Hermione Baddeley Dies at 80

Hermione Baddeley, the veteran British character actress who went on stage at age 8 in “The Marriage of Figaro” and became known to American audiences as the blowzy Mrs. Naugatuck, the cook on the popular TV series “Maude,” has died, it was learned today.

She was 80 and died in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Tuesday after a stroke.

Her stage performances endeared her to such playwrights as George Bernard Shaw and Tennessee Williams. She portrayed Flora, the bawdy widow who buried six husbands in Williams’ “The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Any More.” She also made many films, among them “Mary Poppins” and “Room at the Top,” for which she received an Oscar nomination in 1959.