Who was the real Mrs. Doubtfire?
We know her as the larger-than-life nanny brought to life by Robin Williams, but the real 'Madame Doubtfire' was a Scottish legend in her own right.
Hi and welcome to Story Has It where we share the human stories behind movies, songs, art and books. If you love digging into the roots of stories; if you want to know what inspired their creators; and if you enjoy a good dose of nostalgia and old-school glam, then we’d love you to join our backstory community!
Yara & Gillian
In 1993 Robin Williams burst onto our screens as a prim and proper nanny with a refined Scottish accent - and broke box office records.
While Robin’s character was a work of fiction, his character’s name was not. There was a real Mrs Doubtfire, a legend in her own right who bore little resemblance to her screen namesake.
Story has it, Madame Doubtfire was a feisty cat-lover with a strong Scottish brogue and banter that wouldn’t have been suitable for PG audiences. She ran a second-hand goods emporium in Edinburgh for more than 50 years and locals knew where they would find her: sat outside, wrapped in shawls, surrounded by her cats and smoking a clay pipe.
But who exactly was ‘Madame Doubtfire’, and how did her adopted moniker become a household name?
A chance discovery…
Before Mrs Doubtfire was a 90s blockbuster film and a 2019 stage musical, it was a 1987 book for young adults written by Anne Fine.
The novel - as we’re familiar with in the movie - is about a family with divorced parents. When the mother in the story (Miranda) decides to hire a nanny, the father (Daniel) learns about it and uses his acting experience to pose as an elderly Scottish former housekeeper.
Anne’s ‘nanny’ needed a unique name, but she didn’t need to reach far for one. She realised she already knew it.
In the mid 70s, Anne had lived in Edinburgh in Scotland. Each day, as she walked her children to school, she passed a corner of Edinburgh’s New Town where there stood a basement second-hand store. It was dimly-lit, cramped and spilling onto the street with assorted furniture, clothing and bric-a-brac. (Locals knew to hold their noses in preparation for its distinct aroma of pipe smoke and cat pee!)
There was a sign above the door: ‘Madame Doubtfire’.
It captivated Anne, and became her lead character: “It just seemed the perfect name.”
Who was ‘Madame Doubtfire’?
The store was owned and run by a woman called Annabella Coutts.
She was born Annabella Cruikshank Adams on December 18, 1886 in Aberdeen, a city in northeast Scotland. Records show that she was a fish worker by age 15 and married five years later at a ceremony in her family home. Her new husband? A 24-year-old bugler in the Scottish Rifles called Arthur Cyril Doubtfire.
Sadly, Arthur was killed in action during the First World War. Annabella moved to Edinburgh and later remarried a car mechanic, James Davie Coutts.
Jump forward to the 70s, and a twice-widowed Mrs Coutts was running her famous basement shop named in honour of her first husband, who she had lost half a century before. She became affectionately known as Madame Doubtfire throughout the city.
An award-winning photographer, Douglas Corrance, captured a portrait of Annabella at the time, and said:
“While I was photographing her, she was having good-natured banter with a local constable: ‘I’ve known him since he was a bairn’. He obviously had respect and affection for her while using great diplomacy to persuade her to tidy the disorderly exterior of her shop.
“The lady is a legend. So are her cats - never fewer than a dozen, say her neighbours. She is Madame Doubtfire, seller of old clothes for half a century from her shop near Stockbridge. The hat is rakish. The face is strong with a leathery tan. The eyes have seen and measured most things. The cat has probably seen more.”
Despite not being from Edinburgh, she became a beloved part of the city’s landscape and history. Her slogan in the store, ‘Madame Doubtfire, cast-off clothing of all description, invites inspection’ apparently used to amuse the local kids. (And now us!)
Annabella died in 1979, aged 92, unaware of the posthumous fame that was to come. Speaking in 2023, Anne Fine summed up the surreal nature of how their paths crossed:
"It does seem very strange that a 30-year-old person strolling around with their child to primary school can set off a chain of events that mean that everybody in the entire world knows the name Madame Doubtfire."
Madame Doubtfire’s unique character apparently inspired a number of literary works, including a book of poetry. Have a read of this poem from the book - it captures the unique experience of stepping inside Annabella’s emporium in its heyday:
Madame Doubtfire's Dilemma
Come in, come in. We're open for business
As usual. Just looking? Rummage away.
We're a bit of a muddle... in fact,
I'm just after telling Grace - my cat -
That a good clear out wouldn't go amiss,
Though more would be required to make
This dim damp basement shine. I confess,
My bones protest at the thought of stirring
And, truly, it goes against my grain
To shift the living. My cobwebs, I'd lose them,
My prize collection, finer than all that lace.
It clutters up the place. Reminds me of nothing
But chilled fingers, gaslight, wasted eyes.
My moths hate change. Care to view
my whirring lepidoptery, inspect the dust
Of decades dealing rag and bone?
It's there the past lies, not in a cracked vase.
A tarneshed statuette. But take your time.
I won't disturb you. Wake me up if you decide
To make a purchase. Just leave me my dust.
Rose, Dilys (1989). Madame Doubtfire's Dilemma. Chapman Press.
I love this! I had no idea. Really cool that the name is still above the door today too.
Such a cool post. I never even considered there Mrs. Doubtfire was inspired by a real person. She sounded like a badass.