Amanda Barrie
| Amanda Barrie | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Shirley Anne Broadbent 14 September 1935 Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England |
| Years active | 1959–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Robin Hunter (m. 1967; d. 2004) Hilary Bonner (m. 2014) |
Amanda Barrie (born 14 September 1935) is an English actress. She appeared in two of the Carry On films, before being cast as Alma Sedgewick (Baldwin) in Coronation Street, which she played for 20 years. She has since enjoyed a varied stage and TV career.
Born Shirley Anne Broadbent in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, Barrie attended St Anne's College, St Anne's on Sea. She then trained at the Arts Educational School in London and later at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She appeared in pantomime as a child and was a dancer before acting in a number of British television and film roles in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as presenting Hickory House with former Coronation Street star Alan Rothwell between 1973 and 1977. She was also in two of the Carry On films, a long-running series of British comedy films: she had a supporting turn as a cab driver in Carry On Cabby (1963) and took the title role in Carry On Cleo (1964), which helped her on her way to becoming an international star of stage and screen.
In 1975, Barrie played Mrs. B.J. Spence in the Walt Disney film One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing. After roles in a string of one-off television plays and series, she appeared in a guest role as a ballet mistress in the popular BBC comedy series Are You Being Served? in 1979. She worked for many years as a chorus girl in the West End until her first break as an actress came along. At sixteen she danced at the Windsor Club with Danny La Rue and Barbara Windsor, changing her name before making her West End debut in 1961's 'Babes in the Wood'. Throughout the '60s Amanda worked on many stage productions including 'Cabaret', 'Private Lives', 'Hobson's Choice' and 'Aladdin', and continued to perform on stage until the mid-1980s. She is well known as Alma Sedgewick (later Baldwin), on Coronation Street. She was a bit-player in the early to mid-1980s before she was offered a contract in 1988, after which she became a very well known character. She continued in the role until her retirement in 2001. In the story, Alma was diagnosed with cervical cancer which later caused her death.
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