Bill Tarmey

Bill Tarmey
Tarmey as Jack Duckworth in 2007
Born	William Piddington (1941-04-04)4 April 1941 Ardwick, Manchester, Lancashire, England, UK
Died	9 November 2012(2012-11-09) (aged 71) Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
Cause of death	Heart Attack
Occupation	Actor, singer
Years active	1968–2010
Notable work	Coronation Street
Spouse(s)	Ali Tarmey (m. 1962–2012; his death)
Children	Carl (born 1966) Sara (born 1970)

Bill Tarmey (born William Piddington; 4 April 1941 – 9 November 2012) was an English actor, singer and author, best known for playing Jack Duckworth in the soap opera Coronation Street. First appearing in the role in November 1979, he played it continually from 1983 to 2010.

Tarmey was born in Ardwick, Manchester, Lancashire. Shortly after his birth, he moved with his family to live in Bradford, Manchester, where he was also educated. Following the death of his father William in 1944 whilst driving an ambulance at the Battle of Arnhem during the Second World War, his mother Lilian remarried, to Robert Cleworth. Tarmey attended the Bradford Memorial School and the Queens Street School (which became the Philips Park Secondary Modern School). On leaving school, he was apprenticed to his stepfather, who was an asphalt spreader by trade. He also worked in the construction industry for a number of years.

In 1968, Tarmey gave up his job in the building industry to work as a nightclub singer and entertainer. In order to supplement his income, he took on work as an extra on shows such as Coronation Street, amongst others. Despite suffering a serious heart attack in 1976 and a stroke in 1977, he was eventually offered the role of Jack Duckworth, a character who would go on to become an institution in British soap operas. He underwent quintuple bypass surgery in 1987, and had a pacemaker fitted after suffering a second heart attack in 2002, which was used as a storyline in Coronation Street to explain his absence. He also developed sleep apnoea, disrupting his breathing while asleep.

Tarmey was an extra in the Granada TV adaptation of King Lear (1983) which starred Laurence Olivier in the title role.