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Vale: Betty Driver

UK actress Betty Driver, who starred in Coronation Street for more than 40 years has died, aged 91.

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UK actress Betty Driver, who starred in Coronation Street for more than 40 years and appeared in more than 2,800 episodes, has died. She was 91.

Driver died peacefully in hospital on the weekend after having been in hospital for six weeks. “She will be sadly missed by everyone who knew her,” an ITV spokesman said.

Driver joined the ITV show in 1969 as barmaid Betty Turpin, later Williams, having already been in showbusiness for more than 40 years as a singer. In January 2011 she told the BBC she would never retire. “I just love working and I will never retire – ever – they’ll have to shoot me to get rid of me,” she said. “I just love people, you see, and I love the cast.”

Coronation Street faces have paid tribute to her spirit. Former co-star Julie Goodyear described her as “a true icon and legend and a very dear friend”.

Helen Worth said, who plays Gail McIntyre in the show, told BBC News that “everybody in the cast loved her from the youngest to the oldest”.

“The Street was her family and she didn’t want to leave it.

“We all thought she’d be there forever, we didn’t think this day would come.

“The Rovers won’t be the same, that’s for sure. The Street were her family and she didn’t want to leave it.”

William Roache, who plays Ken Barlow and worked alongside Driver for four decades, said he “loved her dearly”.

“She was not only a colleague, she was a friend and godmother to my son James,” he said.

“She will be missed in the Street but she will be missed more so as a warm and loving person.”

The soap’s executive producer Kieran Roberts said Driver was a “wonderful actress and remarkable woman”.

“It is humbling to think that the 42 years she spent on Coronation Street was just half of her extraordinary career but Coronation Street certainly benefited when she decided to join our show in 1969.”

Betty Driver never intended to retire. In 2006, when the actor Sir Ian McKellen complained that — even at 86 — she drove herself to the studios at 7.30 every morning, Granada executives laid on a car.

In the New Year’s Honours List of 2000 she was appointed MBE . In the same year she published her memoirs, Betty: The Autobiography, co-written with Daran Little.

Source: BBC, Telegraph

9 Responses

  1. I was very sad to see this news, having grown up watching Coronation Street (which I continue to do). Betty was a lovely lady – both on and off screen.

    Fortunately, I have a book with the recipe for Betty’s hot pot so will continue to remember her every time I cook it.

  3. I honestly thought she would carry on forever….she did really well working for as long as she could. i guess she would never have wanted to be made to retire and we’re very lucky the producers allowed her to carry on for as long as she was able. i hope the producers give her a fitting tribute for her send off. after all she gave almost half her life to the show

  6. She will be sorely missed. I always thought she seemed like such a darling, so it’s lovely to read that she was so loved and admired by those who knew her. Watching Corrie’s just going to be a little sadder knowing she’s no longer with us.

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