LONDON (AP) β Actress Anne Kirkbride, a star of British soap opera “Coronation Street” for more than 40 years, has died at the age of 60.
Network ITV says Kirkbride died Monday in a hospital in Manchester, northwest England, after a short illness.
Kirkbride played the much-married Deirdre Barlow on the soap, set in the fictional working-class community of Weatherfield.
“Coronation Street” has been chronicling its characters’ lives since 1960, with an enduringly popular mix of social realism, melodrama and humor. Kirkbride’s character was at the heart of some of the show’s most dramatic story lines for decades.
“Coronation Street” executive producer Kieran Roberts said the program makers “know only too acutely how much Anne meant to the millions of people who watched her create the legendary character of Deirdre Barlow.”
