Sylvia Sykes, model who impersonated Dame Elizabeth Taylor

It was her husband, Donald, who had sent her photograph to an agent. “As soon as the agent saw it, he phoned up and hired me,” she recalled.

She was 48 at the time, nine nears younger than Dame Elizabeth and youthful enough to embark on a new career turning up at functions and charity events, in magazines and on TV.

It was a far cry from her earlier life as a hospital caterer and clothes shop manageress.

Her daughter, Lynn Littlewood, said: “She was a very bubbly woman. Absolutely everybody commented on her resemblance to Elizabeth Taylor. She would often get mistaken for her and some people used to tell her she looked more like Liz than Liz did.”

Mrs Sykes, who lived in Dewsbury, also leaves three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.