Ruth Winifred Cracknell AM (6 July 1925 – 13 May 2002) was an Australian character and comic actress, comedienne and author.

She was educated at North Sydney Girls High School and, after graduating, worked at the Ku-ring-gai Council[3] as a stenographer.

Cracknell appeared in film productions including opposite Chips Rafferty in the 1958 classic Smiley Gets a Gun, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), the 1983 The Night the Prowler (1978), and The Dismissal (1983) as Margaret Whitlam.

Later in 1996, she starred opposite Toni Collette in Lilian's Story as Sydney eccentric Beatrice Miles.

She performed many different roles; Elaine in David Williamson's Emerald City (1987),[6] Grandma Kurnitz in Lost in Yonkers (1992),[7] and Shafer's Lettice and Lovage.

She did not speak a word of Italian but she had to organise medical treatment for him and have him returned to Australia in the face of significant obstacles.

[citation needed] Cracknell died of a respiratory illness in a Sydney nursing home on 13 May 2002, aged 76.

[14] In 2001, Cracknell received the JC Williamson Award, the LPA's highest honour, for their life's work in live performance.

[15] In 2001, Cracknell was awarded the TV Week Logie Hall of Fame for her services to Australian television.