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Coronation StreetDoris Speed was one of life's true originals. For many years she ruled the roost as Annie Walker in Coronation Street, exerting her self-appointed authority like a steel gauntlet in a velvet glove. Back in 1960, when Corrie was in its infancy, Annie Walker was one of those characters that made an instant impression. For 23 years she would be one of the most powerful women in soapland. Annie was the Hyacinth Bucket of her era, the flip side of Elsie Tanner's tough-as-nails heroine. Cultured, refined and the voice of the moral majority in Weatherfield. For many, Annie was just one of those characters that helped the show along. To obsessive Corrie fans, she had a history as tangible as the woman who played her. Anne Beaumont was supposed to have been born in Clitheroe, Lancashire in 1909. She married Jack Walker in 1937 and gave birth to Billy and Joan. For 33 years, the Walkers ran the Rovers - quite a feat compared to the recent tenures of Bet Lynch, Natalie Barnes (Denise Welch) and Duggie Ferguson (John Bowe). When Jack died in 1970, Billy helped out and hired Bet Lynch (Julie Goodyear). The rest as they say is history. Bet started out as the obligatory brassy barmaid and ended up being a cross between Annie Walker, Cruella DeVil and a pantomime dame. By 1973, Alf Roberts (Bryan Mosely) became the Mayor of Weatherfield and asked Annie to be his Mayoress. Needless to say, Annie's condescending attitude reached new heights. She hired Glynn Thomas to help out but when he mucked things up, Fred Gee (Fred Feast) was hired as a live-in cellarman. Okay, enough about Annie Walker. She was a fictional character after all - though, if you try telling that to the millions of fans around the world and they'll bend your ear until the cows come home. What about the actress behind the legend? Well, Doris Speed was born in 1899 and trod the boards all her life. She earned her stripes in stage, television and radio a long time before the Street made her a household name. Tony Warren had always intended Doris to play the role of Annie Walker after working with her some years before on Children's Hour. She lived quietly in a Manchester semi with her mother, who died aged 97 in the early 1970's. In October 1983, Doris was admitted to hospital, and shortly afterwards one paper revealed she was not 69 as she claimed, but 84. Soon after, her house was wrecked whilst she was in bed and the shock of all this forced her to retire from the Street and move into a nursing home in Bury. Happily, Doris was to live for another 10 years before passing away in her sleep, aged 95. So, on December 9 1960 she made her debut and was a permanent fixture until October 12, 1983. After 1746 episodes, she bowed out and the Street suddenly seemed a smaller place without her. Unlike many of the soap's characters who get a huge send off, Annie Walker just slipped away. No big storyline; no floods of tears. Just the sudden realization that The Rovers' Return had lost one of its finest features. Updated 1 Sept, 2001
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