Anne Kirkbride

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wax figure of Anne Kirkbride as Deirdre Barlow

Anne Kirkbride (born June 21, 1954 in Oldham , Lancashire , † January 19, 2015 in Manchester Greater Manchester ) was a British actress who became known for the role of Deirdre Barlow in the soap opera Coronation Street .

Life

Anne Kirkbride's acting talent was discovered by the family during a summer vacation at the age of seven, and her father encouraged her to act. At the age of 11 she became a member of the Saddleworth Junior Players and later the Oldham Rep Junior Theatregoers' Club and the Oldham Young Theater. After graduating from school in 1970, she began to work as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Oldham Rep Theater , but soon took on smaller roles in plays there. Her first television appearance was in 1972 in Another Sunday and Sweet FA by Jack Rosenthal . At first she hadn't wanted to play the role, because she loved the theater work, but let her father persuade her. This film, produced by Granda Film, caught the attention of a television production company and, after initially scheduled to audition for a new series, she was introduced to Coronation Street as Deirdre Hunt in 1972 . Her character entered into a first film marriage in 1975, in which she also had a film daughter. After this first of four film marriages, she married the character Ken Barlow for the first time in 1981. She had a second film marriage with him in 2005. In between there were two short marriages and various love relationships.

Even in reality, their eventful marriage and love life made headlines. Deirdre Barlow and Mike Baldwin's extramarital relationship caught the Church's attention in 1983 when a London bishop warned that the story was too realistic. The Barlow couple's reconciliation was even announced on the scoreboard in the stadium during a Manchester United football game . In 1998, Deirdre's fate reached not only the press, but even the British Parliament when she was jailed for scams her lover at the time was responsible for. The story made headlines in the daily newspapers and sparked a "Freedom for Deirdre" campaign. This was picked up by then Prime Minister Tony Blair , who said in the House of Commons that he would have Home Secretary Jack Straw investigate the matter . Anne Kirkfield found this mention by the Prime Minister a special honor.

Anne Kirkbride last performed on Coronation Street in October 2014 . She starred in a total of 1439 episodes.

Private life

Kirkbride always tried to stand out from her television role in real life and therefore wore contact lenses instead of glasses, whose eye-catching models, which changed over the years, became her trademark in the series.

In 1993 she married the actor David Beckett, whom she met on the show and who was her lover there. In the same year she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma . She took a six-month break from the series during which she underwent chemotherapy . In 1998 her complete cure from the disease was confirmed by the doctors. While overcoming this condition, she was diagnosed with clinical depression , which was also successfully treated with medication. In September 2014, she was given a three-month break from filming and, according to the plot, left the series with a prospect of return. As Deirdre , she had only met her husband Ken Barlow , played by William Roache , in August 2014 after almost a year away from the series. During this time Roache had to answer in court for sexual harassment and Kirkbride had appeared in this context as a character witness in his favor.

Anne Kirkbride painted, exhibitions of her paintings took place in various galleries in her home town of Didsbury .

Anne Kirkbride died of cancer on January 19, 2015.

Web links

Commons : Anne Kirkbride  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Anne Kirkbride obituary in: The Guardian , January 20, 2015, accessed January 28, 2015
  2. ^ A b Anne Kirkbride, actress - obituary in The Daily Telegraph , January 20, 2015, accessed January 28, 2015
  3. ↑ PM supports Weatherfield One at BBC News , March 31, 1998, accessed January 28, 2015
  4. ↑ Anne Kirkbride, star of Coronation Street, dies aged 60 after short illness in: The Guardian, January 20, 2015, accessed January 28, 2015
  5. ^ Coronation Street star Anne Kirkbride to take three-month break on BBC News, September 29, 2014, accessed January 28, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Kirkbride, Anne
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actress
DATE OF BIRTH June 21, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Oldham , Lancashire , England , UK
DATE OF DEATH 19th January 2015
Place of death Manchester Greater Manchester , England , United Kingdom