EXCLUSIVE: It’s been more than 25 years since Amanda Barrie left her signature role as Alma Baldwin on Coronation Street but in a candid interview with The Mirror, she explains why she still has such a zest for life after turning 91
Amanda Barrie has had a glittering career stretching all the way back to the 1950s – but despite celebrating her 91st birthday this month, she has no intention of slowing down.
The actress featured in two early Carry On films – Cabby and Cleo – then became a household name as Coronation Street‘s Alma Sedgewick in 1981. Since leaving the soap in 2001, Amanda has been in Bad Girls, Benidorm and Casualty and even appeared on Celebrity Big Brother.
She says: “Life has changed enormously in the last 20 years. I don’t know whether it’s attitudes, or whether it’s things that were part of one’s everyday life seem to have vanished: the chemist, the doctor, personal little shops. That’s happened everywhere.
“Health is something that you just have to have a bit of luck with. I sit here and I think about us spending a fortune on people losing weight and things. I just think they ought to dish out wartime rations!
“I think I’m very lucky to be still working at my age, to be quite honest. All you’ve got to do, darling, is carry on breathing, and be curious.”
But the actress, who is married to crime writer Hilary Bonner and last year teamed up with her for memoir I’m Still Here, admits that, with age, comes an appreciation for life after losing so many loved ones.
She says: “I’ve lost so many friends. And I never delete people from my phone who’ve died. I’ve got a full phone. I just say ‘Oh, dear….’ I’m lucky to be here. I’m very lucky.
“Hilary watches cricket all the time, I’m watching racing all the time. We also see a lot of friends, and I think seeing people and talking is good. You’ve just got to keep your fingers crossed because life is a fragile little bird.”
Amanda made her screen debut in the 1954 sketch series Running Wild and then became a breakout star on the West End. She enjoyed further success with Carry On alongside Sid James.
She admits: “When we did Carry On, we didn’t realise anything was blue or naughty or any of those things. I did see one film recently and thought ‘You’d never get away with that now!'”
Real fame came when Corrie came calling in 1981. During her tenure on the cobbles, Alma ran the cafe with Gail Tilsey (Helen Worth), famously married Ken Barlow’s rival Mike Baldwin (Johnny Briggs) and formed a lasting bond with Audrey Roberts (Sue Nicholls).
When it comes to her most famous role, Amanda says she is flattered fans still remember her 25 years after Alma was killed off as part of a touching cancer storyline.
She says: “It’s quite an experience, and there’s nothing like being in a soap. I really praise the kids that come into it now, because at least we had a bit of rehearsal. Now, they get it, learn it, do it.
“We need things like Coronation Street, because everything’s so sort of isolated now. And I think things like Coronation Street really bring people together.
“People ask me why it’s changed. It’s because the world has changed. That’s why. You’re not going to find the likes of Ena Sharples very often in Manchester now.”
But it wasn’t all happy memories for Amanda. When she was at the height of her soap fame she felt forced to hide her sexuality.
Prior to her relationship with Hilary, 77, Amanda was married to theatre director and actor Robin Hunter in 1967, and they separated in the mid-1980s but never divorced. Robin passed away in 2004 and Amanda tied the knot with Hilary a decade later.
She admits: “I was terrified that people were going to out me at that time. I used to say [my bisexuality] isn’t catching!” Amanda jokes: “But things have definitely changed now, so, I think, ‘Well, maybe it was!’”
Like any performer, Amanda has experienced nerves in the past but now refuses to let them get in the away of her accomplishing anything. She says: “The harder you work, the less nervous you are, that’s just a lesson to be learned for people.
“I would say to anybody that’s doing it, honest to God, you waste so much time being nervous if you’re an actor, so much time being anxious and thinking you can’t do it.”
Ever the go-getter, Amanda recently teamed up with Irn-Bru to celebrate the soft drink’s 125th anniversary and rode round the streets of London on a bright orange scooter.
When asked if there is anything she won’t do at this age, Amanda says: “Anything that’s offered up to a point, I’ll still do, it keeps you going. Although, I don’t think I’d do another pantomime.”
But then she quickly backtracks. “Unless I was on a whizzy chair! I think that applies to everything really. You go, ‘No, I couldn’t,’ and then you realise, ‘Yes, I could! I can do that!’”
Amanda Barrie recently teamed up with IRN-BRU to celebrate the soft drink’s 125th anniversary. For more information, go to Irn-Bru’s official Instagram page
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
