Gretchen Franklin, whom EastEnders fans will always fondly remember as Ethel Skinner, died on July 11,
2005, peacefully at her home in
Barnes, London, four days after her 94th birthday.
Gretchen was very special to me in the 11 years that we were friends, especially
since she was the first EastEnders cast member to advocate support for the Walford Gazette with the
powers that be at the BBC and the
series' management.
In 1994 during a visit to London, Gretchen's long-time agent, Barry Burnett, told me that Gretchen
would be
very happy to see me at her home, and he gave me her phone number. The first time I called her I was
amazed how much she sounded like
Ethel, who was part of the original cast from the very first episode in February 1985.
Following our first interview at her home
(published in issue No. 7, reprinted here on pages 7-9 in its entirety), Gretchen was flabbergasted to
learn that I had been "banned"
from the set. Gretchen immediately called the EastEnders executive producer to register a protest,
vouching for my good intentions to
help publicise the show, but couldn't get him to change his mind.
Hanging up, Gretchen winked and said, "It's too bad that I'm not
working this week because you could have come with me as my dog minder. They wouldn't have any say in
that!" That rebellious streak was
evident in her portrayal of Ethel, right up to her last visit to the Queen Vic nearly five years ago.
It was our love of dogs that
cemented our relationship. Gretchen took an interest in our family dog, Elvis. Gretchen told me that at
one time she had a "dachsie" too,
named Hymie." When I returned to the U.S., I sent her a photo of my wife Teri pushing a pram with our
then newborn son Jake. Gretchen
loved how Elvis in the snapshot was jumping up Teri's leg trying to get her attention.
The last time I spoke to Gretchen, three weeks
before her death, she sounded spry as ever, and she brought up that photo again. I told her how our
children now enjoy a new mini
dachshund named Nelly, and that made her happy.
Since I work for a British-owned company, at least once and sometimes twice a
year I would have reason to be in London, and I'd always set aside time for a visit to Gretchen.
I'd ritually take the Tube to the
Hammersmith station and then walk a mile across the Hammersmith Bridge, which hovers over the Thames, and
then hang a right turn to her
road, which was off the Barnes High Street.
I'd always bring flowers bought at the tube station's florist and the latest issue of
the Gazette, which Gretchen immensely enjoyed so that she could keep up on her former colleagues. I once
talked her into watching a BBC1
Omnibus episode of EastEnders with me, which made her somewhat uncomfortable for reasons she never
explained. But she did it for my sake,
for which I am still grateful. Occasionally, she would remark about the actors on-screen, such as how she
thought Lucy Speed (Natalie) was
very talented and could be doing things other than EastEnders, or that Martine McCutcheon (Tiffany) had a
lovely singing voice-so Gretchen
wasn't surprised that Martine landed the lead in My Fair Lady in the West End.
Gretchen once gave me the phone number of Anna Wing
(Lou Beale), who she said would be eager for an interview with me in the Gazette, and it turned out she
was.
Gretchen once told me how
fond she was of Ross Kemp (Grant), who danced with Ethel in the Vic on the Mitchell brothers' arrival, I
reminded her. She reminisced that
once on a particularly sweltering day at the studio, when the air conditioning in the dressing rooms
wasn't working, Ross stuck a long
broomstick to keep her door open so she could get some fresh air-an anecdote that Wendy Richard also
remembers.
Following 9/11,
Gretchen told me tales of World War II, of how the German Blitz forced Londoners underground down in the
tube for several years to avoid
the bombs. She told me how she was fond of American servicemen during the war (perhaps not unlike Ethel).
She also told me of happier
times when she was on the stage in the West End, but sometimes would be jealous of shows that were doing
better business next door or
across the street.
She told me details of her personal life, such as how her husband died fairly young and was a
writer, Caswell
Garth. She mentioned that she could have remarried many times and had plenty of offers, but preferred
living alone. I never asked her if
she regretted not having children, but she always wanted to see photos of my son and daughter.
She mentioned in a letter (see below)
once that Jake was also the name of one of Leslie Grantham's (Den Watts) sons, a name that she thought
was "quite fashionable" but she
thought his other son's name, Spike, was dreadful. I regret Gretchen never had the opportunity to meet my
daughter, now seven years old,
but she commented that "Annie's quite the looker," based on the photographs she had seen of her.
Gretchen once told me how it was
quite a long time before the BBC would send a private car for her, even though she was well into her
seventies when the series began.
Using public transportation, it would have taken her a grinding, two-hour journey to reach the studio in
Borehamwood/Elstree, north of
London.
Of her opening scene in the Beatles' 1965 movie Help, she told me how Paul McCartney was her
favourite and "the only polite
one." She also told me how she enjoyed being in the obscure film Return to Waterloo, written and directed
by the Kinks' leader Ray Davies,
one of my rock heroes.
The naughty side of Gretchen sometimes came out when she would share gossip she read in the tabloids
about
the personal lives of EastEnders actors and their occasional transgressions. "I'm glad I'm a cracking
bore," she once wrote me in a
letter, as if to suggest that she'd hate the attention rom the tabloids.
Of her return to EastEnders about four years ago, she told
me how the experience was very fulfilling professionally and how much she enjoyed working with
then-executive producer John Yorke, whose
idea it was to bring back Ethel to the storyline.
She didn't mind that the plot involved Ethel dying, which I thought was
extraordinary given her advanced age.
When WLIW threatened to cancel EastEnders last January, one of my first thoughts was that I
might not get to see Ethel die, since I didn't yet have digital cable when those episodes first aired in
the U.K. and on BBC America nearly
five years ago. I found it extraordinary that Gretchen ended up dying a few weeks after U.S. public TV
viewers watched Ethel's last moments
of life-it was as if she had held on for our benefit.
The last time I saw Gretchen was in June 2004 when I visited her at Queen Mary's
Hospital, where she was recovering from a fall. I said, "I guess there won't be any champagne." During
our annual visits at her home, there
was always a bottle waiting for me when I arrived at her home at 11 a.m. (even though I told her I was
not much of a drinker). Gretchen
might have a sip or two herself, and I would end up putting away the whole bottle over the course of two
hours or so.
