Gretchen Franklin (7 July 1911 – 11 July 2005) was an English actress and dancer with a career in showbusiness that spanned over eighty years. She was born in Covent Garden, west London; a cousin of the actor Clive Dunn. She played Ethel Skinner in the long-running BBC One soap opera EastEnders on a regular basis from 1985 until 1988. After this she returned to the show intermittently. These appearances became briefer and more widely spaced as time went on.