ir Cliff Richard and Benedict Cumberbatch have led the tributes to actress Una Stubbs following her death at the age of 84.
Sir Cliff, who appeared alongside Stubbs in the 1963 film Summer Holiday, described her as a “wonderful” actress.
Cumberbatch called his Sherlock co-star “a wonderful, talented, stylish, gentle, joyous and honest friend”.
She was also known for Till Death Us Do Part, Worzel Gummidge, Give Us A Clue, The Worst Witch and EastEnders.
Her agent confirmed her death on Thursday.
The much-loved actress appeared with Sir Cliff many times during her career. He posted a video on Facebook to say: “She was the most exciting person to be with.
“She was funny. She could really do just about anything – act, dance, she could even sing.”
He added: “I personally will miss her greatly and I know that our industry, on the whole, will also miss her greatly.
“Her talent, her joy, everything that she was will remain with us though. While we remember her, she will still be with us.”
Fellow Summer Holiday co-star Melvyn Hayes told BBC News that Stubbs “practically stole the picture”, adding that “she should’ve been Cliff’s leading lady”.
“She was a joy to work with,” he said. “She was so talented.
“When I first saw her, it was on a thing called Cool for Cats, which was on television way, way back, and first and foremost she was a dancer. But then she developed into an actress, a singer, talented, she was wonderful.”
‘She lit up the room’
In a statement to the PA news agency, Cumberbatch said she was “a joy to work with, to laugh with and to make laugh”.
She was “so humble and yet so damn good”, he continued. “She lit up the room and will be sorely missed by all who were lucky enough to know her, but she will be remembered forever with fondness and love.”
Stubbs was a friend of Cumberbatch’s mother Wanda Ventham and recalled meeting him as a young child. She “developed a very special bond” with him when they reunited for Sherlock, she said at the time.
Stubbs’ other TV roles included Murder on the Blackpool Express, which starred comic actor Johnny Vegas.
Vegas told BBC Breakfast on Friday: “I think it was incredibly telling last night that all the cast and everyone was texting each other and saying things like, ‘I can’t believe she’s gone. She had a massive impact in a short space of time. She was just the loveliest, loveliest actor to work with.
“I put her in that very special category of, on paper, I wouldn’t have expected us to be pals on set, but she had time for everyone, she loved everyone, she was an absolute joy.
“[She had] a natural instinct for comedy and everything, but she was one of those people – when she spoke to you, she had a genuine interest in you.
“So you had all this fun on set and then you had these wonderful conversations offset.”
Referencing some of her other famous roles, her son Christian Henson posted on Twitter: “Some of you may have known her as Rita, as Sally as Bat or Hudson but to my two brothers and I she was known as Mum.