Mona Hammond

Mavis Chin[1] OBE (born April 1933 or 1935),[2] known professionally as Mona Hammond, is a Jamaican-born actress of Chinese descent and co-founder of the Talawa Theatre Company. Born in Jamaica, Hammond emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1959, where she has lived ever since. Hammond has had a long and distinguished stage career. She is best known for her work on British television, which has included various roles in sitcoms most notably playing Blossom Jackson in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. She was made an OBE in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours List for her services to drama. In 2018, Hammond was awarded the Women of the World Lifetime Achievement Award for her long and distinguished theatre career and for championing Black British actors with Talawa Theatre Company.[3][4]

Mona Hammond
OBE
Born
Mavis Chin

April 1933 (1933-04) (age 87)
Tweedside, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica, West Indies
NationalityJamaican
OccupationActress
Years active1964–2011

Hammond has a son, who is a fashion photographer, and a granddaughter.

Early life

Hammond was born to a Chinese father from Guangdong and a Jamaican mother in Tweeside, Clarendon Parish.[5] She moved to the United Kingdom in 1959 on a Jamaican Scholarship and worked for Norman and Dawbarn Architects. She attended evening classes at the City Literary Institute in London for two years and was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.[6]

Career

Hammond began her career on stage and made early appearances on television shows such as Softly, Softly (1968) and The Troubleshooters (1969). Her first leading role was as Lady Macbeth at the Roundhouse in 1970 in Peter Coe's African version of the play. She went on to star in many plays by an array of up-and-coming black writers: Sweet Talk by Michael Abbensetts, 11 Josephine House by Alfred Fagon and several plays written by Mustapha Matura including As Time Goes By, Play Mas and Playboy of the West Indies. She also spent two years at the Royal National Theatre in productions including Fuente Ovejuna and Peer Gynt directed by Declan Donnellan, and The Crucible.

In 1985 Hammond along with Yvonne Brewster, Inigo Espejel and Carmen Munroe founded Talawa Theatre Company, which became one of the UK's most prominent black theatre companies.[7] It has produced award-winning plays from and about the African diaspora and has championed reinterpretations of classical British pieces. Hammond performed in several of its productions including The Black Jacobins, The Importance of Being Earnest and King Lear.

Hammond appeared as Shirley Armitage's mother, Velma, in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street in 1988.

Television work followed, which included roles in The Sweeney (1976); Wolcott (1980–81), a three-part ATV mini-series about a black detective based in East London; Black Silk (1985); Juliet Bravo (1985); Playboy of the West Indies (1985), Casualty (1986) and When Love Dies (1990).

Hammond has appeared in ITV's Coronation Street, twice, first playing the role of Jan Sargent and the second time playing Mrs Armitage, mother of Shirley Armitage. In 1994 she was cast as Blossom Jackson in BBC's EastEnders. She remained in the role until 1997. This was Hammond's second role in the soap, having previously played the minor part of Michelle Fowler's midwife in 1986.

She is also an occasional actress in the BBC radio soap opera The Archers, playing Mabel Thompson, mother of Alan Franks' (John Telfer) deceased wife.

Hammond has played many roles in television sitcoms, including: Susu in Desmond's (1990–94) and its spin-off Porkpie (1995–96); Us Girls (1992–93), in which she played Grandma Pinnock; Chef! (1996), and Grandma Sylvie Headly in The Crouches (2003–05).

In 1999, she played the role of Nan in the children's TV series Pig-Heart Boy, based on a novel by Malorie Blackman. Hammond's other television credits include Making Out (1989); Trial & Retribution (1998) as Bibi Harrow: Sunburn (1999); Storm Damage (2000); The Bill (2001); Babyfather (2001); White Teeth (2002); A Touch of Frost (2003); Holby City (2001; 2005; 2011); Doctors (2006) and Death in Paradise (2011). She also appeared in the Doctor Who episode "Rise of the Cybermen" in 2006. Her film credits include Fords on Water (1983), Manderlay (2005) and Kinky Boots (2006). Hammond appeared in the 2008 movie 10,000 BC, directed by Roland Emmerich.[8]

For a brief stint in October 2010, she reprised her role as Blossom Jackson in EastEnders: appearing in connection with screen great-grandson Billie Jackson's funeral, she returned with her on-screen grandson Alan Jackson.[9]

Awards

Hammond was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours List, for her services to drama in the UK. In 2006 Hammond was presented with the Edric Connor Inspiration Award – the Screen Nation Film and Television Awards' highest UK honour.[10]

Partial filmography

References
  1. "Now It's Sir David" Archived 8 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine, 1 June 2005, The British Theatre Guide. Retrieved 22 April 2007.
  2. "Growing old is not for cissies". The Guardian. 30 October 2005.
  4. "Winners Of The WOW Women In Creative Industries Awards Announced". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  6. Ann Ogidi, "Hammond, Mona", BFI Screenonline. Retrieved 22 April 2007.
  7. "New Black theatre companies", Moving Here – Migration Histories, The National Archives. Retrieved 22 April 2007.
  8. "Mona Hammond in 10,000 BC", Merry Media. Retrieved 22 April 2007.
  9. "Mona Hammond OBE" Archived 26 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The British Blacklist.
  10. "Crash leads Screen Nation's nods", BBC, 23 August 2006. Retrieved 22 April 2007.
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