Jean Alexander, who played Coronation Street's Hilda Ogden and Auntie Wainwright in Last of the Summer Wine, has died aged 90. Alexander portrayed Hilda Ogden, a sharp-tongued, put-upon housewife who was one of Coronation Street's best known characters, from 1964 to 1987. She appeared as shopkeeper Auntie Wainwright, the "absolute favourite part" of her career, for 22 years. She died peacefully in hospital on Friday, her niece said. Alexander had been admitted to Southport hospital, Merseyside, for tests but was discharged after a couple of days and allowed to return to her nursing home, her niece Sonia Hearld said. But on Tuesday she was readmitted to hospital, three days before her death. "My aunt died sadly earlier today," Mrs Hearld, of Selby, North Yorkshire, said on Friday.
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