Actress Sheila Steafel, who was renowned for her impeccable comic timing, has died aged 84.
Her agent Barry Langford announced her death on Twitter, writing: “Very sadly, I can officially confirm that our multi-talented client Sheila Steafel has passed away after bravely battling leukemia.
“Sheila was a comedy giant, and she will be hugely missed.”
She became a regular cast member and star of David Frost’s much-vaunted sketch show The Frost Report in the 1960s.
At the time, Ms Steafel worked alongside a host of other emerging talents including John Cleese, Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett.
During the 1970s and 1980s, she established herself as one of the first regular impersonators of Margaret Thatcher on Radio 4’s weekly satirical show Week Ending.
Throughout her career, Ms Steafel was renowned for imperious comic timing and became a familiar face in a diverse range of programmes, including Dave Allen At Large, The Kenny Everett Television Show and Sykes.
She also featured in Z-Cars, The Good Old Days and Minder.
Her impressions and comedy songs made her one-woman shows at the Edinburgh festival and London theatres eagerly-coveted pieces of entertainment.
In her later career, she made a number of appearances in popular TV series, and played seven different roles in Doctors and three in Holby City.
Ms Steafel had been married to Steptoe and Son actor Harry H Corbett between 1958 and 1964, but she later wrote about how the union grew increasingly fractious.
After their divorce, she had a number of relationships but never married again.
Born in Johnannesburg, Ms Steafel was the younger of two children to Harold and Eda Steafel.
She lived all her adult life in the United Kingdom.
She died last Friday.