Shirley Rosemary Stelfox (11 April 1941 – 7 December 2015) was a British actress, known for her portrayal of the character Edna Birch, a moralising busybody in the ITV soap opera Emmerdale, and as Rose, the vampy sister of the snobby and overbearing Hyacinth Bucket in the first series of the comedy series Keeping Up Appearances.
Early life
Shirley Rosemary Stelfox was born on 11 April 1941 in
Dukinfield,
Cheshire. She suffered from bilateral
amblyopia, which left her short-sighted. While she was still at Lakes Road Secondary School in Dukinfield she appeared in pantomimes at the Old Chapel in the town, and in other productions.
She then studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where her classmates included Edward Fox,
John Thaw and
Sarah Miles.
[The Daily Telegraph, Thursday 10 December 2015, Obituaries paper, p.37]
Career
Television
After the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Stelfox started on BBC Television in
The Case Before You, a play in which she appeared as a 15 year old arsonist. In December 1960 she appeared in her first episode of
Coronation Street. She later played many different characters in the soap opera, including, in 1983, the owner of a dating agency whose customers include the longrunning character Jack Duckworth (
Bill Tarmey).
She played Hyacinth Bucket's sister Rose in the first series of Keeping Up Appearances, but was replaced by Mary Millar.
Among many other one-off parts, she played Alice Hobson in Hobson’s Choice (1967), Helen in Civvies (1992), Julie Clegg in Three Seven Eleven (1993–1994), Jean in Common as Muck (1994) and Mrs Nolan in Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married (1999–2000).
Films
Her best-known film role was as the "$2.00 Prostitute" in
Nineteen Eighty-Four, a film adaptation of
George Orwell's novel. She played another prostitute in Terry Jones's comedy
Personal Services (1987).
Stage
On the West End stage Stelfox played Sue Lawson in
Not Now, Darling (Strand Theatre, 1968) and Phoebe in
Toad of Toad Hall (Duke of York's Theatre, 1970).
She starred in
Stand Up Sweetie Pie, directed by
June Brown, which premiered in 1993 at the Nottingham Playhouse.
[ Shirley Stelfox, actress - obituary Retrieved on 31 January 2018] She played Regan in
King Lear at the
Ludlow Festival in 1972 and at the Connaught Theatre. She also played
Lady Macbeth in 1973, Yelena in
Uncle Vanya in 1974 and Titania in
A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1978.
[ Shirley Stelfox: Character actress who was best known as the prudish spinster, busybody Edna Birch, in Emmerdale, The Independent. Retrieved on 31 January 2018]
Personal life and death
Stelfox was married to Keith Edmundson for three years. She had a daughter, Helena, from this marriage. She married her fellow actor
Don Henderson in 1979 and they were together until his death from
throat cancer in 1997.
They lived in Stratford-upon-Avon, where she helped to bring up Henderson's two children from his first marriage. She moved to
Nottinghamshire after Henderson's death.
Stelfox died on 7 December 2015, aged 74, four weeks after she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Selective filmography
|
| 10 episodes |
| Episode: "The Dinner Party" |
| Episode: "A Pool of Blood and a Red Carnation" |
| |
| 2 episodes |
| |
| Episode: "Our Story So Far..." |
| Episode: "Sweets from a Stranger" |
| Episode: "Regina v Barnes: Whatever Happened to George Robins?: Part 3" |
| 2 episodes |
| Episode: "A Brush with Mr Porter on the Road to El Dorado" |
| Episode: "Release" |
| 1 episode |
| |
| 2 episodes |
| 6 episodes |
| 15 episodes |
| 7 episodes |
| |
| Episode: "Last Bus to Woodstock" |
| 24 episodes |
| 6 episodes |
| 4 episodes |
| Episode: "Fruits of the Earth" |
| 16 episodes |
| Episode: "Pat and Margaret" |
| 5 episodes |
| 6 episodes |
| 16 episodes |
| Episode: "New Year's Eve 1999": Part 1 and 2 |
| 901 episodes, (final appearance) |
| |
External links
