Frances Cuka was an English actress, principally on television, whose career spanned over sixty years. In her later years, she was best known for playing Grandma Nelly Buller in the sitcom Friday Night Dinner from 2011–2018.
Early life and career
Cuka was born in London, England, the daughter of Letitia Alice Annie, a tailor, and Joseph Cuka, a process engraver. The family subsequently moved to Hove. As a child, she appeared in BBC radio broadcasts as part of Children's Hour. She trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Theatre roles
After the Guildhall, she joined Theatre Workshop; there she performed in Macbeth and then in 1958 created the role of Jo in Shelagh Delaney's play A Taste of Honey, continuing in the role when the play moved to the West End and Broadway. Between runs of A Taste of Honey she appeared in several plays at the Royal Court Theatre, including Endgame and Live Like Pigs. In 1963 she played Becky Sharp in the musical Vanity Fair, alongside George Baker and Dame Sybil Thorndike.
Television
Cuka then moved into television. Her subsequent television roles included Adam Adamant Lives, Hammer House of Horror, The Champions and Minder. She also appeared as Doll Tearsheet in a BBC TV version of Henry IV, Part II. She had recurring roles in the soap operasCrossroads and Coronation Street. Her film roles have included Scrooge as Bob Cratchit's wife, and Henry VIII and his Six Wives as Catherine of Aragon. From 2006 to 2009, she played the recurring role of a homeless woman called Mrs Bassey in the popular medical dramaCasualty. Her final appearance was in September 2009, when her character died from severe burns after being involved in an explosion at a shopping centre. In 2010, she played Lady Bracknell for Logos Theatre Company at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, in the unusual four-act version of The Importance of Being Earnest. From March 2011, she appeared in the Channel 4 sitcom Friday Night Dinner, as Grandma Nelly Buller. Cuka was the second actress to play Peggy Mitchell in the BBC1 soap operaEastEnders when the character was first introduced in 1991. She had filmed several scenes of the character when she was axed from the show and all her scenes were scrapped; Jo Warne was then cast in the role.
