Maria Charles, who has died aged 93, was a character actor familiar to screen and stage audiences for more than 60 years. She was vivacious, slim, just 5ft tall and memorable for having what one critic described as “the expression of a startled mouse”.
Her earliest successes came in West End stage musicals. She originated the role of Dulcie, one of the finishing school students in Sandy Wilson’s 1920s musical pastiche The Boy Friend at Wyndham’s theatre, and she stayed with it for three years (1954-57).
