Roy Barraclough
| Roy Barraclough MBE |
|
|---|---|
| Born |
Roy Barraclough 12 July 1935 Preston, Lancashire, England, UK |
| Occupation | Television actor |
Roy Barraclough MBE (born 12 July 1935 in Preston, Lancashire) is an English comic actor. He is best known for his role as the shifty, lugubrious landlord of the Rovers Return, Alec Gilroy in the long-running British TV soap Coronation Street and for the double-act Cissie and Ada with Les Dawson.
Roy Barraclough began his career as a draughtsman, taking time off to work as an entertainer in a holiday camp on the Isle of Wight. Combining his day job with local amateur theatre for several years he was eventually offered a full-time acting contract by legendary repertory theatre producer Nita Valerie with her company in Huddersfield. Barraclough regularly appeared on stage and at times played piano in the pit, most notably for comedian Hylda Baker.
He later joined the repertory company at Stoke (appearing alongside Ben Kingsley) and then Oldham in 1966, appearing alongside Barbara Knox, Anne Kirkbride and others. Whilst at Oldham he made his first TV appearances for Granada Television, including Coronation Street in 1964.
In 1969 he was cast as Harry Everitt in Yorkshire Television's first soap opera Castle Haven with Kathy Staff as his on-screen wife. Although the soap only lasted a year, Barraclough became a regular guest actor on YTV shows. It was whilst having lunch in the canteen there that he was asked to stand in for a missing actor on the first series of The Les Dawson Show. It was the start of a working relationship which would last many years both at YTV and the BBC.
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