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Wendy Richard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wendy Richard MBE | |
| Birth name | Wendy Emerton |
| Born | 20 July 1943 Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, England |
| Notable roles | Shirley Brahms in Are You Being Served? Pauline Fowler in EastEnders |
Wendy Richard MBE (born Wendy Emerton on 20 July 1943) is an English actress best known for playing Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served? and Pauline Fowler in EastEnders from 1985 to 2006.
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Richard was educated at the Royal Masonic School for Girls in Rickmansworth before attending the Italia Conti Academy stage school. She first became familiar to TV audiences playing Joyce Harker, a regular in the BBC's 1960s soap opera, The Newcomers. She has also appeared in Dad's Army (as Private Walker's girl-friend Shirley), Up Pompeii and The Likely Lads. Richard also appeared in two Carry On films, playing a cameo role in Carry On Matron and a supporting part in Carry On Girls. In 1962, her distinct cockney vocals also helped get her to #1 on the UK singles chart — uncredited, on the single, Come Outside, by Mike Sarne.
Richard is best known for two roles:
- Her role in the 1970s sitcom Are You Being Served? as Miss Shirley Brahms, a sales representative with a heavy Cockney accent, catapulted her to fame. (Richard also appeared in the Are You Being Served? sequel Grace & Favour in 1992 and 1993.)
- Richard found continued success as heroine and matriarch Pauline Fowler on the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a role she played from the first episode in 1985 until the character's death on Christmas of 2006. On July 10, 2006, the BBC announced that Richard had decided to leave EastEnders, after nearly 22 years in the show.[1] An interview with The Sun revealed that problems with the EastEnders storyline (primarily her marriage to Joe Macer) was the main cause for her departure.[1]
Richard endured a long battle with breast cancer in the early 1990s.[2]; her cancer went into remission after years of treatment. She was given a clean bill of health in 2005.[3] Articles about her departure from EastEnders suggest her health challenges have not played any role in her decision to leave the series.
She lives with John Burns, her partner of 11 years, in the Marylebone area of London.
- Autobiography: Wendy Richard... No 'S' : My Life Story ISBN 0-7432-1870-1.
- ^ Wendy Richard to leave EastEnders BBC News, URL last accessed on 2006-07-10.
- ^ Wendy Richard's dramatic soap life BBC News, URL last accessed on 2007-03-08.
- ^ EastEnders star has cancer BBC News