Mona Hammond: EastEnders and Desmond’s actor dies aged 91

Tributes have poured in after actress Mona Hammond sadly passed away on Monday, July 4, 2022.

The EastEnders star was 91 when she passed away and was made an OBE in 2005.

And, in 2018, the actress was awarded the Women of the World lifetime achievement award for her theatre career and for championing black British actors.

Hammond had a string of notable roles throughout her career, including in soaps, theatre shows, TV series and in films.

Here’s everything you need to know about the late actress.

Who did Mona Hammond play in EastEnders and which other shows has she starred in?

Mona Hammond played the character of Blossom Jackson in EastEnders from 1994 to 2010.

Blossom was the grandmother of Alan Jackson, and the great-grandmother of Billie and Kai Jackson.

She first appeared in Albert Square on May 16, 1994, with her last appearance on October 26, 2010.

Hammond has also starred in The Sweeney, Desmond’s, Coronation’s Street, Holby City, The Bill, A Touch of Frost, Doctors and Doctor Who.

When it comes to films, the actress has been in Fords on Water, Maderlay, Kinky Boots and 10,000 BC.

Meanwhile, her career began on stage with Jamaica-born Hammond playing the leading role of Lady Macbeth at the Roundhouse in Peter Coe’s African version of the play.

When was Mona Hammond born and where did she grow up?

Mona Hammond was born on January 1, 1931, in Tweeside, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica. She was 91 years old when she died on Monday, July 4, 2022.

Her mother was Jamaican and her father was Chinese.

When the actress was 28, she left Jamaica and moved to the UK on a Jamaican Scholarship where she worked for an architectural firm.

It was in the evenings that she attended classes at the City Literary Institute in London for two years, before she was awarded a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). She graduated from the renowned drama school when she was 33 years old.