Coronation Street's Hilda Ogden, Jean Alexander, dies aged 90

Actress Jean Alexander, best known as Coronation Street's Hilda Ogden, has died aged 90.

Alexander, who played the legendary character from 1964 until 1987, died in hospital three days after her 90th birthday.

She had been admitted to Southport hospital for tests but was discharged after a couple of days and allowed to return to her nursing home, according to her niece.

But on Tuesday, her 90th birthday, she was readmitted to hospital, where she later died peacefully on Friday.

Sonia Hearld, 64, one of Alexander's few relatives, said: "I saw her last week when we went to see her in hospital.

"She was feeling a little bit poorly but she was talking to me and my husband quite happily.

"There was nothing telling us anything was wrong - she was just generally weak and under the weather."

Jean Alexander died three days after her 90th birthday. Credit: PA

Mrs Herald paid tribute to her aunt who she said was "great fun" and had a good sense of humour.

She said Alexander continued to enjoy a celebrity status long after her stints on the famous cobbled Street.

"People used to stop her just to say hello and how much they missed her," Mrs Hearld said.

"She was always very good to her fans - she said 'they put me where I am'."

Alexander brought a lot of her own personality to her role, Mrs Hearld added.

  • Watch Jean Alexander's debut as Hilda Ogden:

Video courtesy of ITV archives

Despite becoming Britain's best-loved cleaner on the ITV soap, known for wearing overalls and her hair in rollers, she made her debut on Coronation Street in 1962 as landlady Mrs Webb.

She told ITV News Granada that she was "not a bit like" her on-screen character.

"Hilda would go to party every night if she got the opportunity, that's why the curlers were always in," she said. "But I hardly ever go to a party because I'm not very keen on parties."

Bernard Youens, who played Stan Ogden with Jean Alexander as Hilda. Credit: ITV

Alexander and her on-screen husband Bernard Youens, who played Stan, were two of the most iconic characters of the long-running soap.

One of her most memorable scenes in 1984 was when she broke down after receiving her on-screen husband Stan's belongings after his sudden death.

Youens died shortly before his character was killed off in the soap in 1984 prompting hundreds of fans to send her condolence cards.

The performance earned her a Royal Television Society Award in 1985 and two years later she received a BAFTA Television nomination for best actress.

But Alexander also brought some quick wit and humour to the role earning her the accolade of 'Greatest Soap Star of all Time' in a 2005 poll by the TV Times.

  • "Woman Stanley, Woman." - Watch one of Hilda's most memorable scenes:

Liverpool-born Alexander also played junk shop owner Auntie Wainwright in Last of the Summer Wine from 1988 to 2010 and made her first television appearance in Z-Cars in 1962.

Alexander retired from acting in 2012, two years after her last television appearance, following an acting career which lasted more than 60 years.