Patricia Phoenix

Bold, brassy and larger than life, Pat Phoenix was television's favourite scarlet woman. For nearly 25 years, she dominated the soap opera Coronation Street (1960) in the role of Elsie Tanner and sent shivers down the spines of Britain's menfolk twice a week. With her low cut cleavage, she was known as "the working man's Raquel Welch" and was once dubbed by the then-UK Prime Minister James Callaghan as "the sexiest woman on TV". Phoenix's life very much mirrored that of the character she played. Tough and determined, she came from a working class family in Manchester, but fought her way up to the top. Married three times, she was blunt, outspoken and a notorious chain-smoker. But like Elsie Tanner, she had a heart of gold and inspired affection in everybody. She desperately wanted to be an actress but her first job was as a filing clerk. She broke into repertory theatre and worked throughout the North of England with a variety of companies. "I played everything" she said. "When I was 22, I played 90 year old women. I was brought up in the theatre and I made my own way. I was in the theatre for many years before I was in television. The stage is most exhilarating. You know when an audience loves you". After working with the Joan Littlewood Theatre Workshop in London in the early 1950s, she found herself out of work and nearly gave up acting. Success came in 1960 when, at the age of 36, she was cast as Elsie Tanner in Granada TV's new soap Coronation Street (1960). With the rise of interest in northern based 1960s films such as Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960), the earthy characters and gritty settings of Coronation Street (1960) was a hit. Created and written by Tony Warren, the role of the headstrong Elsie was a classic and transported Phoenix to international fame. Viewers followed "the Street" in such huge numbers that when she married US Army Sergeant Steve Tanner in 1967, over 20 million viewers tuned in to the programme. "I was one of the first anti-heroines" said Phoenix, "not particularly good looking and no better than I should be. The character of Elsie had overtones of me in it, and overtones of my mother". Phoenix played Elsie for over 24 years but shocked producers and audiences when she decided to quit Coronation Street (1960) for good in 1983. She still remained on television in series such as Constant Hot Water (1986) and as an agony aunt for an early morning magazine programme. Her final television role was as a bedridden actress in Unnatural Causes (1986). She numbered Laurence Olivier among her many admirers and fans. Characteristically, she summed up her own talent saying by "I don't know what the word "star" means. I only know I am a working actress".