Anne Cunningham

Last updated
Anne Cunningham
Born
Anne Margaret Cunningham

1937 (age 86–87)
Leeds, Yorkshire, England
OccupationActress
Spouse
Darrol Blake
​
(m. 1965)​
Children3

Anne Margaret Cunningham (born 1937) is an English actress, best known for her role as an original cast member of Coronation Street , in which she played Linda Cheveski, daughter of Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix). [1]

Contents

Early life

Cunningham, an only child, was born in Leeds. [2] As a child, the family emigrated to South Africa. At school, her performance in As You Like It prompted her drama teacher to suggest she should train as an actor in England. The family returned to England when Cunningham was aged 16, and she attended the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, taking a combined teaching and acting course. She is a trained actor and teacher; however, she has never taught. [1] [2]

Career

Cunningham's acting career began at the Bristol Old Vic before she joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in a production of Twelfth Night . [1] She was appearing in Repertory Theatre in Buxton when a casting director from Granada Television came to see the show. A couple of months later, she was asked to audition in Manchester, and was cast in the role of Linda Cheveski in the soap opera Coronation Street , this being her first television role. [2]

Cunningham appeared in the first episode of Coronation Street on 9 December 1960, as Linda Cheveski, daughter of Elsie Tanner (Pat Phoenix) and older sister to Dennis Tanner (Philip Lowrie). The character was a regular for the programme's first year, leaving just as the Equity actors' strike kicked in, causing the character of Linda and her husband Ivan (Ernst Walder) to be written out. Cunningham continued the role in a recurring capacity until 1968, before returning for a brief period in 1984 upon the exit of Phoenix's character. [1] [3] Following Dennis' death in 2020, Ken Barlow (William Roache) mentioned to Dennis' ex-wife Rita (Barbara Knox) that Linda is still alive and now lives in Toronto.

Cunningham appeared on one of the first programmes on BBC2, Impromptu, a light entertainment programme written by David Croft. She also appeared in A World of His Own , in 1964, alongside Roy Kinnear (playing Stanley Blake) as his wife Helen Blake. [2]

Alongside her stage acting, Cunningham has also had numerous television roles, including Z-Cars in 1962, The Avengers in 1966, The Dick Emery Show in 1973, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin in 1976, and Are You Being Served? in the same year. She narrated five episodes of a Play School story in August 1972. [4]

Cunningham's film roles include Doctor in Clover (1966), playing Ella in Bitter Harvest and Judith in This Sporting Life (both 1963). Other stage work includes Lady Percy in Chimes at Midnight, Vera in Come Laughing Home and Amy in Duty Free. [1]

She played Linda Cheveski for the last time in a video special, The Life and Loves of Elsie Tanner, which was made as a tribute to Pat Phoenix following her death in 1986. Cunningham's character, Linda, was the first woman on Coronation Street to give birth, when on 12 June 1961, she had a son, Paul (Marcus Saville). [4] In 2010, she appeared in Coronation Street: 50 Years, 50 Moments. [4]

Personal life

While on the set of A World of His Own , Cunningham met set designer and theatre director Darrol Blake. [2] The couple married in 1965, have three daughters and live in London. [2] Cunningham's daughter, Philippa, was named after her on screen brother, Philip Lowrie. [3] Cunningham has run an antiques shop with her former Coronation Street screen husband Ernst Walder, who played Ivan Cheveski. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Phoenix</span> English actress (1923–1986)

Patricia Phoenix was an English actress who became one of the first sex symbols of British television through her role as Elsie Tanner, an original cast member of Coronation Street, a role which she portrayed from its first episode in 1960 until she quit the role in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elsie Tanner</span> Fictional Coronation Street character

Elsie Tanner is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Pat Phoenix from the series' inception in 1960 to 1973, and again from 1976 until 1984. Elsie Tanner was one of the original core characters on Coronation Street and appeared in the first episode. She is considered to be an icon in soap history and regarded as one of the greatest ever characters to appear in Coronation Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rita Sullivan</span> Fictional character from Coronation Street

Rita Tanner is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street. Portrayed by veteran actress Barbara Knox, the character first appeared on-screen as "Rita Littlewood" for one episode on 2 December 1964, before returning as a full-time cast member on 31 January 1972.

Leonard Franklin "Len" Fairclough is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, portrayed by Peter Adamson between his introduction in 1961 and the character's axing in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Tanner</span> Fictional character from British soap Coronation Street

Dennis Tanner is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street, played by Philip Lowrie. The character was created by writer Tony Warren and was introduced in the first episode on 9 December 1960. Lowrie remained in the role for just over a year before being written out unexpectedly in 1962 when a strike by the actor's union Equity prevented new contracts being signed. Although the strike ended a few months later, Lowrie chose not to return until a year later. After a further five years, Lowrie became frustrated with the material his character was getting and chose not to renew his contract. Dennis departed Coronation Street on 12 June 1968, shortly after marrying girlfriend Jenny Sutton.

Betty Alberge was an English theatre, radio and television actress, with an extensive career which ran from the late 1930s to the 1980s. She was best known for her roles as Florrie Lindley in Coronation Street, in which she appeared between 1960 and 1965, and as Edna Cross in Brookside between 1983 and 1985.

Doreen Sheila Elsie Keogh was an Irish actress of radio, stage, television and film, who was known for roles in numerous television serials and telefilms, but especially as Concepta Riley, the first barmaid at the Rovers Return Inn in the soap opera Coronation Street. Concepta, introduced as an original character in 1960, remained until 1964, with guest returns to the soap in 1967, 1972 and 1975.

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"Episode 1", the first episode of the British television soap opera Coronation Street, was broadcast live on ITV on 9 December 1960, and was broadcast in black-and-white. Episode 2 was video taped shortly after the airing.

The Road to Coronation Street is a 2010 British drama first broadcast on BBC Four. It is a dramatisation of the creation of Coronation Street, the UK's longest-running television soap opera, from conception to its first transmission in December 1960. Set mainly at Granada Studios, Manchester in 1960, the 75-minute-long programme follows the true story of Tony Warren, a struggling scriptwriter who creates a vision of a television programme depicting normal life in a Salford street of terraced houses. The production first aired in October 2010, and was one of several programmes celebrating the 50th anniversary of Coronation Street that year.

Sheila Crossley is a fictional character from the British soap opera Coronation Street. She was portrayed by actress Eileen Mayers. The character is famous for her suicide plot which was ultimately axed.

Ernst Tahedl, professionally known as Ernst Walder, was an Austrian actor, best known for his role as Ivan Cheveski, one of the original characters in the long-running British television soap opera Coronation Street.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Anne Cunningham". www.corrie.net. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Blogging!, Carry On (2017-03-20). "Coronation Street Blog: Coronation Street Blog Interview: Anne Cunningham". Coronation Street Blog. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  3. 1 2 "'Tony Blair wanted to be briefed about Deirdre!' The inside story of Coronation Street". The Guardian. 2020-12-09. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
  4. 1 2 3 "Anne Cunningham". IMDb. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
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