and a bit tired but this was still a shock.

“The hospital phoned me and said they were very sorry but Jean had passed away.”

Sonia said Jean had been back on her feet soon after her stroke in June 2014.

Days after she was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, Jean told her fans via the Mirror.

"Don't worry, I am fit and well, but thank you so much for your goodwill messages.

"I suffered a very slight stroke but I hope to be back in the garden in no time at all."

And she laughed: "I've spent my career playing old ladies - now I am one."

But she added: “Don’t write me off yet, there's still so much I plan to see and do.”

When she returned to her home the following September she said: "I'm back home where I am happy, fit and well after that little hiccup. I am getting on with life as normal.

"I am enjoying life with family and friends. In fact I'm just going out to do the weekly shop.”

She added: ”Thank you to everyone for all the goodwill messages, I was very touched but there is life in the old dog yet."

Sonia said yesterday (Friday): “She recovered well and was back in her own home. But it got to the point she was having problems with her mobility and getting down to the shops.

“So it was decided she would be better off where she would have someone to care for her.

“But she was still fully independent and always said she was going to go back to her own home.

“She was well but she sometimes needed a little help walking, she would lean on people for support.”

Sonia said her earliest memories of Jean were of an “amazingly glamorous” woman who she and her sister adored and who adored them.

“To us she was an actress and she was glamorous.

“But she was great fun. She had a wicked sense of humour.”

Sonia said Jean would be remembered by millions for her much loved character Hilda Ogden, which made her a legend in the Uk and around the world, wherever the soap was shown.

“She was a lady who knew her own mind. She knew what she wanted to do and she did it.

“She was determined to become a success and she did.”

More photos of her after the cut...