Her character in EastEnders moved with her grandson, Alan, and his partner, Carol, into Dot Cotton’s former home in Albert Square in 1994. While supporting Alan (Howard Anthony) as he navigated a series of jobs and in Whenever Carol (Lindsey Coulson) needed a sympathetic shoulder to cry on – as did Carol’s four children – Blossom worked in the Bridge Street cafe alongside Kathy Beale (Gillian Taylforth). She enjoyed a platonic friendship with a neighbor, Jules Tavernier (Tommy Eytle), another wise head, before sharing deeper feelings with Felix Kawalski (Harry Landis), a Holocaust survivor who found his sister in Israel. In 1997 Blossom accepted his offer to meet him there. Hammond said she was leaving EastEnders after three years due to burnout caused by the programme’s production schedule. He briefly returned to the soap in 2010 for the funeral of Blossom’s great-grandson Billie, Alan and Carol’s only child. Mona Hammond, second left, in EastEnders, 1996. From left: Natalie Cassidy, Sid Owen, Patsy Palmer and Dean Gaffney. Photo: BBC Before joining EastEnders, Hammond had made an impression on screen with a handful of appearances scattered throughout the five-year run of the sitcom Desmond’s (1989-94). She played Aunt Susu, the obnoxious older sister of Shirley (Carmen Munroe), who was married to the titular barber Peckham played by Norman Beaton. They were a distinguished trio of actors who had pioneered black performers in Britain. Hammond’s character in Desmond’s, who had arrived on a visit from Jamaica, was portrayed as the “dream girl” of Desmond’s old friend Porkpie (Ram John Holder) and became his fiancée, but was eventually deported back to her home country. Hammond then appeared in two episodes of the spin-off sitcom Porkpie, flying back from the Caribbean – where she had married another man and stolen his savings – after hearing of Porkpie’s £10 million lottery win. Hammond was born Mavis Chin in Tweedside, Jamaica, her surname derived from her father’s Chinese heritage. In 1959 he moved to Britain on a scholarship and worked for the architects Norman and Dawbarn. Keen on acting, she attended evening classes at London’s City Literary Institute for two years and won a Rada scholarship, graduating in 1964. Changing her name to Mona Hammond to avoid typing, she made her professional debut the following year at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool, in Jack of Spades, a musical written by Beaton and Ken S Hignett. She played Gillian, Danny Daniels’ immigrant girlfriend who faced racism, social deprivation and was beaten by the police after arriving from Guyana. The Times described the work as “courageous”. Mona Hammond at Desmond’s. Photo: YouTube Hammond first came to the attention of London theater critics when she took the title role in The Black Girl in Search of God (Mermaid Theatre, 1968), based on George Bernard Shaw’s book of short stories. Then at the Roundhouse in 1972, she played the wife of Oscar James’ lead, recast as Mbeth, in The Black Macbeth – the first all-black version of Shakespeare’s play – directed by Peter Coe. It was set in Africa instead of Scotland, among the Barotse tribe of present-day Zambia, and featured African and West Indian actors. In 1989 she played Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest, which was performed at the Tyne Theatre, Newcastle, Bloomsbury Theatre, London and Cork Opera House. This was for Talawa, the company Hammond had founded three years earlier, with Carmen Munroe, Yvonne Brewster and Inigo Espejel, performing black versions of plays written for white actors, as well as original productions. His name comes from a Jamaican word meaning bold and strong. For Talawa’s 1994 production of King Lear at London’s Cochrane Theatre, Hammond played the Fool as a split personality – with her make-up spread down the middle of her face. Mona Hammond during rehearsals for George Bernard Shaw’s The Black Girl in Search of God at the Mermaid Theater in London, 1968. Photo: Bob Aylott/Getty Images By then it had also broken out on television. Having played many one-man roles and appearing in Play for Today’s productions of In the Beautiful Caribbean (1972) and Victims of Apartheid (1978), she played the proud mother of the black British detective who appeared in Wolcott, a ground-breaking 1981 ITV mini-series. . Four years later she had a regular role in the legal drama Black Silk as Marjorie Scott, the estranged wife of the lawyer played by Rudolph Walker. She made her EastEnders debut in 1986, as a midwife delivering Michelle’s (Susan Tully) daughter Vicki Fowler. In 1988 she was in Coronation Street for a handful of episodes as Mrs Armitage, unhappy that her daughter Shirley had moved in with Curly Watts. Several of Hammond’s later television roles were as grandmothers, including the West Indian family comedy Us Girls (1992-93), the Bafta-winning children’s series Pig Heart Boy (1999) and the family drama The Crouches (2003-05). ), with Walker as her husband. Her other soap opera role was on radio as Mabel Thompson, mother-in-law of accountant-motorbike-riding-turned-vicar Alan Franks (John Telfer), in The Archers for a short series (2003-04), with brief return visits in 2008 and in 2009. In 2005 he was appointed OBE. Hammond’s marriage to Michael Saunders (1965-87) ended in divorce. She is survived by their son, Matthew; Mona Hammond (Mavis Chin), actress, born 1 January 1931. died 4 July 2022
