- Eileen Derbyshire
Infobox actor
bgcolour =
name = Eileen Derbyshire
imagesize =
caption = Eileen Derbyshire
birthname =
birthdate = birth date and age|1930|10|6|df=y
location = Flagicon|EnglandUrmston ,England
notable role =Eileen Derbyshire (born
6 October 1930 inUrmston , nearManchester ) is an English character actress, best known for playingEmily Bishop inCoronation Street . It is a role she has played continuously since 1961, when Emily was an assistant in a ladies' clothing shop called Gamma Garments. She is the longest-running female character ever in the show.From the age of 17, Derbyshire was appearing in plays broadcast on the radio. After several small parts on television, she joined the cast of
Coronation Street , firstly as an extra in episode 3, then as Miss Nugent in episode 15, when she became a regular. It took a year for the character to be given the forename 'Emily', however.Derbyshire took a degree in teaching, trained at the Northern School of Music, and also passed her examination at the Royal Academy of Music. She began teaching speech and drama, but had always wanted to act. While on the bus one day, she passed Chorlton Repertory, and asked for an audition. She was enrolled as a student, and later became assistant stage manager. From there she joined Century Theatre's mobile touring company, and appeared in theatre all over the country, subsequently appearing in repertory theatre throughout Britain.
She married retired engineer Thomas Holt on
1 April 1965 , and the following year, they had a son, Oliver. The couple have a large cottage inCheshire , and Derbyshire's interests includeopera , reading, going to concerts, and holidaying inVienna andVenice .Eileen Derbyshire has a reputation for reclusiveness. "
The Times " has described her as a modern-day Garbo. She does not join the rest of the cast at awards ceremonies or other events, has never appeared on television out of character or discussed her private life in an interview, and has never yet appeared in any of the publicity videos on the Coronation Street website. Her sonOliver Holt has denied that she is reclusive, pointing out that she is simply private, and "one of the last of a dying breed of old-fashioned actresses who do it for the love of acting, not for all the attendant publicity" [http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/tm_method=full&objectid=12512153&siteid=94762-name_page.html] . In 2005 she gave an extremely rare television interview to an ITV programme aimed at deaf viewers, speaking about working with the deaf actress Alison Briggs, who was playing Emily's niece,Freda Nugent . She was interviewed on the set and dressed in character.In addition to this reclusive persona, she is known in the world of
autograph collecting as a "non-signer", although she has been known to occasionally respond to letters.Eileen is now facing a salary cut along with other Corrie stars such as
Betty Driver ,Barbara Knox ,Beverly Callard andMalcolm Hebden . [http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/a123645/more-corrie-stars-face-large-salary-cuts.html]References
External links
*imdb name|id=0220263|name=Eileen Derbyshire
* [http://www.corrie.net/profiles/actors/derbyshire_eileen.html Profile at corrie.net] including a rare photo out of character
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
