Background
Brown was born in Rutherglen and educated at Rutherglen Academy.
Brown was born in Rutherglen and educated at Rutherglen Academy.
Brown was the wife of Peter Butterworth who was best known for his appearances in the Carry on films. Butterworth died in 1979 and Brown never remarried. Beginning with Margaret Thatcher"s election as the leader of the Conservative Party in 1975, Brown gained increasing prominence because of her realistic impression of the Tory politician.
She performed as Thatcher on British Broadcasting Corporation television"s Mike Yarwood Show, on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio"s The News Huddlines, and on film in the 1981 James Bond film, Foreign Your Eyes Only.
In 1979, Brown starred as Thatcher on the comedy album Iron Lady: The Coming Of The Leader (see and ), written by Private Eye satirist John Wells and produced by Secret Policeman"s Ball series co-creator/producer Martin Lewis and Not the Nine O"Clock News series co-creator/producer John Lloyd. The largely spoken "song" "Iron Lady" was released as a single and she promoted it on Top Of The Tops as a new release but it did not chart.
During the 1970s and 1980s, she was occasionally confused by some with fellow actress and comedian Faith Brown because they had the same surname and were both best remembered for their Margaret Thatcher impersonations. In 1990, she recorded a spoken word sequence in her Margaret Thatcher voice for Mike Oldfield"s album Amarok.
Still acting in her 80s, her last role was as Old Lady Squeamish on the London West End stage in a production of Wycherley"s The Country Wife at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, which opened in September 2007.
She entitled her 1986 autobiography Prime Mimicker.