Shirley Stelfox

Shirley Stelfox
Shirley Stelfox
Born	Shirley Rosemary Stelfox; 11 April 1941; Dukinfield, Cheshire, England
Died	7 December 2015 (aged 74); Nottinghamshire, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1954–2015
Known for	Emmerdale as Edna Birch; Keeping Up Appearances as Rose
Spouses	; Keith Edmundson (m. 1962⁠–⁠1965) ; Don Henderson (m. 1979; died 1997)
Children	3

Shirley Rosemary Stelfox (11 April 1941 – 7 December 2015) was an English 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

Stelfox was born at Dukinfield, Cheshire, on 11 April 1941. She suffered from bilateral amblyopia, which left her short-sighted. She studied at RADA, where her classmates included Edward Fox, John Thaw, and Sarah Miles.^[1] She was playing in pantomimes at the Old Chapel, Dukinfield, and in productions during the years of her study the town's Lakes Road Secondary School.^[2]

Career

Television

After the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Stelfox started straight at the BBC in a play called The Case Before You in which she played a 15 year old arsonist - where the prompter did not respond to her long pauses. In December 1960, she appeared in her first episode of Coronation Street. She would later play many different characters in the world-famous soap opera, including, in 1983, running a dating agency in which one of her customers was the entrance cue for Jack Duckworth. In 1983, Stelfox appeared in an episode of Grange Hill appearing as a Secretary at the school. She was the first actress to play Hyacinth Bucket's randy sister Rose in the first series of Keeping Up Appearances, but was later replaced by Mary Millar.^[3] She appeared in several other well-known television series, including the successful Wicked Women (1970),^[4] Making Out with Margi Clarke, Mrs Parkin in Heartbeat, Jean in Common as Muck, and roles in Juliet Bravo, Coronation Street, The Bill and Crossroads, and Inspector Morse,

She played Jane Healy, Melanie Owen's mother, in an episode of EastEnders. She appeared in the short-lived series Albion Market.

Stelfox had a long life in different soap operas, briefly appearing in Crossroads (as a police officer), Owen MD and Family Affairs. She had played in Brookside as Madge Richmond (1986–1987), where she depicted two-timed the widowed pensioner Ralph Hardwick (Ray Dunbobbin), and in 1999 she appeared in two episodes of EastEnders as Jane Healy. Among many others of one-off parts, she played as 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).^[2]

Film roles

Stelfox played the mother of Julie Walters and Victoria Wood in the TV film Pat and Margaret (1994). But her best-known film role came as the "$2.00 Prostitute" in Nineteen Eighty-Four, a film adaptation of the George Orwell novel, starring John Hurt and Richard Burton. Somewhat typecast as a prostitute she played another in Terry Jones's comedy Personal Services (1987) based on the life of Madame Cyn, the brothel owner who entertained celebrities and politicians.

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).^[2] Stelfox portrayed a stand-up comedian in Stand Up Sweetie Pie, directed by June Brown, the stalwart of EastEnders, who must have come across each other on set; it premièred in 1993 at the Nottingham Playhouse, rather than in the West End.^[5] She played a role of spidery Regan in King Lear at the Ludlow Festival in 1972 and at the Connaught Theatre, played Lady Macbeth in 1973, Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1978 and Yelena in Uncle Vanya in 1974. ^[6]

Personal life

Stelfox was married to Keith Edmundson for three years. She had a daughter, Helena, from this marriage. She later married actor Don Henderson in 1979 and they were together until his death from throat cancer in 1997.^[7] They lived in Stratford-upon-Avon, where she helped bring up Henderson's two children from his first marriage. She moved to rural Nottinghamshire after Henderson's death.

Stelfox died on 7 December 2015, aged 74, four weeks after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.^[8]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1960, 1964-1994	Coronation Street	Norma / Barmaid / Margot Sutcliffe / Shirley Henderson	10 episodes
1966	Pardon the Expression	Sales Assistant	Episode: "The Dinner Party"
1967	Who Is Sylvia?		Episode: "A Pool of Blood and a Red Carnation"
1968	Corruption	Girl at Party
1971-1972	Nearest and Dearest	Det. Constable Gloria Simpkins / Clara Wilson	2 episodes
1971	Carry On at Your Convenience	Bunny Girl Waitress
1972	Budgie	The Barmaid	Episode: "Our Story So Far..."
1973	Pathfinders	Grete	Episode: "Sweets from a Stranger"
1973	Crown Court	Mrs. Catherine Barnes	Episode: "Regina v Barnes: Whatever Happened to George Robins?: Part 3"
1980-1983	Juliet Bravo	Mrs. Collis / Mavis 'Colette' Newby	2 episodes
1981	Play for Today	Mrs. Smith	Episode: "A Brush with Mr Porter on the Road to El Dorado"
1981	The Chinese Detective	Arlene	Episode: "Release"
1983	Grange Hill	Secretary	1 episode
1984	Nineteen Eighty-Four	Prostitute
1984-1988	Bergerac	Anna Ackerman / Pam Lewis	2 episodes
1984	Bootle Saddles	Rita Henderson	6 episodes
1987	Brookside	Madge Richmond	7 episodes
1987	Knights of God	Beth Edwards	7 episodes
1987	Personal Services	Shirley
1988	Inspector Morse	Mrs. Kane	Episode: "Last Bus to Woodstock"
1989–1991	Making Out	Carol May	24 episodes
1990	Keeping Up Appearances	Rose	6 episodes
1991-1999	The Bill	Mrs. Fowler / Gill Gibson / Mrs. Larch / Mrs. Mitchell	4 episodes
1992	Heartbeat	Mrs. Parkin	Episode: "Fruits of the Earth"
1993–1994	Three Seven Eleven	Julie Clegg	16 episodes
1994	Screen One	Vera	Episode: "Pat and Margaret"
1994–1997	Common As Muck	Jean	5 episodes
1995	Harry's Mad	Mrs. Turtle	6 episodes
1999–2000	Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married	Mrs. Nolan	16 episodes
1999	EastEnders	Jane Healy	Episode: "New Year's Eve 1999": Part 1 and 2
2000–2015	Emmerdale	Edna Birch	901 episodes, (final appearance)
2015	Butterflies & Diamonds	Prison Facility Psychologist