Jill Summers (born Honor Margaret Rozelle Santoi Fuller; 8 December 1910 – 11 January 1997) was an English music hall performer, actress and comedian.
Her career in entertainment lasted eighty years and in 1982 she achieved stardom as Phyllis Pearce, in Granada Television's long-running soap opera Coronation Street.
[4] Born into a theatrical family, her grandmother was a well-known bare-back rider, and her uncle, Johnny Fuller, known as "The Famous Cat", frequently acted alongside Fay Compton in the pantomime Dick Whittington.
[6] Summers formed a musical comedy double act with her half-brother, Tom F. Moss, during which time she performed at nearly every theatre in Britain.
[2] During World War II, she entertained troops as part of ENSA, and was known as Lancashire Comedienne Jill Summers, the Pin-Up Girl of British Railways.
Most of her variety material was written by her second husband, Dr Clifford Simpson Smith, including three of her best known sketches, "The Landlady", "The Bartered Bride" and "The Lady Porteress".
[7] In 1957 she landed her big break with her own television series, Summers Here, which featured a different star guest each week, such as Wilfrid Hyde White, Michael Bentine and Terence Alexander.
As an actress, Summers' first television acting role was in 1969 in Kevin Laffan's twice-weekly Yorkshire TV soap Castle Haven, playing pub landlady Delilah Hilldrup.
A decade later, in 1982, Summers reappeared as Phyllis Pearce, a blue rinsed pensioner, forever lusting after pompous ex-serviceman Percy Sugden.
[5] In their autobiographies, released in different years, former Coronation Street stars Jean Alexander, Bill Waddington, Lynne Perrie, Julie Goodyear and Amanda Barrie described Summers as a true professional actress who was witty, hilarious and outspokenly funny.